A Pragmatic Study of Irony in Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’

Authors

  • Abdullah Najim Abd Aliwie

    The General Directorate of Education in Al-Qadisiyah Province, Ministry of Education, Baghdad 10001, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v6i6.7056
Received: 17 August 2024 | Revised: 18 September 2024 | Accepted: 24 September 2024 | Published Online: 28 November 2024

Abstract

The study aims to examine the phenomenon of irony in Charles Dickens’ novel “A Tale of Two Cities” pragmatically. It identifies the common strategies used to convey irony and the different types of irony used in the novel. The research design involves an introduction that illustrates a literature review on irony and its various forms, analysing samples from the novel, employing a model to analyse the data, and using statistical methods to calculate the results. The findings show that verbal irony is the most frequently employed form of irony in the novel, followed by dramatic irony and situational irony. The study supports the hypothesis that verbal irony is the most prevalent type of irony used in the novel. The data analysis includes examples of each type of irony to illustrate the findings. This research seeks to address that knowledge gap with analysis of this paper, which seeks to establish the functioning and pragmatics of verbal irony alongside situational and dramatic irony in “A Tale of Two Cities” in order to portray cynicism and the criticism of the prevailing social order. The study reached some conclusions, the most important of which is that verbal irony is the most common type used by language users, and the novelist intends to ridicule a subject and point out its faults through satire.

Keywords:

Verbal Irony; Pretence; Ironic Interjection; Echoic Irony

References

[1] Gibbs, R.W., Colston, H.L., 2007. Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader. Available from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=webKaR3lPdYC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Gibbs+and+Colston+(2007)+&ots=8gzjhuWCqy&sig=FtZVMAr3qaVaAzWwUBjrmA7te_w (cited 20 September 2007).

[2] Colston, H., Gibbs, R., 2007. A Brief History of Irony. Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader. Routledge: Thames, UK. pp. 3–21.

[3] Attardo, 2000. Irony as relevant inappropriateness. Journal of pragmatics. 32(6), 793–826.

[4] ‏

[5] Tõnurist, P., 2018. New Approaches in Policy Design and Experimentation. OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2018: Adapting to Technological and Societal Disruption. OECD Publishing: Boulogne-Billancourt, France. pp. 243–263.

[6] Jabrael, S.J., Lutfi, A.F., 2024. A Semantic Analysis of Rhetorical Devices in Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Qalaai Zanist Journal. 9(2), 1445–1467.

[7] Bachman, M.K., 2018. Back to the Future: Charles Dickens and the Prospective Brain. Dickens Quarterly. 35(3), 224–244.

[8] Brondino, A., 2023. Intertextual Irony: Between Relevance Theory and Umberto Eco. Forum for Modern Language Studies. 59(2). 165–182.

[9] Manzi, T., 2024. Housing and Fiction: Representing Context, Contingency and Conjuncture. In Research Handbook on Housing, the Home and Society. Edward Elgar Publishing: Gloucestershire, UK. pp. 427–439.

[10] Giora, R., 2021. The Defaultness Hypothesis: Affirmative Sarcasm, Negative Sarcasm. Cognitive Linguistic Studies. 8(1), 1–15.

[11] Burgers, J.S., Wittenberg, J., Keuken, D.G., et al., 2019. Development of a Research Agenda for General Practice Based on Knowledge Gaps Identified in Dutch Guidelines and Input from 48 Stakeholders. European Journal of General Practice. 25(1), 19–24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2018.1532993

[12] Burgers, C., Brugman, B.C., Boeynaems, A., 2019. Systematic Literature Reviews: Four Applications for Interdisciplinary Research. Journal of Pragmatics. 145, 102–109.

[13] Turbanti, G., 2022. Relevance Theory. In: Turbanti, G. (Ed.). Philosophy of Communication. Springer International Publishing: New York, NY, USA. pp. 95–128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12463-1_7

[14] Garmendia, J., 2018. Irony. Available from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z8tMDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Garmendia+(2018)&ots=n0bC36W2cV&sig=YhnTlsXjrSY-_LuNBCZe4ZQjtQw (cited 4 November 2018).

[15] Gibbs, R.W., Jr., Colston, H.L., 2019. What psycholinguistic studies ignore about literary experience. Scientific Study of Literature. 9(1), 72–103.

[16] ‏

[17] Helmers, M., 2024. “Like the Dickens”: Charles Dickens and Simile [Ph.D. Thesis]. University College London: London, UK. pp. 67–98.

[18] Yu, B., Wang, H., Xi, Z., 2024. Multifaceted and Deep Semantic Alignment Network for Multimodal Sarcasm Detection. Knowledge-Based Systems. 301, 112298.

[19] Sell, M.A., Kreuz, R.J., Coppenrath, L., 1997. Parents' Use of Nonliteral Language with Preschool Children. Discourse Processes. 23(2), 99–118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01638537709544985

[20] Kreuz, R.J., Roberts, R.M., 1993. On Satire and Parody: The Importance of Being Ironic. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity. 8(2), 97–109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms0802_2

[21] Backmatter, 2009. Point of View, Perspective, and Focalization. In: Attardo, S. (Ed.). Linguistic Theories of Humor. Walter de Gruyter: Berlin, Germany. pp. 335–426. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110219029.bm

[22] Grice, H.P., 1990. Logic and Conversation. The Philosophy of Language. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, USA. pp. 510–512.

[23] Bryant, G.A., 2012. Is Verbal Irony Special? Language and Linguistics Compass. 6(11), 673–685. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.364

[24] Alba Juez, L., 1995. Verbal Irony and the Maxims of Grice's Cooperative Principle. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses. 8, 25–30.

[25] Sperber, D., Wilson, D., de Man, P., 2024. Artful Speakers and Wilful Listeners the Quandaries of Irony. Culture Figures: A Rhetorical Reading of Anthropology. 10, 108.

[26] Brown, P., Levinson, S.C., 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Available from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OG7W8yA2XjcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR12&dq=Brown,+P.,+%26+Levinson,+S.+C.+(1987).+Politeness:+Some+Universals+in+Language+Usage.+Cambridge+University+Press.&ots=w73zFkzw57&sig=1f_WHn1_ytUuSLQNIHjfSCcVvbE (cited 1 March 1987).

[27] Yus, F., 2023. Pragmatics of Internet Humour. Springer International Publishing: New York, NY, USA. pp. 363–375. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31902-0

[28] Attardo, S., Chłopicki, W., Forabosco, G., 2024. 6 The Role of Incongruity in Humorous Texts. In: Ford, T.E., Chłopicki, W., Kuipers, G. (Eds.). De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies. De Gruyter: Berlin, Germany. pp. 105–124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110755770-007

[29] Hutcheon, L., 1995. Introduction: Colonialism and the Postcolonial Condition: Complexities Abounding. Publications of The Modern Language Association. 110(1), 7–16.

[30] Mazzocconi, C., Petrone, C., Champagne-Lavau, M., 2022. Does Laughter Play a Role in Irony Comprehension? In Proceedings of the 9th Experimental Pagmatics Conference (XPRAG 2022); Pavia (IT), Italy, 21 September 2022. pp. 33–35.

[31] Whalen, J.M., Doyle, A., Pexman, P.M., 2020. Sarcasm Between Siblings: Children's Use of Relationship Information in Processing Ironic Remarks. Journal of Pragmatics. 156, 149–159.

[32] Gibbs, R.W., Bryant, G.A., Colston, H.L., 2014. Where is the Humor in Verbal Irony? Humor. 27(4). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2014-0106

[33] Hutcheon, L., 1995. The Post Always Rings Twice: The Postmodern and the Postcolonial. Material Culture Review. 1(1), pp. 12–13.

[34] Gibbs, R.W., Jr., 2012. Are Ironic Acts Deliberate? Journal of Pragmatics. 44(1), 104–115.

[35] Shoaps, R., 2022. “Moral irony”: Modal Particles, Moral Persons and Indirect Stance-Taking in Sakapultek Discourse. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA). 17(2), 297–335. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.17.2.05sho

[36] Haiman, J., 1998. Talk is Cheap: Sarcasm, Alienation, and the Evolution of Language. Available from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nv-VLQ9HlfIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Haiman+(1998)&ots=8uNlzAgM3g&sig=HPwsd-wS-266pFCy3VJTSqRjxCc (cited 22 December 2022).

[37] Beckson, K.E., Beckson, K., Ganz, A., 1989. Literary Terms: A Dictionary. Macmillan: London, UK. pp. 132–135.

[38] Davis, W.A., 2016. Implicature. In: Davis, W.A. (Ed.). Irregular Negatives, Implicatures, and Idioms (Vol. 6). Springer Netherlands: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. pp. 51–84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7546-5_2

[39] Brown, K., 2009. Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics. Available from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GcmXgeBE7k0C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=28%09Mey,+J.+(2009).+Concise+Encyclopedia+of+Pragmatics.+Amsterdam:+Elsevier&ots=SrrBAJeUkf&sig=-H4dhi0L-jb7A58IBPhPGFiEALY (cited 8 July 2009).

[40] Wilson, D., 2006. The Pragmatics of Verbal Irony: Echo or Pretence? Lingua. 116(10), 1722–1743.

[41] Sperber, D., 1986. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Blackwell: Oxford, UK. pp. 21–22.

[42] Anolli, L., Infantino, M.G., Ciceri, R., 2002. “You're a Real Genius!”: Irony as a Miscommunication Design. Emerging Communication. 3, 135–158.

[43] Anolli, L., Ciceri, R., Infantino, M.G. 2000. Irony as a game of implicitness: Acoustic profiles of ironic communication. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 29, 275–311.

[44] ‏

[45] Kizelbach, U., 2023. Narrative Tradition in Fiction: A Pragma-Stylistic Approach. In: Kizelbach, U. (Ed.). (Im)politeness in McEwan's Fiction. Springer International Publishing: New York, NY, USA. pp. 57–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18690-5_3

[46] Aguilera, K., Ardile, M., Azócar, N., et al., 2009. A Comparative Study of Verbal Irony and Sarcasm in American Television Comedies and Dramas. Available from: https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/109849 (cited 5 June 2009).

[47] Wilson, D., Sperber, D., 1992. On Verbal Irony. Lingua. 87(1), 53–76.

[48] Caucci, G.M., Kreuz, R.J., Buder, E.H., 2024. What's a Little Sarcasm Between Friends: Exploring the Sarcastic Tone of Voice. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 43(4), 486–502. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X241233001

[49] Borrego, A., 2023. The Ethics of Fragmentation in the «State-of-the-Nation Novels» of the 20th and 21st Centuries [Ph.D. Thesis]. Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier III: Montpelier, VT, USA. pp. 297–298.

[50] Statham, S., 2021. The Year's Work in Stylistics 2020. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics. 30(4), 407–433. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09639470211056687

[51] Gervais, D., 2007. The ‘Englishness' of the English Novel. Oxford University Press: Cambridge, UK. pp. 286–288.

Downloads

How to Cite

Abdullah Najim Abd Aliwie. (2024). A Pragmatic Study of Irony in Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 6(6), 147–161. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v6i6.7056

Issue

Vol. 6 , Iss. 6 (December 2024)

Article Type

Article

License

Copyright © 2024 Moussa Diagne Faye, Vini Yves Bernadin Loyara, Amadou Keita, Mamadou Diop, Angelbert Chabi Biaou, Mahamadou Koita, Hamma Yacouba

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.