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Development of children's ability to distinguish sarcasm and verbal irony*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2009

MELANIE GLENWRIGHT  and
PENNY M. PEXMAN
MELANIE GLENWRIGHT*
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba
PENNY M. PEXMAN
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
*
[*]Address for correspondence: Melanie Glenwright, Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, P517B Duff Roblin Bldg, 190 Dysart Rd, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA, R3T 2N2. tel: 1 (204) 474-9726; fax: (204) 474-7599; e-mail: glenwrig@cc.umanitoba.ca.
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Abstract

Adults distinguish between ironic remarks directed at targets (sarcasm) and ironic remarks not directed at specific targets. We investigated the development of children's appreciation for this distinction by presenting these speech acts to 71 five- to six-year-olds and 71 nine- to ten-year-olds. Five- to six-year-olds were beginning to understand the non-literal meanings of sarcastic speakers and ironic speakers but did not distinguish ironic and sarcastic speakers' intentions. Nine- to ten-year-olds were more accurate at understanding sarcastic and ironic speakers and they distinguished these speakers' intentions, rating sarcastic criticisms as more ‘mean’ than ironic criticisms. These results show that children can determine the non-literal meanings of sarcasm and irony by six years of age but do not distinguish the pragmatic purposes of these speech acts until later in middle childhood.

Type
Brief Research Report
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 429 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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