Is a So-Called “Beach” a Beach? An Empirically Based Analysis of Secondary Content Induced by Ironic Name Use

Härtl, Holden; Seeliger, Heiko

doi:10.1163/9789004393127_009

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…cl have named dom a so-called Blázquez 'They have imposed on us a "so-called" Blázquez.' Evaluative un tal seems very similar to English so-called, analyzed by Härtl & Seeliger (2017) and illustrated in (40). 40The so-called 'beach' was a thin strip of black volcanic grit.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

<i>Un tal Ernestico/a certain Ernestico</i>: On the structure of proper names

Camacho

2019

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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Proper names are usually assumed to be definite. In this paper we question this assumption by analyzing the Spanish construction un tal 'X' 'a certain 'X''. We show that 'un tal 'X'' has two meanings, one evidential and one evaluative, and with the evidential meaning the determiner must be indefinite. In those conditions, 'X' is always a proper name. We argue that proper names usually involve a presuppositional, familiar referent, expressed through the definite determiner. However, evidentiality conflicts with familiarity, hence the definite is no longer possible. Finally, we argue that proper names are licensed by features from a hierarchy that applies either to the referential base, yielding person licensing, or to an evidential base, producing sequences such as un tal 'X'.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

<i>Un tal Ernestico/a certain Ernestico</i>: On the structure of proper names

Camacho

2019

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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Modal particles in ironic utterances

Härtl,

Thimm

2023

PRAG

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This study contributes to theorizing about the semantic characteristics of verbal irony. Specifically, we investigate the function of the modal particles ja (lit. ‘yes’) and aber (lit. ‘but’) that often occur in ironic utterances in German, cf. Das war aber ein aufregender Film (‘That was prt a thrilling movie’). Our main claim is that modal particles are used in ironic utterances to reflect the speaker’s intention to pretend surprise and produce a mockery effect by manifesting the utterance as an echo. Modal particles require some mutual knowledge to be contained in the common ground, and we link this notion to the interplay between echoic mention and pretense in interpreting an utterance as ironic. In an empirical approach to our claim, we report on results from an online questionnaire study, in which we test whether the presence of a modal particle leads to a higher perception of pretense in ironic reactions. While the data generally confirm our prediction, we found that only aber affects pretense perception but not ja, which can be explained by the former’s contrastive nature. The view we pursue implies that attitudinal content is a graded feature and that such a notion is applicable to surprise and pretense involved in verbal irony.

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‘Well, that’s just great!’: an empirically based analysis of non-literal and attitudinal content of ironic utterances

Härtl

Bürger

2021

Folia Linguistica

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This study contributes to the ongoing debate about the informational status of attitudinal content with a focus on verbal irony. Specifically, we investigate where the different meaning components involved in ironic utterances are positioned in the dichotomy between primary and secondary content of utterances. After an analysis of the semantic and pragmatic characteristics of ironic meaning components and their linguistic expression, we show, based on experimental data, that ironic, non-literally asserted content is “less” at-issue than non-ironic, literally asserted content. Crucially, our findings also suggest that an ironic utterance’s non-literally asserted content is more at-issue than the attitudinal content expressed with an ironic utterance. No difference is observed between attitudinal content manifested as ironic criticism and content manifested as ironic praise. Our findings support the notion of at-issueness as a graded criterion and can be used to argue that verbal irony in general seems to be difficult to reject directly and treated as at-issue.

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Is a So-Called “Beach” a Beach? An Empirically Based Analysis of Secondary Content Induced by Ironic Name Use

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

<i>Un tal Ernestico/a certain Ernestico</i>: On the structure of proper names

<i>Un tal Ernestico/a certain Ernestico</i>: On the structure of proper names

Modal particles in ironic utterances

‘Well, that’s just great!’: an empirically based analysis of non-literal and attitudinal content of ironic utterances

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