Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T17:39:39.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Irony and Thought: Developmental Insights

from Part IV - Irony in Linguistic Communication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2023

By
Penny M. Pexman
Edited by
Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr  and
Herbert L. Colston
Herbert L. Colston
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Get access

Summary

This chapter describes how children learn to produce and understand irony. Children do not usually understand irony very well until age 6 or so, a developmental process that continues to unfold throughout childhood. Pexman explores how children’s developing cognitive and linguistic skills (e.g., theory of mind abilities, specific language skills, executive functions related to metarepresentaitonal reasoning, emotion recognition, and epistemic vigilance) are critical to their becoming competent in understanding irony. Research on adults’ irony understanding suggests that part of children’s irony abilities may be explained via the parallel-constraint-satisfaction (PCS) theory that demonstrates how language, quite generally, is comprehended via the online integration of multiple discourse and sociocultural cues. Pexman discusses new findings from studies that may offer greater precision in detailing exactly how both children and adults detect and combine various cues in a predictive manner to quickly infer the complexities of ironic messages. She also sketches out several concrete directions for future experimental studies to better understand when and how children understand irony.

Keywords

childrencognitive skillsdevelopmentaltheory of mindmetarepresentaitonal reasoningparallel-constraint-satisfactionverbal irony
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Irony and Thought , pp. 181 - 196
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angeleri, R., & Airenti, G. (2014). The development of joke and irony understanding: A study with 3- to 6-year-old children. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68, 133–146.Google Scholar
Bosco, F. M., & Gabbatore, I. (2017). Sincere, deceitful, and ironic communicative acts and the role of theory of mind in childhood. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyc.2017.00021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bryant, G. A. (2012). Is verbal irony special? Language and Linguistics Compass, 6, 673–685.Google Scholar
Caffarra, S., Haeri, A. M., Michell, E., & Martin, C. D. (2019). When is irony influenced by communicative constraints? ERP evidence supporting interactive models. European Journal of Neuroscience, 50, 3566–3577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caillies, S., Bertot, V., Motte, J., Raynaud, C., & Abely, M. (2014). Social cognition in ADHD: Irony understanding and recursive theory of mind. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35, 3191–3198.Google Scholar
Capelli, C. A., Nakagawa, N., & Madden, C. M. (1990). How children understand sarcasm: The role of context and intonation. Child Development, 61, 1824–1841.Google Scholar
Carlson, S. M., Moses, L. J., & Breton, C. (2002). How specific is the relation between executive function and theory of mind? Contributions of inhibitory control and working memory. Infant and Child Development, 11, 73–92.Google Scholar
Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 181–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Climie, E. A., & Pexman, P. M. (2008). Eye gaze provides a window on children’s understanding of verbal irony. Journal of Cognition & Development, 9, 257–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demorest, A., Meyer, C., Phelps, E., Gardner, H., & Winner, E. (1984). Words speak louder than actions: Understanding deliberately false remarks. Child Development, 55, 1527–1534.Google Scholar
Dews, S., & Winner, E. (1999). Obligatory processing of literal and nonliteral meanings in verbal irony. Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 1579–1599.Google Scholar
Dews, S., Winner, E., Kaplan, J., Rosenblatt, E., Hunt, M., Lim, K., McGovern, A., Qualter, A., & Smarsh, B. (1996). Children’s understanding of the meaning and functions of verbal irony. Child Development, 67, 3071–3085.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebert, S. (2020). Theory of mind, language, and reading: Developmental relations from early childhood to early adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 191, 104739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fabry, R. E. (2019). Getting it: A predictive processing approach to irony comprehension. Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02470-9Google Scholar
Filik, R., Howman, H., Ralph-Nearman, C., & Giora, R. (2018). The role of defaultness and personality factors in sarcasm interpretation: Evidence from eye-tracking during reading. Metaphor & Symbol, 33, 148–162.Google Scholar
Filippova, E. (2014). Irony production and comprehension. In Matthews, D. (Ed.), Pragmatic development in first language acquisition (pp. 261–277). John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Filippova, E., & Astington, J. W. (2008). Further development in social reasoning revealed in discourse irony understanding. Child Development, 79, 126–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (1986). On the psycholinguistics of sarcasm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115, 3–15.Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (2002). A new look at literal meaning in understanding what is said and implicated. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 457–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giora, R. (1997). Understanding figurative and literal language: The graded salience hypothesis. Cognitive Linguistics, 8, 183–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glenwright, M., & Pexman, P. M. (2010). Development of children’s ability to distinguish sarcasm and verbal irony. Journal of Child Language, 37, 429–451.Google Scholar
Glenwright, M., Tapley, B., Rano, J. K. S., & Pexman, P. M. (2017). Developing appreciation for sarcasm and sarcastic gossip: It depends on perspective. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60, 3295–3309.Google Scholar
Godbee, K., & Porter, M. (2013). Comprehension of sarcasm, metaphor and simile in Williams syndrome. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 48, 651–665.Google Scholar
Hancock, J. T., Dunham, P. J., & Purdy, K. (2000). Children’s comprehension of critical and complimentary forms of verbal irony. Journal of Cognition & Development, 1, 227–248.Google Scholar
Happé, F. G. E. (1993). Communicative competence and theory of mind in autism: A test of relevance theory. Cognition, 48, 101–109.Google Scholar
Harris, M., & Pexman, P. M. (2003). Children’s perceptions of the social functions of verbal irony. Discourse Processes, 36, 147–165.Google Scholar
Harter, S., & Whitesell, N. R. (1989). Developmental changes in children’s understanding of single, multiple, and blended emotion concepts. In Saarni, C. & Harris, P. L. (Eds.), Children’s understanding of emotion (pp. 81–116). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hayashi, H., & Ban, Y. (2020). Children’s understanding of unintended irony and unsuccessful irony. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2020.1783528Google Scholar
Ivanko, S. L., Pexman, P. M., & Olineck, K. M. (2004). How sarcastic are you? Individual differences and verbal irony. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 23, 244–271.Google Scholar
Kaakinen, J. K., Olkoniemi, H., Kinnari, T., & Hyönä, J. (2014). Processing of written irony: An eye movement study. Discourse Processes, 51, 287–311.Google Scholar
Katz, A. N. (2005). Discourse and sociocultural factors in understanding nonliteral language. In Colston, H. L. & Katz, A. N. (Eds.), Figurative language comprehension: Social and cultural influences (pp. 183–207). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Keenan, T. R., & Quigley, K. (1999). Do young children use echoic information in their comprehension of sarcastic speech? A test of the echoic mention theory. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17, 83–96.Google Scholar
Kreuz, R. J., & Glucksberg, S. (1989). How to be sarcastic: The echoic reminder theory of verbal irony. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 118, 374–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, K., Sidhu, D. M., & Pexman, P. M. (2020). Teaching sarcasm: Evaluating metapragmatic training for typically developing children. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(2), 139–145.Google Scholar
Malle, B. F. (2002). The relation between language and theory of mind in development and evolution. In Givón, T. & Malle, B. F. (Eds.), The evolution of language out of pre-language (pp. 265–284). Benjamins.Google Scholar
Massaro, D., Valle, A., & Marchetti, A. (2013). Irony and second-order false-belief in children: What changes when mothers rather than siblings speak? European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 10, 301–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massaro, D., Valle, A., & Marchetti, A. (2014). Do social norms, false belief understanding, and metacognitive vocabulary influence irony comprehension? A study of five- and seven-year-old children. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11, 292–304.Google Scholar
Matthews, D., Biney, H., & Abbot-Smith, K. (2018). Individual differences in children’s pragmatic ability: A review of associations with formal language, social cognition, and executive functions. Language Learning and Development, 14, 186–223.Google Scholar
Mazzarella, D., & Pouscoulous, N. (2020). Pragmatics and epistemic vigilance: A developmental perspective. Mind & Language, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12287Google Scholar
Mewhort-Buist, T. A., & Nilsen, E. S. (2013). What are you really saying? Associations between shyness and verbal irony comprehension. Infant and Child Development, 22, 180–197.Google Scholar
Milligan, K., Astington, J. W., & Dack, L. A. (2007). Language and theory of mind: Meta-analysis of the relation between language ability and false-belief understanding. Child Development, 78, 622–646.Google Scholar
Nicholson, A., Whalen, J. M., & Pexman, P. M. (2013). Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00691.Google Scholar
Nilsen, E. S., Glenwright, M., & Huyder, V. (2011). Children and adults understand that verbal irony interpretation depends on listener knowledge. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12, 374–409.Google Scholar
Olkoniemi, H., & Kaakinen, J. K. (2021). Processing of irony in text: A systematic review of eye tracking studies. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(2), 99–106.Google Scholar
Olkoniemi, H., Ranta, H., & Kaakinen, J. K. (2016). Individual differences in the processing of written sarcasm and metaphor: Evidence from eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 42, 433–450.Google Scholar
Olkoniemi, H., Strömberg, V., & Kaakinen, J. K. (2019). The ability to recognize emotions predicts the time-course of sarcasm processing: Evidence from eye movements. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72, 1212–1223.Google Scholar
Pálinkás, I. (2014). Blending and folk theory in an explanation of irony. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 12, 64–98.Google Scholar
Panzeri, F., Giustolisi, B., & Zampini, L. (2020). The comprehension of ironic criticisms and ironic compliments in individuals with Down syndrome: Adding another piece to the puzzle. Journal of Pragmatics, 156, 223–234.Google Scholar
Perner, J., & Wimmer, H. (1985). “John thinks that Mary thinks that…”: Attribution of second-order beliefs by 5- to 10-year-old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 39, 437–471.Google Scholar
Pexman, P. M. (2008). It’s fascinating research: The cognition of verbal irony. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 286–290.Google Scholar
Pexman, P. M. (2023). Persuasive language development: The case of irony and humour in children’s language. In Fahnestock, J. & Harris, R. A. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Persuasion (pp. 475–487). Routledge.Google Scholar
Pexman, P. M., & Glenwright, M. (2007). How do typically developing children grasp the meaning of verbal irony? Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20, 178–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pexman, P. M., Glenwright, M., Krol, A., & James, T. (2005). An acquired taste: Children’s perceptions of humor and teasing in verbal irony. Discourse Processes, 40, 259–288.Google Scholar
Pons, F., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (2004). Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years: Developmental periods and hierarchical organization. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1, 127–152.Google Scholar
Regel, S., Coulson, S., & Gunter, T. C. (2010). The communicative style of a speaker can affect language comprehension? ERP evidence from the comprehension of irony. Brain Research, 1311, 121–135.Google Scholar
Rivière, E., & Champagne-Lavau, M. (2020). Which contextual and sociocultural information predict irony perception? Discourse Processes, 57, 259–277.Google Scholar
Rostad, K., & Pexman, P. M. (2014). Developing appreciation for ambivalence: The understanding of concurrent conflicting desires in 4- to 7-year-old children. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68, 122–132.Google Scholar
Sperber, D., Clément, F., Heintz, C., Mascaro, O., Mercier, H., Origgi, G., & Wilson, D. (2010). Epistemic vigilance. Mind & Language, 25, 359–393.Google Scholar
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1995). Relevance: Communication and cognition (2nd ed.). Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sullivan, K., Winner, E., & Hopfield, N. (1995). How children tell a lie from a joke: The role of second-order mental state attributions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 13, 191–204.Google Scholar
Thagard, P. (2000). Coherence in thought and action. Bradford Books.Google Scholar
Turcan, A., Howman, H., & Filik, R. (2020). Examining the role of context in written sarcasm comprehension: Evidence from eye-tracking during reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 46, 1966–1976.Google Scholar
Utsumi, A. (2000). Verbal irony as implicit display of ironic environment: Distinguishing ironic utterances from nonirony. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 1777–1806.Google Scholar
Wellman, H. M. (2014). Making minds: How theory of mind develops. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
Winner, E., & Leekam, S. (1991). Distinguishing irony from deception: Understanding the speaker’s second-order intention. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 257–270.Google Scholar
Zajaczkowska, M., & Abbot-Smith, K. (2020). “Sure I’ll help – I’ve just been sitting around doing nothing at school all day”: Cognitive flexibility and child irony comprehension. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 199, 104942.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×