The Rhetoric of Irony in Academic Writing

Written Communication Oct 1990

The Rhetoric of Irony in Academic Writing

GREG MYERS

Abstract

The widespread use of irony in academic writing raises issues not considered in most psychological, linguistic, or literary approaches to irony: How is irony signalled in a written text? What are the constraints of politeness within academic discourse that govern the use and interpretation of irony? This essay considers the interpretation of one kind of irony—ironic quotation—in a controversy between linguists and artificial intelligence researchers. Irony in these published exchanges is then compared to irony in conference discussions and unpublished papers in linguistics and to irony in other disciplines. Although the analysis follows psychological and linguistic accounts of irony as echoic mention in which the same words can be reused with a different intention, it begins with the rhetorical relation of the quoting writer, the quoted writer, and the reader as members of disciplinary communities. The instances of irony that are considered both define these relations and assume them as a basis for interpretation. This analysis suggests that the study of irony can serve as a means of understanding disciplines and of examining our own taken-for-granted assumptions as academic writers.

Journal: Written Communication
Published: 1990-10-01
DOI: 10.1177/0741088390007004001
Open Access: Closed
Topics: writing across the curriculum artificial intelligence multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

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Cites in this index (1)

HAGGE et al. (1989)

Linguistic Politeness in Professional Prose

Written Communication

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