Cognitive Analysis Of English Irony In The Meaning Construction Process

Based on Fauconnier and Turner’s Conceptual Integration Theory, which analyzes metaphor from a new point of view, Prof. Wang Wenbin has proposed a revised model, in which he put emphasis on the role of subjectivity and prominence. The present thesis adopts Prof. Wang’s model to analyze English irony in the aspects of self-negotiation and cognitive prominence.Self-negotiation refers that interlocutors would process the meaning of the utterance by themselves based on their subjectivities. In easy words, it is the self-agreement, self-recognition, self-evaluation and self-licencing in the meaning construction. In the whole process of conceptual integration, self-negotiation plays a dominant role.The new revised cognitive model changes the original blending space of the Conceptual Integration Theory into four steps, i.e. Space access, Space conflict, Space transition and Space confirmation. The advantage of this new model is the concern of self-negotiation, and it is more suitable to explain the meaning construction of irony.In the process of the interpretation of irony, the contrast between the literal meaning and the implied meaning forms the cognitive prominence which is the key factor for the meaning construction of irony.