Irony and sarcasm in political debate (based on US on-line election discourse).
Journal Title: Науковий вісник Дрогобицького державного педагогічного університету імені Івана Франка. Серія: Філологічні науки (мовознавство) - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 1
Abstract
The interconnection between humor and the theory of political discourse and the peculiarities of their functioning in modern society have repeatedly become the subject of various researches in the field of discourse, political linguistics and stylistics. Thus, this article deals with the mechanisms of humor functioning in the political debate in modern society. One of the aims of the article is to identify and analyze such specific types of jokes as irony and sarcasm. The analysis of the material based on the lexical corpus of political debate between B. Obama and M. Romney during the 2012 election campaign in the USA has revealed that in most cases politicians use humor in political debates, interviews, and television shows with the aim to undermine and weaken the reputation of the opponent; ironic and sarcastic remarks are aimed to create a negative portrait of a political rival. According to the results of the research sarcasm is considered to be a higher degree of irony which correlates with aggression. Thorough analysis of irony, sarcasm and their place in the space of political debate makes it possible to distinguish some of important functions the most common of which are: a regulatory function, a function of increasing criticism, a masking function. All these functions are crucial and serve for mutual understanding and communicative needs of the speakers. They have emotional and evaluative influence on the addressee as well as reflect the speaker’s attitude to the problem being discussed. Thus, the irony itself is not aimed at discreditation but it is a stylistic device characterized by a significant expressiveness.
Authors and Affiliations
І. В. Лосєва
Keywords
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