ABSTRACT

This study examined children’s understanding of irony when a difference existed between a speaker’s intended meaning and a listener’s interpretation of the meaning. Three irony contexts were presented to 87 7/8-year-olds (second graders), 90 11/12-year-olds (sixth graders), and 103 adults. In the normal irony context, the speaker intended to convey irony, and the listener felt that he/she was being criticized by the speaker. In the unintended irony context, the speaker intended to convey praise, but the listener felt that he/she was being criticized by the speaker. In the unsuccessful irony context, the speaker intended to convey irony, but the listener felt that he/she was being praised by the speaker. The results showed that 11/12-year-olds and adults understood all three types of irony and appropriately judged whether or not the speaker’s intention was ironic and whether or not the listener thought that he/she was being criticized by the speaker. However, 7/8-year-olds did not understand the context differences, and across all types of irony they consistently judged that the speaker intended to praise the listener and that the listener thought that he/she was being praised. Furthermore, performance was generally correlated with passing second-order false belief tasks, especially with unintended and unsuccessful irony.

摘要

当说话者的预期含义与听众对含义的解释之间存在差异时，这项研究检验了儿童对反讽的理解。向87名7/8岁（二年级），90名11/12岁（六年级）和103名成年人展示了三个具有讽刺意味的情境。在正常的讽刺语境中，说话者意图传达讽刺意味，而听众则觉得自己受到说话者的批评。在意想不到的讽刺语境中，演讲者意图表达赞美，但听众觉得他/她受到演讲者的批评。在不成功的讽刺语境中，演讲者意图传达讽刺意味，但听众感到他/她受到演讲者的称赞。结果表明，11/12岁的成年人和成年人都能理解这三种类型的讽刺，并适当地判断说话者的意图是否具有讽刺意味，以及听者是否认为自己受到说话者的批评。然而，7/8岁的孩子不理解上下文的差异，并且在所有讽刺中，他们始终断言说话者是要赞美听众，而听众以为是在赞美他/她。此外，表现通常与通过二阶错误信念任务有关，尤其是与意外和不成功的讽刺相关。在所有类型的讽刺中，他们始终认为说话者是要赞美听众，并且听众以为自己受到称赞。此外，表现通常与通过二阶错误信念任务有关，尤其是与意外和不成功的讽刺相关。在所有类型的讽刺中，他们始终认为说话者是要赞美听众，并且听众以为自己受到称赞。此外，表现通常与通过二阶错误信念任务有关，尤其是与意外和不成功的讽刺相关。