Christian Burgers

Verbal irony: Differences in usage across written genres

According to Gibbs and Colston, one of the biggest challenges for irony research is the uncovering of the various ways in which irony is used in discourse. This article takes up a genre-based approach to deal with this research challenge. In a content analysis of ironic utterances from six written genres (commercial and noncommercial advertisements, columns, cartoons, letters to the editor, book and film reviews), ironic utterances are compared on the usage of irony factors and irony markers. Results indicate that every genre in the corpus differs from the general distribution for at least one irony factor and one category of irony markers. Taken together, the clustering of irony factors and markers in specific genres is a first step toward identifying the various ways in which verbal irony is used differently across various genres.

Making ads less complex, yet more creative and persuasive: the effects of conventional metaphors and irony in print advertising

Rhetorical tropes like metaphors and irony are widely used in print advertising. Current advertising literature assumes that these different tropes (metaphor, irony) are persuasive when they are sufficiently novel and complex to increase advertising elaboration. However, we propose that, in some cases, tropes can also be persuasive when they present conventional and concrete images of abstract product qualities. To test if conventionality can explain the persuasiveness of various tropes (metaphor, irony), we conducted a 2 (conventional metaphor vs. no metaphor) × 2 (conventional irony vs. no irony) multiple-message experiment. Results demonstrate that conventional metaphors are persuasive by reducing complexity and increasing creativity and ad appreciation. Conventional irony, in contrast, has little effect on persuasiveness. Thus, differentiating between various tropes (metaphor, irony) is important in predicting persuasion effects: advertisers should refrain from using conventional irony, but including conventional metaphors about abstract product qualities in print advertising is advisable.

Stereotype Transmission and Maintenance Through Interpersonal Communication The Irony Bias

In interpersonal communication, stereotypes are predominantly transmitted through language. Linguistic bias theory presupposes that speakers systematically vary their language when communicating stereotype-consistent and stereotype-inconsistent information. We investigate whether these findings can be extended to verbal irony use. The irony bias posits that irony is more appropriate to communicate stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent information. Three experiments support this hypothesis by showing that irony is found more appropriate (Experiments 1-2) and used more often (Experiment 3) in stereotype-inconsistent than in stereotype-consistent situations. Furthermore, linguistic biases have important communicative consequences, because they implicitly serve to maintain stereotypic expectancies. Experiment 4 shows that irony shares this characteristic with other linguistic biases, in that irony—compared to literal language—leads to more external attribution. Taken together, these results indicate that stereotypic expectancies are subtly revealed and confirmed by verbal irony, and that verbal irony plays an important role in stereotype communication and maintenance.

How (not) to inform patients about drug use: use and effects of negations in Dutch patient information leaflets

Under EU regulations, patient information leaflets (PILs) are required to be clear and understandable. Negations (e.g., not, no) are a linguistic aspect that may impact PIL comprehension, yet go unmentioned in these regulations. We conducted two studies to determine (1) how negations are used in Dutch PILs (study 1) and (2) the effects of negations on readers (study 2).

Wolves, Confederates, and the Happy Few: The Influence of Comprehension, Agreement, and Group Membership on the Attitude Toward Irony

Comprehension is an important factor in the functioning of irony. Readers who are unaware of the irony in an utterance are “sheep,” whereas readers who understand the irony are “wolves” (Gibbs & Izett, 2005). Factors that may impact on the attitude toward irony not only include comprehension, but agreement (agreeing with the position taken in the utterance or not) and group membership (belonging to the target of the irony or not) as well. In an experiment, participants were asked to evaluate either ironic prejudices against women or ironic prejudices against men. The attitude toward the utterance and text is more positive when participants recognize the ironic intention, agree with the statement, and are not the members of the targeted group. These results imply that studies into the pragmatic effects of verbal irony should consider these 3 factors.

Rousing reviews and instigative images: The impact of online reviews and visual design characteristics on app downloads

Mobile apps are very popular. However, this is not true for every app, with some apps receiving millions of downloads, while other apps are mostly ignored. We investigate the popularity of apps in terms of downloads by focusing on two salient cues: (a) online recommendations (e.g., presence and valence of online reviews) and (b) visual characteristics of app icons (e.g., use of visual metaphors and anthropomorphism). Study 1 was a field study in which we content-analyzed 500 apps from the “transportation” subcategory of the Google Play Store. We found that the presence and valence of online reviews, as well as the presence of visual metaphors in app icons were positively related to the number of app downloads. Study 2 was an experiment in which we presented participants with different app icons containing different types of visual metaphors. We again found that app icons with visual metaphors led to more positive attitudes towards the apps and behavioral intentions. Combined, our studies show that both online consumers (through online reviews) and app designers (through visual design) impact an app’s popularity.

Language intensity as a sensationalistic news feature: The influence of style on sensationalism perceptions and effects

Abstract This article extends the definition of sensationalism to print media by arguing that language intensifiers may be an aspect of sensationalism. In addition, this paper investigates if an indirect effect can be established by which sensationalistic message features influence news reception through the perception of sensationalism. Two between-subjects experiments show that sensationalistic message features like intensifiers increase perceived language intensity (PLI). In experiment 1, intensifiers had a negative effect on news article appreciation, which was not influenced by PLI. Experiment 2 revealed positive indirect effects of intensifiers through PLI on newsworthiness and news article appreciation.

The Effects of Metaphorical Framing on Political Persuasion: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT Effects of metaphorical framing of political issues on opinion have been studied widely by two approaches: a critical-discourse approach (CDA) and a response-elicitation approach (REA). The current article reports a systematic literature review (N = 109) that examines whether these approaches report converging or diverging effects. We compared CDA and REA on the metaphorical frames that were studied and their reported effects. Results show that the CDA frames are typically more negative, nonfictional, and extreme than REA frames. Reported effects in CDA and REA studies differ in terms of presence, directionality, and strength, with CDA typically reporting strong effects in line with the frame, compared to REA. These differences in effects can be (partly) explained by the different frame characteristics. However, differences in the methods applied by CDA and REA could be (partly) responsible for these differences as well. In all, we conclude that the research field is fragmented on the impact of metaphors in politics.

Recategorizing political frames: a systematic review of metaphorical framing in experiments on political communication

ABSTRACT Framing theory is one of the most important theories in communication. One of the key debates today is about the tendency of scholars to mostly study issue-specific frames instead of generic frames. As a new approach to this debate, we propose a recategorization of frames. Following the proposition that metaphor is an important reasoning device in political communication, we examined the presence of metaphorical framing in recent political framing experiments. The main results show that almost one in three experiments involves metaphorical framing, and one in six frames is metaphorical, irrespective of frame type. By showing reasonable presence of metaphorical framing, this study demonstrates that the challenge of issue-specific prevalence may not be as problematic as previously suggested.

HIP: A Method for Linguistic Hyperbole Identification in Discourse

ABSTRACT This article introduces the Hyperbole Identification Procedure (HIP), a first systematic method for identifying linguistic hyperbole in discourse. We start by comparing existing definitions of linguistic hyperbole. Based on the commonalities shared by these definitions, we provide our operational definition of hyperbole as “an expression that is more extreme than justified given its ontological referent.” The next section argues why it is useful to identify hyperbole, as with metaphor in Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU), at the level of lexical units, and subsequently introduces the steps of HIP. We follow up with two sample analyses of HIP in practice. First, we show how to unitize and analyze one complete sample sentence. Second, we present sample analyses of a number of selected cases. Then we present data showing that HIP can be reliably applied to a sample corpus of Dutch news texts. We end with discussing applications and implications of using HIP in corpus research.