Influence Of Personality On The Production And Interpretation Of Verbal Irony

Irony is a common linguistic phenomenon in our verbal communication. Traditionally, irony is treated as a figure of speech in the language theory, and as a complex language use which can be easily found in both eastern and western cultures. Actually, irony can be classified into three categories:verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony. In brief, verbal irony is the most common form of irony. It basically is saying the opposite of what you mean. For instance, during a very boring drive, someone says, "It is the most scenic drive ever." The real driving experience is the opposite of what he or she expected. By saying so, the speaker either expressed the feeling of complaints or stated the sense of humor in order to become relaxed.Generally, speakers are able to express what they really mean in a very clear and frank way by employing the direct and exact words in their utterance, while the use of verbal irony in the conversation may bring about misunderstanding. Then why do speakers take the risk of using verbal irony willingly? Is there something of connection between the irony use and the personality of the speaker himself of herself?According to the theory of personality in psychology, the act of one person differs from that of another person because they have personalities of their own. From the psychological point of view, personality is the stable and unique model which leads to the different personal style of acting. It is a complex structure, and mainly includes aspects of temperament, character, and cognitive style. In detail, holders of personality type theory believe that basically there are two types of personality:extroversion and introversion.Meanwhile, language is treated as a special human act, and it is often the case that an individual speaks in the way of his or her own which is quite distinguished from another individual. For example, some like direct and mild critical words when expressing the dissatisfaction, while others prefer an ironic and stern way of wording as regards criticism.Thus is it right to say that language use can be influenced by the difference of personalities? If it is, the use of verbal irony should display the differences of personal types. Then which type of personality would like to use verbal irony more often? And which uses less? In addition, can a speaker's personality have any influence upon the interpretation of verbal irony? Which type of personality is more likely to understand some utterance as ironic? By way of questionnaire, the present research is dedicated to uncovering the answers to the foregoing questions.The research is carried out among 180 English majors in Business College of Shan Xi University. Firstly, they are asked to complete questionnaires of personality. Then they can be divided into three groups accordingly --- extroverts, introverts, and ambiverts. Secondly, participants of each group need finish the second questionnaire of production of verbal irony, and the third questionnaire of interpretation of verbal irony. At last, the task is to calculate and analyze the data. Based on the experiment, the current research shows that different personalities do have a significant influence on language use in our communication. And the use of verbal irony can reflect the different types of personality. To be exact, extroverts rank first in applying verbal irony to their communicative utterances, with ambiverts second and introverts third. Extroverts are risk-taking and sociable. They like to use ironic expressions to show their sense of humour. While introverts are more conservative, they would like to save the trouble and risk which may be caused by using of verbal irony. In the case of interpretation of verbal irony, introverts are the most likely ones to understand a sentence as ironic in a given situation, whereas extroverts take the least possibility to do so.