Irony: Context and Salience

Abstract

Two experiments test a graded salience account of irony processing (Giora, Fein, & Schwartz, 1998). Experiment 1 shows that, as predicted, less familiar targets embedded in ironically biasing contexts facilitate only the salient literal meaning initially: 150 msec after their offset. However, 1,000 msec after their offset, the less salient ironic meaning becomes available and the literal meaning is still as active. In contrast, familiar ironies facilitate both their salient literal and ironic meanings initially: 150 msec after their offset. Results do not change significantly after a 1,000-msec delay. In the literally biasing contexts, less familiar ironies facilitate only the salient literal meaning. In contrast, familiar ironies facilitate both their salient literal and ironic meanings under both interstimulus interval conditions, as predicted. Experiment 2 confirms that these findings were affected by the target sentences rather than by the contexts themselves. In Experiment 2, the contexts were presented without the targets, inducing no difference in response patterns.