Joker face. Recognizing irony in the visual mode in spoken and signed language

Abstract

A remark such as “The party was really funny!” can be interpreted literally, as a praise, or ironically, as a criticism. To avoid misunderstandings, the ironist can pronounce the comment with a particular intonational contour, the so called ironic tone of voice, and accompany it with specific facial expressions. Also in Italian Sign Language (LIS) nonmanual markers can signal the ironic intent of the signer, and thus facilitate the detection of the intended meaning. We report the results of two experimental studies that aim at identifying the role played by purely visual cues in the detection of irony in spoken Italian, and at verifying whether ironic remarks in LIS are recognizable also by those who are not competent in that language. We discuss the findings in the light of the debate concerning the affective or grammatical status of facial expressions, in spoken and signed languages.