The Phenomenon of Verbal Irony and Its Functions in the Discourse of Manipulation

The article summarizes the scientific views toward verbal irony, identifies its main characteristic features. Ironical meaning, implicitness, contrast, versatility, multidimensionality, and laconic form are considered as typical signs of verbal irony. Irony is shown to be a linguistic phenomenon with a great pragmatic potential. The author groups major functions of verbal irony, as distinguished by linguists including hidden expression of negative attitude towards a communicative partner or to episodes of social realm in the form of mockery, disregard, hostility; persuasion and correction of an interlocutor's behavior, motivating his/her actions; disguising insincerity, descriptive and qualificative functions, ascension above an interlocutor, expression of emotional attitude towards him/her, demonstration of the actual state of affairs, optimization of interpersonal relations, in particular, observance of the principle of politeness, evasion of a direct answer. Oonsidering verbal irony as one of the ways of responding to a manipulatively directed positive evaluation, the author determines the place of verbal irony and its functions in manipulative discourse, focuses on studying its manifestations in an intergender manipulatively directed communication. Basic functions of ironic utterances in manipulative positive discourse were found to comprise harmonization of communication, demonstration of dissatisfaction with the form or the content of a compliment or with manipulator's behavior in general, stimulating a new wave of compliments, expression of disagreement with an interlocutor's opinion, mistrust or surprise, indirect demonstration of approval or friendly attitude, a request for information, a hint at refusal or lack of feelings in return, ascension over an interlocutor, bringing the discussion around to a different point, identification of true manipulator's intentions, and self-abasement. It has been found that the functions of self-irony in the discourse of positive manipulation correlate with the type of a communicative situation. The concept of "revealing manipulator's intention" is contrasted to the concept of "revealing speaker's manipulative tactics". The author concludes on polyfunctionality of ironic reactive utterances, while defining the combination of such ironic utterances' functions as harmonizing communication and positive self-positioning to be the most typical in the type of discourse under study. The article studies the frequency of ironic utterances' functions in the discourse of positive manipulations, in particular, with the manipulative tactics of increasing the value of an interlocutor. Ironic utterances are shown to be caused by extra-linguistic factors, such as relations between communicants, semantics of a positively evaluative manipulative expressive, and adequacy of evaluation, as well as manipulator's intentions and ability of an object of manipulation to uncover them.

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