Verbal irony is a rhetorical device that is not only verbal but also paraverbal. In the present study, we explored the paraverbal expression of verbal irony which has been largely underinvestigated, especially facial expressions. Given the role played by facial expressions in the detection of emotions, we hypothesized that speakers can communicate irony by facial expression alone. We asked 104 speakers to pronounce the same utterance, sometimes ironically, sometimes not. Naive judges were able to detect which speakers were ironic with increasing accuracy across the following three conditions: prosody only, facial expressions only, and both prosody and facial expressions. We then undertook a systematic description of the utterances, to identify which paraverbal cues induced the highest ironicalness ratings among the judges. Slow speech rate, then expressive movements of the mouth, then eyebrow flashes were the three most influential cues. Overall, facial cues explained more variance than vocal cues. Our results did not support the existence of a single, specific set of paraverbal ironic cues. They did, however, show that speakers routinely produce paraverbal cues, and that these cues, especially facial ones, allow their irony to be detected. The implications for models of irony comprehension are discussed.

口头讽刺是一种修辞手段，不仅是口头的，而且是超语言的。在本研究中，我们探讨了在很大程度上未得到充分研究的口头讽刺的超语言表达，尤其是面部表情。鉴于面部表情在检测情绪中所起的作用，我们假设说话者可以仅通过面部表情来传达讽刺意味。我们让 104 位说话者说出相同的话语，有时讽刺，有时不。天真的评委能够在以下三个条件中越来越准确地检测出哪些说话者具有讽刺意味：仅韵律、仅面部表情以及韵律和面部表情。然后我们对话语进行了系统的描述，以确定哪些副语言线索在评委中引起了最高的讽刺评级。语速慢，然后是嘴巴的表情动作，然后是眉毛的闪烁是三个最有影响的线索。总的来说，面部线索比声音线索解释了更多的差异。我们的结果不支持存在单一的、特定的副语言讽刺线索。然而，他们确实表明，说话者通常会产生超语言线索，而这些线索，尤其是面部线索，可以让他们发现他们的讽刺意味。讨论了对反讽理解模型的影响。让他们的讽刺被发现。讨论了对反讽理解模型的影响。让他们的讽刺被发现。讨论了对反讽理解模型的影响。