Cover not available

Article In: Investigating Children’s Irony Comprehension: Current trends, challenges, and perspectives
Edited by Julia Fuchs-Kreiß
[Pragmatics & Cognition 33:1] 2026
► pp. 12–33

Attitude understanding and irony development

Methodological challenges

ORCiD logo with link | University of Neuchâtel
ORCiD logo with link | University of Neuchâtel
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
A distinctive feature of verbal irony is the expression of a dissociative attitude. Although attitude understanding represents a key element of irony comprehension and its development, the experimental research in this area remains fragmented and often yields mixed findings. This paper reviews the measures employed to target distinct aspects of irony understanding, including attitude recognition, and examines inconsistencies in their application. Furthermore, it explores how features of experimental stimuli — including contextual, verbal, and paraverbal cues — can affect children’s performance. Our analysis lays the foundation for refining the conceptualisation of the dissociation expressed by the ironical attitude and overcoming methodological challenges such as ensuring consistency in the design of measures and their alignment with experimental stimuli. Adopting a more rigorous and integrative approach has the potential to illuminate the developmental trajectory of ironical attitude comprehension and support the establishment of more systematic and reliable research in this domain.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Assessing attitude understanding: Untangling measures in irony research
  • 3.Experimental stimuli in irony tasks: Variability and its implications
  • 4.General discussion and future directions
  • CRediT Author statement
  • Note
  • References
References (58)
References
Aguert, Marc, Coralie Le Vallois, Karine Martel & Virginie Laval. 2018. “That’s really clever!” Ironic hyperbole understanding in children. Journal of Child Language 45(1). 260–272. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aguert, Marc. 2022. Paraverbal expression of verbal irony: Vocal cues matter and facial cues even more. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 46(1). 45–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angeleri, Romina & Gabriella Airenti. 2014. The development of joke and irony understanding: A study with 3- to 6-year-old children. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale 68(2). 133–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Banasik-Jemielniak, Natalia & Barbara Bokus. 2019. Children’s comprehension of irony: Studies on Polish-speaking preschoolers. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 48(5). 1217–1240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bertuccelli, Marcella. 2018. Irony as a complex attitude. Lingue e Linguaggi 261. 59–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bosco, Francesca M. & Monica Bucciarelli. 2008. Simple and complex deceits and ironies. Journal of Pragmatics 40(4). 583–607. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bosco, Francesca M. & Ilaria Gabbatore. 2017. Sincere, deceitful, and ironic communicative acts and the role of the Theory of Mind in childhood. Frontiers in Psychology 8. 21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Breckler, Steven J. 1984. Empirical validation of affect, behavior, and cognition as distinct components of attitude. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47(6). 1191–1205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bromberek-Dyzman, Kasia. 2012. Affective twist in irony processing. Humana. Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies 5(23). 83–111.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burnett, Debra L. 2015. Exploring the role of conventionality in children’s interpretation of ironic remarks. Journal of Child Language 42(6). 1267–1288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Capelli, Carol A., Noreen Nakagawa & Cary M. Madden. 1990. How children understand sarcasm: The role of context and intonation. Child Development 61(6). 1824. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, Herbert H. & Richard J. Gerrig. 1984. On the pretense theory of irony. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113(1). 121–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Climie, Emma A. & Penny M. Pexman. 2008. Eye gaze provides a window on children’s understanding of verbal irony. Journal of Cognition and Development 9(3). 257–285. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deliens, Gaétane, Kyriakos Antoniou, Elise Clin, Ekaterina Ostashchenko & Mikhail Kissine. 2018. Context, facial expression and prosody in irony processing. Journal of Memory and Language 991. 35–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Demorest, Amy, Christine Meyer, Erin Phelps, Howard Gardner & Ellen Winner. 1984. Words speak louder than actions: Understanding deliberately false remarks. Child Development 55(4). 1527. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dews, Shelly, Ellen Winner, Joan Kaplan, Elizabeth Rosenblatt, Malia Hunt, Karen Lim, Angela McGovern, Alison Qualter & Bonnie Smarsh. 1996. Children’s understanding of the meaning and functions of verbal irony. Child Development 67(6). 3071. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Falkum, Ingrid Lossius & Franziska Köder. 2024. Investigating irony comprehension in children: Methods, challenges, and ways forward. In Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak, Piotr Kałowski & Maria Zajączkowska (eds.), Studying verbal irony and sarcasm, 145–173. Cham: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filippova, Eva & Janet Wilde Astington. 2008. Further development in social reasoning revealed in discourse irony understanding. Child Development 79(1). 126–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Children’s understanding of social-cognitive and social-communicative aspects of discourse irony. Child Development 81(3). 913–928. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garfinkel, Sarah, Meredith L. Rowe, Sandra Bosacki & Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak. 2024. “Mom said it in quotation marks!”: Irony comprehension and metapragmatic awareness in 8-year-olds. Journal of Child Language 51(3). 485–508. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garmendia, Joana. 2018. Irony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giustolisi, Beatrice & Francesca Panzeri. 2021. The role of visual cues in detecting irony. In Malte Zimmermann, Felix Schmitt & Natalie Webber (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 251. 292–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glenwright, Melanie, Brent Tapley, Jacqueline K. S. Rano & Penny M. Pexman. 2017. Developing appreciation for sarcasm and sarcastic gossip: It depends on perspective. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 60(11). 3295–3309. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glenwright, Melanie & Penny M. Pexman. 2010. Development of children’s ability to distinguish sarcasm and verbal irony. Journal of Child Language 37(2). 429–451. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hancock, Jeffrey T., Philip J. Dunham & Kelly Purdy. 2000. Children’s comprehension of critical and complimentary forms of verbal irony. Journal of Cognition and Development 1(2). 227–248. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, Melanie & Penny M. Pexman. 2003. Children’s perceptions of the social functions of verbal irony. Discourse Processes 36(3). 147–165. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hukker, Vera, Simone Sprenger & Petra Hendriks. 2021. Norm-based expectations affect children’s understanding of verbal irony. In Danielle Dionne & Lee-Ann Vidal Covas (eds.), Proceedings of the 45th annual Boston university conference on language development, 332–345. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024. The influence of intentional and accidental moral transgressions on children’s understanding of verbal irony. In Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak, Piotr Kałowski & Maria Zajączkowska (eds.), Studying verbal irony and sarcasm, 175–211. Cham: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keenan, Thomas R. & Kathleen Quigley. 1999. Do young children use echoic information in their comprehension of sarcastic speech? A test of echoic mention theory. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 17(1). 83–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Köder, Franziska & Ingrid Lossius Falkum. 2021. Irony and perspective-taking in children: The roles of norm violations and tone of voice. Frontiers in Psychology 121. 624604. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krygier-Bartz, Marta, Melanie Glenwright & Penny M. Pexman. 2024. Verbal irony and gossip appreciation among children and adults in Poland and Canada. In Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak, Piotr Kałowski & Maria Zajączkowska (eds.), Studying verbal irony and sarcasm, 107–144. Cham: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kumon-Nakamura, Sachi, Sam Glucksberg & Mary Brown. 1995. How about another piece of pie: The allusional pretense theory of discourse irony. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 124(1). 3–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laval, Virginie & Alain Bert-Erboul. 2005. French-speaking children’s understanding of sarcasm: The role of intonation and context. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 48(3). 610–620. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Loukusa, Soile & Eeva Leinonen. 2008. Development of comprehension of ironic utterances in 3- to 9-year-old Finnish-speaking children. Psychology of Language and Communication 12(1). 55–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Massaro, Davide, Annalisa Valle & Antonella Marchetti. 2013. Irony and second-order false belief in children: What changes when mothers rather than siblings speak? European Journal of Developmental Psychology 10(3). 301–317. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matsui, Tomoko. 2019. Component processes of irony comprehension in children: Epistemic vigilance, mind-reading and the search for relevance. In Kate Scott, Billy Clark & Robyn Carston (eds.), Relevance, pragmatics and interpretation, 231–239. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mazzarella, Diana & Nausicaa Pouscoulous. 2023. Ironic speakers, vigilant hearers. Intercultural Pragmatics 20(2). 111–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milosavljevic, Ana. 2024. Experiments on the development of irony: Walking through a methodological maze. In Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak, Piotr Kałowski & Maria Zajączkowska (eds.), Studying verbal irony and sarcasm, 79–106. Cham: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milosavljevic, Ana, Thomas Castelain, Nausicaa Pouscoulous & Diana Mazzarella. 2025. The developmental puzzle of irony understanding: Is epistemic vigilance the missing piece? Journal of Child Language. 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nilsen, Elizabeth S., Melanie Glenwright & Vanessa Huyder. 2011. Children and adults understand that verbal irony interpretation depends on listener knowledge. Journal of Cognition and Development 12(3). 374–409. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olkoniemi, Henri & Johanna K. Kaakinen. 2021. Processing of irony in text: A systematic review of eye-tracking studies. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 75(2). 99–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parola, Alberto & Francesca M. Bosco. 2022. An eye-tracking investigation of the cognitive processes involved in the comprehension of simple and complex communicative acts. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 75(10). 1976–1995. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pexman, Penny M., Melanie Glenwright, Andrea Krol & Tammy James. 2005. An acquired taste: Children’s perceptions of humor and teasing in verbal irony. Discourse Processes 40(3). 259–288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pexman, Penny M., Melanie Glenwright, Suzanne Hala, Stacey L. Kowbel & Sara Jungen. 2006. Children’s use of trait information in understanding verbal irony. Metaphor and Symbol 21(1). 39–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pexman, Penny M. & Melanie Glenwright. 2007. How do typically developing children grasp the meaning of verbal irony? Journal of Neurolinguistics 20(2). 178–196. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Recchia, Holly E., Nina Howe, Hildy S. Ross & Stephanie Alexander. 2010. Children’s understanding and production of verbal irony in family conversations. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 28(2). 255–274. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, Marco F. H., Hannes Rakoczy & Michael Tomasello. 2019. Eighteen-month-old infants correct non-conforming actions by others. Infancy 24(4). 613–635. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scianna, Caterina. 2023. When children acquire irony: The role of epistemic vigilance. Intercultural Pragmatics 20(3). 323–343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shibata, Midori, Akira Toyomura, Hiroaki Itoh & Jun-ichi Abe. 2010. Neural substrates of irony comprehension: A functional MRI study. Brain Research 13081. 114–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sperber, Dan. 1984. Verbal irony: Pretense or echoic mention? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113(1). 130–136. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sperber, Dan & Deirdre Wilson. 1981. Irony and the use-mention distinction. Philosophy 31. 143–184.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spotorno, Nicola, Anne Cheylus, Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst & Ira A. Noveck. 2013. What’s behind a P600? Integration operations during irony processing. PLoS ONE 8(6). e66839. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, Ross A. & Martin L. Hoffman. 1980. Empathy and the development of guilt in children. Developmental Psychology 16(2). 155–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre & Dan Sperber. 2012. Explaining irony. In Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (eds.), Meaning and relevance, 123–146. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Winner, Ellen & Sue Leekam. 1991. Distinguishing irony from deception: Understanding the speaker’s second-order intention. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 9(2). 257–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zajączkowska, Maria & Kirsten Abbot-Smith. 2020. “Sure I’ll help — I’ve just been sitting around doing nothing at school all day”: Cognitive flexibility and child irony interpretation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 1991. Article 104942. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue