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How Children Understand Sarcasm: The Role of Context and Intonation
Author(s) -
Capelli Carol A.,
Nakagawa Noreen,
Madden Cary M.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb03568.x
Subject(s) - sarcasm , psychology , intonation (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , linguistics , communication , irony , paleontology , philosophy , biology
To recognize ironic sarcasm, adults may rely on either of 2 cues: the context in which the utterance is made, or the speaker's intonation. In 2 experiments comparing third graders (8–9 years old), sixth graders (11–12 years old), and adults, we investigated the development of children's ability to use these cues. In the first, children were able to recognize sarcasm when the speakers used sarcastic intonation but failed to do so without the intonation cue, even if the context strongly indicated a nonliteral interpretation. In the second experiment, subjects delivered dialogue with intonation they deemed appropriate—and justified their choices—based on contexts that either suggested sarcasm or not. Young children again appeared largely oblivious to contextually implied sarcasm. These results suggest that children initially depend more heavily on intonation than on context in recognizing sarcasm.