The difference between irony and sarcasm.

Expressiveness of speech is achieved through the use of various linguistic means, including tropes - words and expressions used not in a direct, but in a figurative sense. The techniques of irony and sarcasm are based precisely on this principle of word usage. They are used if you need to express your attitude to the object of speech in an allegorical form, putting into a statement or remark an incriminating hidden meaning that is opposite to a positive context.

Definition

Irony - an allegory in which the true evaluative content is opposed to the form of praise, compliment, admiration or other positive assessment with the aim of hidden mockery, exposure.

Sarcasm is a caustic remark, a caustic satirical denunciation, which is built on a sharp contrast between the positive beginning of a phrase and its destructive meaning, revealed in a direct indication of human vices or ugly phenomena of reality.

Comparison

Irony is a subtle instrument of the comic. It is close to wit, a joke, when the opposition of the literal meaning of words and the true meaning of the utterance causes laughter.

A judgment filled with sarcasm is never funny: it characterizes the object of speech from the standpoint of moral assessment, reflecting subjective rejection and condemnation.

As a literary device, irony gives the content of the work an expressive expression, and the form of presentation - a stylistic originality. An ironic remark can demonstrate the author's attitude to the character or the described situation, emphasize the absurdity of the situation, reduce the pretentiousness and imaginary significance of the images.

Sarcasm is used for harsh criticism, in the light of which the ugliness of personal human qualities or immoral life positions take on not just a caricature form, but also cause uncompromising public censure.

Conclusions TheDifference.ru

  1. Irony is a way of veiled, hidden negative assessment of the object of speech.
  2. Sarcasm is a trope in which a figurative accusatory meaning is expressed with a minimum degree of allegory.
  3. The form of an ironic statement is always positive, in contrast to the hidden ridicule, to which its meaning is reduced.
  4. A sarcastic remark or address directly indicates the subject of derogatory criticism.
  5. Irony is used as a kind of comic in humorous literary works and oral figurative speech.
  6. Sarcasm is never gentle; as a sharply satirical means of artistic expression, it is usually used in accusatory oratorical speeches and publicistic texts of social and political content.
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