The Gradation of Criticism in Portuguese Parliamentary Discourse: Between Irony, Sarcasm and Humour
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21747/21833958/red17a2Keywords:
Portuguese Parliamentary Discourse, Gradation, Irony, Sarcasm, HumourAbstract
Irony is one of the preferred rhetorical devices in political discourse, not only due to its ethical and aesthetic dimensions, in the Aristotelian sense of the terms, but also because of its emotional impact and its ability to allow the speaker to convey a disparaging value judgement in a veiled way. In Portuguese parliamentary discourse and, in particular, in parliamentary political debate, irony is one of the most effective discursive mechanisms in argumentation, deconstructing and invalidating the political opponent’s discourse while simultaneously softening the impact of criticism on the speaker’s face. The disqualification of the other’s discourse and/or behaviour (whether of a member of the Government or the Opposition) may display varying degrees of aggressiveness, ranging from humorous, and ironic statements to sarcastic ones. We shall therefore seek to demonstrate how these different degrees of verbal violence are expressed in a corpus consisting of excerpts from several debates held in the Portuguese Parliament between September 2010 and May 2011. Through the analysis of discursive segments in which irony, sarcasm, and humour perform an argumentative-persuasive function, we show how the semantic relationships between the three elements are established along a continuum of values and discursive functions, often taking on hybrid forms that are difficult to disentangle. Finally, we aim to contribute to addressing a gap in the study of the rhetorical-discursive relations of irony, sarcasm, and humor in Portuguese parliamentary debate.
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