本文是一篇语言学论文，本研究的结果表明，语境和韵律的影响程度相似。此外，本研究还推断了其他因素，如年龄和认知能力，也可能影响认知。当神经细胞相互连接时，所有线索都会同时被激活。因此，与元认知评估模型相比，约束满足模型对言语讽刺加工具有更强的解释力。
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Statement with implied meaning is quite common in daily interaction, and this kind of statement is called non-literal language. In communication, to achieve certain communicative goals, speakers often mask their real intention or emotion by using language strategically (Bryant, 2012). Even though producing or comprehending the non-literal language demands more cognitive process than using or understanding literal ones, the non-literal language is still widely used for it may fulfill such unique socio-emotional functions as strengthening social bonds or reducing the social cost of criticizing others (Filik et al., 2017).
Irony is one fundamental manifestation of the non-literal language, which refers to “the use of words that say the opposite of what you mean, often as a joke and with a tone of voice that shows this” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary of the 8th Edition, 2009, p. 1114). Sarcasm stems from irony. As one sub-type of irony, it is defined as “a way of using words that are the opposite of what you mean in order to be unpleasant to somebody or to make fun of them” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary of the 8th Edition, 2009, p. 1828). In short, sarcasm refers to the words used to blame by praising (Knox, 1961), which is used to disparage or ridicule as a communicative tool as well as a potent language weapon in daily communication.
Sarcasm has attracted attention from various research fields. Scholars in literature, linguistics, and psychology all focus on this ubiquitous and fascinating language phenomenon. The present study confines itself to the linguistic domain, mainly investigating the sarcasm perception.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to explore the interactive influence of context and prosody in the perception of sarcastic utterance through experiments in which postgraduate students at Lanzhou University are recruited as participants.
By using sarcasm, speakers express the sarcastic meaning that opposites to the literal one. It is easy for the hearer to confuse the implied sarcastic meaning with the literal sincere one. At the very beginning, this study aims to examine whether the sarcastic prosody and the sincere prosody can be discriminated in terms of seven prosodic features (mean intensity, mean pitch, intensity range, pitch range, intensity SD, pitch SD, and tempo) (Xu, 2017). Then, this study testifies if Chinese native speakers can distinguish the intention of sarcastic utterance from that of sincere one in context-free situations.
Later, the response time and each participant’s selection are analyzed to explore the impact of context and prosody and to testify the processing model of Chinese verbal sarcasm perception.
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Major Concepts
2.1.1 Irony and Sarcasm
This thesis starts this part from definitions of irony and sarcasm, aiming to further clarify these two concepts, which are often mixed in some studies.
Irony: The year of 1502 found the first appearance of the word irony, which is derived from the Greek&
