Irony Comprehension: Pragmatics Meets Epistemic Vigilance
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| Title: | Irony Comprehension: Pragmatics Meets Epistemic Vigilance |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Ana Milosavljevic (ORCID |
| Source: | First Language. 2026 46(3):393-413. |
| Availability: | SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 21 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Figurative Language, Language Usage, Young Children, Comprehension, Credibility, Expectation, Foreign Countries, Cognitive Development, Age Differences |
| Geographic Terms: | Switzerland |
| DOI: | 10.1177/01427237251396783 |
| ISSN: | 0142-7237 1740-2344 |
| Abstract: | The present study experimentally investigates the role of epistemic vigilance in children's comprehension of verbal irony. We tested 186 children aged from 4/5 to 7/8 using an offline irony comprehension task and an epistemic vigilance task. In the vigilance task, we assessed children's tendency to trust reliable informants and mistrust unreliable ones. The same informants appeared in the irony task as the target of the ironical remarks, allowing us to examine whether prior information about their reliability influenced irony interpretation. Our findings indicate that children's epistemic vigilance significantly predicted irony comprehension when irony was directed at an unreliable target. These results provide empirical support for the hypothesis that epistemic vigilance enhances understanding of the dissociative, critical stance expressed by the ironical speaker. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1507766 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | The present study experimentally investigates the role of epistemic vigilance in children's comprehension of verbal irony. We tested 186 children aged from 4/5 to 7/8 using an offline irony comprehension task and an epistemic vigilance task. In the vigilance task, we assessed children's tendency to trust reliable informants and mistrust unreliable ones. The same informants appeared in the irony task as the target of the ironical remarks, allowing us to examine whether prior information about their reliability influenced irony interpretation. Our findings indicate that children's epistemic vigilance significantly predicted irony comprehension when irony was directed at an unreliable target. These results provide empirical support for the hypothesis that epistemic vigilance enhances understanding of the dissociative, critical stance expressed by the ironical speaker. |
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| ISSN: | 0142-7237 1740-2344 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/01427237251396783 |
