Ironical Devices in Romanian and British Parliamentary Debates

Abstract

The present paper intends to apply the fencing game model of irony proposed by Anolli, Infantino, and Ciceri (2001). The research consists of the comparative approach of some ironical devices from parliamentary debates in Romanian and British politics from 2008 until the present. The article aims to analyze how irony is accomplished in interaction, namely construction and usage. Irony is easily recognisable and it is used as a criticism and as an attack. Here, the irony is not considered a simple comment or utterance, but also consists of a complex communicative interaction influenced by different factors.