Irony as an Interactional Resource in Romanian Presidential Debates
Irony as an Interactional Resource in Romanian Presidential Debates

Summary/Abstract: We put forward an analysis of the televised debates for presidential elections in Romania, in December 2009. We focus on the ironic verbal exchanges between the candidates and analyse them in the framework of the Mixed Game Model (Weigand 2010). We argue that the venue of the televised debates has a strong influence on the uses of irony. Thus, the candidates use irony to perform attacks on the opponent, to perform self-defense, or to get involved in “performances” meant to establish a positive rapport with the audience, actively and reactively portraying themselves as the best choice at a given moment, hence urging people to support their candidacy.

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