L’ironie comme technique argumentative dissociative
Irony as a dissociative argumentative technique

Author(s): Marius-Octavian Munteanu
Subject(s): Philosophy, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Rhetoric
Published by: Editura Junimea
Keywords: irony; dissociation; pragmadialectics; advertising; pragmasemiotic; doxa;
Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to prove that irony can be an efficient argumentative technique, more specifically, a dissociative one, built on logical and psycho-social grounds. From a theoretical point of view, dissociation as argumentative technique was first discussed by Perelman and Tyteca in their famous Treatise of Argumentation: The New Rhetoric and further analyzed and refined in a pragmadialectical approach by the Dutch linguists of University of Amsterdam (and especially Agnes van Rees). Irony can be described as an argumentative technique producing a break between the psychological and conceptual background of the receiver and the actualization of the message. It results therefore an epistemic clash at the receiver in the same way as the argumentative dissociation diverts the existing meanings of a concept carried by the message. Our attempt is to prove that the argumentative force of irony as argumentative technique seen as associative, apparently, but being in the same time deeply dissociative, leads to an epistemic renewal at the reception pole.

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