Irony and satire

This chapter examines the conceptual relations between irony and satire. Many forms of satire, usually seen as containing elements of judgment, play, laughter, and aggression, may be considered discourse-level irony (i.e., satire is more evident in stretches of discourse, rather than in single utterances). Burgers illustrates this important point, as well as how satire expresses implied criticism, through consideration of several instances of television comedy programs, literature, internet news, and political commentaries. Satire may be differently explained by several prominent theories of irony (e.g., Gricean, pretense, echoic mention), each of which reveals the discourse-level nature of satirical communication. Burgers’ chapter describes various experimental studies looking at the impact that satirical language has on people’s attitudes toward different topics. As is all cases of irony, whether satire is successful in communicating speakers’ beliefs depends on a variety of situational (e.g., the specific media) and personal (e.g., who is the speaker, the addressee, overhearers, and their particular prior beliefs about some topic) factors. Even though satire may be a global phenomenon, how it is specifically employed in different cultures, and for different personal and social reasons, is very much a topic for future research.