From irony to sarcasm: an approximation to Spanish parliamentary discourse

Abstract

In this paper we will study the irony gathered in the parliamentary speeches in Spanish language. From this research object, and following the Theory of Argumentation, it is based on the hypothesis that irony in its negative valuation becomes sarcasm (which will come to be understood here as the variant of irony). We will also understand that irony, as a dialectical weapon, is the shield that allows the politician to consolidate his adversary role thanks to the maximum dependence of the sociocultural context. For all this, we will present discursive samples, on the one hand, to defend that this pragmatic resource is a mechanism of cohesion in the discursive process of the ideological argumentation of the politician; on the other hand, to try to categorize the linguistic mechanisms for their expression.

Keywords

• retórica, pragmática, ironía, sarcasmo, discurso político, contexto sociocultural