This study investigated the role of self-construal and language background in irony interpretation. Prior research considered either cultural or language background, but not both. Spanish–English bilinguals (N = 152) from the U.S. and Mexico rated stories containing ironic and literal statements in English and Spanish, then completed the Language History Questionnaire, Self-construal Scale, and Sarcasm-self-report scale (SSS). Results showed that ironic items were rated as less ironic when presented in Spanish compared to English. Further, participants who scored higher in independent self-construal scored higher on SSS subscale “general sarcasm” (frequency of irony use), suggesting that irony is used more frequently by those who see themselves as more separate from others. These findings highlight the complex relationship between language and cultural tendencies measured in self-construal and demonstrate that language and culture need to be considered at the level of the individual participant.
BlaskoD. G.KazmerskiV. A.DawoodS. S. (2021). Saying what you don’t mean: A cross-cultural study of perceptions of sarcasm. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Expérimentale, 75(2), 114. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000258
2.
Bromberek-DyzmanK. (2024). Rethinking (assumptions about) irony: The Bilingual factor. In Banasik-JemielniakN.KałowskiP.ZajączkowskaM. (Eds.), Studying verbal irony and sarcasm. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57172-5_4
3.
Bromberek-DyzmanK.RatajK. (2016). Irony comprehension in the nonnative language comes at a cost. Psychology of Language and Communication, 20(3), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1515/plc-2016-0020
4.
DewsS.KaplanJ.WinnerE. (1995). Why not say it directly? The social functions of irony. Discourse Processes, 19(3), 347–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539509544922
DressM. L.KreuzR. J.LinkK. E.CaucciG. M. (2008). Regional variation in the use of sarcasm. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27(1), 71–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X07309512
Flores TreviñoM. E. (2009). La Burla y la Risa en la Ironía: sus Funciones en el Habla de Monterrey. Ironizar, Parodiar, Satirizar. Estudios sobre el Humor y la Risa en la Lengua, la Literatura y la Cultura, 87–101. http://eprints.uanl.mx/id/eprint/1924
9.
Flores TreviñoM. E. (2016). Atenuación e Intensificación en el Macro Acto de Ironizar en Entrevistas Orales. Letrônica. Revista Digital do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da PUCRS, 1, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-4301.2016.1.22341
10.
GudykunstW. B.MatsumotoY.Ting-ToomeyS.NishidaT.KimK.HeymanS. (1996). The influence of cultural individualism-collectivism, self construals, and individual values on communication styles across cultures. Human Communication Research, 22(4), 510–543. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1996.tb00377.x
11.
GulliferJ. W.TitoneD. (2020). Characterizing the social diversity of bilingualism using language entropy. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(2), 283–294. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000026
12.
HofstedeG. (1991). Empirical models of cultural differences. In BleichrodtN.DrenthP. J. D. (Eds.), Contemporary issues in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 4–20). Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers.
IvankoS. L.PexmanP. M.OlineckK. M. (2004). How sarcastic are you? Individual differences and verbal irony. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 23(3), 244–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X04266809
15.
KałowskiP.BranowskaK. (2024). The form and content of vignette stimuli in irony research with adult participants. In Studying verbal irony and sarcasm: Methodological perspectives from communication studies and beyond (pp. 215–240). Springer Nature Switzerland.
16.
KałowskiP.ZajączkowskaM.BranowskaK.OlechowskaA.SiemieniukA.DryllE.Banasik-JemielniakN. (2023). Individual differences in verbal irony use: A systematic review of quantitative psycholinguistic studies. Metaphor and Symbol, 38(1), 81–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2022.2160253
17.
KapoorS.HughesP. C.BaldwinJ. R.BlueJ. (2003). The relationship of individualism–collectivism and self-construals to communication styles in India and the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27(6), 683–700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2003.08.002
18.
LaiV.NarasimhanB. (2015). Verb representation and thinking-for-speaking effects in Spanish–English bilinguals. In de AlmeidaR.ManouilidouC. (Eds.), Cognitive science perspectives on verb representation and processing. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10112-5_11
19.
LaiV. T.RodriguezG. G.NarasimhanB. (2014). Thinking-for-speaking in early and late bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(1), 139–152. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728913000151
20.
LiP.ZhangF.YuA.ZhaoX. (2020). Language history questionnaire (LHQ3): An enhanced tool for assessing multilingual experience. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(5), 938–944. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918001153
21.
MinkovM.DuttP.SchachnerM.MoralesO.SanchezC.JandosovaJ.MuddB. (2017). A revision of Hofstede’s individualism-collectivism dimension: A new national index from a 56-country study. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 24(3), 386–404. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCSM-11-2016-0197
PfeiferV. A.Andrews-HannaJ.LaiV. T. (2024). Can irony regulate negative emotion? Evidence from behavior and ERPs. Cognition and Emotion, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2024.2340118
24.
PfeiferV. A.LaiV. T. (2021). The comprehension of irony in high and low emotional contexts. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Expérimentale, 75(2), 120–125. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000250
25.
PfeiferV. A.PexmanP. M. (2024). When it pays to be insincere: On the benefits of verbal irony. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33(1), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214231205312
26.
RockwellP.TheriotE. M. (2001). Culture, gender, and gender mix in encoders of sarcasm: A self-assessment analysis. Communication Research Reports, 18(1), 44–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824090109384781
27.
SingelisT. M. (1994). The measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(5), 580–591. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167294205014
28.
TivM.DeodatoF.RouillardV.WiebeS.TitoneD. (2021). Second language experience impacts first language irony comprehension among bilingual adults. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Expérimentale, 75(2), 126–132. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000230
29.
TivM.O’ReganE.TitoneD. (2023). The role of mentalizing capacity and ecological language diversity on irony comprehension in bilingual adults. Memory & Cognition, 51(2), 253–272. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-022-01349-4
30.
TivM.RouillardV.VingronN.WiebeS.TitoneD. (2019). Global second language proficiency predicts self-perceptions of general sarcasm use among bilingual adults. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 38(4), 459–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19865764
ZhuN.FilikR. (2023). Individual differences in sarcasm interpretation and use: Evidence from the UK and China. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 49(3), 445. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001227
33.
ZhuN.FilikR. (2024). The role of social status in sarcasm interpretation: Evidence from the United Kingdom and China. Discourse Processes, 61(1–2), 69–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2023.2252695
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
