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영어

This paper aims to make a pragmatic(i.e., a relevance-theoretic) account of using irony particularly shown in the political campaigns of UK and Korea. With reference to the linguistic nature of irony, Huang(2015: 163) holds that it is ‘a figure of speech in which one thing is said but the opposite is meant by the speaker.’ Additionally, according to Clark and Gerrig(1984), irony is generally used to blame or ridicule someone as a victim. In their point of view, irony conveys a negative evaluation toward its target(i.e., irony of sarcastic purpose). Other scholars such as Gibbs(1986), Kreuz(1996) and Attado(2000) hold that irony can also be used to describe a positive intended evaluation (i.e., irony of non-sarcastic purpose). While irony can be used both as a sarcastic purpose and as a non-sarcastic one in the contexts of political campaigns, it can hardly be realized as a sarcastic purpose in those of commercial advertisements. This paper, within the frame of the relevance- theoretic approach, elucidates the using mechanism of irony in political campaigns.