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Article In: Investigating Children’s Irony Comprehension: Current trends, challenges, and perspectives
Edited by Julia Fuchs-Kreiß
[Pragmatics & Cognition 33:1] 2026
► pp. 99–120

Kidding kids

The role of epistemic vigilance in irony development

ORCiD logo with link | University of Neuchâtel
ORCiD logo with link | University College London
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Young children are notoriously bad at understanding ironical statements, with irony comprehension emerging around the age of 6 and appearing resistant to task manipulation. What can explain this late emergence? We propose that children’s epistemic vigilance is a pivotal component of the constellation of socio-cognitive abilities underpinning irony comprehension. Epistemic vigilance enables children to detect the contextual incongruity of an ironical statement, discern that the ironical speaker is neither mistaken nor deceptive, and infer the critical, dissociative attitude expressed through verbal irony. By highlighting the role of epistemic vigilance, this account provides insight into the developmental puzzle of irony comprehension. It elucidates why its developmental trajectory diverges from that of other forms of figurative or humorous language and why it is closely linked to lie understanding and second-order false belief reasoning.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cognitive drivers of irony development
  • 3.Irony and attitude: Delving into the interpretative dimension of language
  • 4.Irony requires epistemic vigilance
  • 5.Explaining the developmental puzzle of irony
  • 6.A new perspective on the cognitive drivers of irony development
  • 7.Conclusion
  • CRediT Author statement
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (80)
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