The impact of foreign accent on irony interpretation.

ABSTRACT: In modern multi-cultural societies, conversations between foreign speakers and native listeners have become very common. These exchanges often include the use of figurative language. The present study examines, for the first time, whether native listeners' non-literal interpretation of discourse is influenced by indexical cues such as speaker accent. Native listeners were presented with ironic and literal Spanish stories uttered in a native or foreign accent (Spanish and British English accents, respectively). Two types of irony were considered: ironic criticism (frequently used) and ironic praise (less frequently used). Participants were asked to rate stories on their level of irony. Results showed an impact of foreign accent on natives' non-literal interpretation. The effect was evident

SUBMITTER: Caffarra S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6082519 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature