Re: Ironic Use of Attitudinals

[Ashley Yakeley <AshleyB@HALCYON.COM>]

At 1997-11-07 13:03, Logical Language Group wrote:

>Since the attitudinals are intended to be expressions of internal states
>rather than statements about those internal states, a fluent speaker
>should not use attitudinals ironically.

Doesn't follow. Consider ironic use of the English humour-attitudinal 'ha
ha', or perhaps the Yiddish attitudinal 'oy'.

>  The fluent speaker will show
>his feelings openly (or express the hiding of feelings perhaps).  Ironic
>usages are by implication statements about feelings rather than ex
>pressions
>of them.  It takes conscious thought to express an emotion falsely or
>ironically.

Really just simple acting skills.

>So I hope no one starts using the attitduinals ironically ever.  Kinda
>would spoil their purpose.

I think it would spoil their purpose if people started assuming a
particular attitudinal was ironic whenever they heard it. The kind of
irony I had in mind is when an attitudinal is so obviously inappropriate
that it's funny.

At 1997-11-07 08:15, John Cowan wrote:

>The point is that *explicit* expressions of emotion in English are
>inherently somewhat ironic; English has a stiff-upper-lip assumption,
>especially in writing.  Not so Lojban.

This is what I had hoped.



--
Ashley Yakeley, Seattle WA
http://www.halcyon.com/ashleyb/