| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract in English | 第4-7页 |
| Abstract in Chinese | 第7-9页 |
| Contents | 第9-12页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第12-23页 |
| ·Preliminary Remarks | 第12页 |
| ·A General Description of Irony | 第12-17页 |
| ·Definitional Problems | 第12-14页 |
| ·The Irony Family in English | 第14-16页 |
| ·Properties of Ironic Utterances | 第16-17页 |
| ·Pragma-linguistic Forms and Pragmatic Strategies to Realize Irony | 第17页 |
| ·A Brief Comparison Between Verbal Irony in English and “Fanyu”in Chinese | 第17-18页 |
| ·The Rationale of the Present Study | 第18-20页 |
| ·Objectives and Methodology | 第20-21页 |
| ·Outline of the Dissertation | 第21-23页 |
| Chapter 2 A Review of Previous Literature on the Nature of Irony | 第23-50页 |
| ·Introduction | 第23页 |
| ·The Traditional Rhetorical and Semantic Approaches: Irony as a Figure of Speech. | 第23-27页 |
| ·Traditional Rhetorical and Semantic Definition of Irony | 第23-25页 |
| ·Logical Refinement of Traditional Definition of Irony: Irony as Negation | 第25-27页 |
| ·Pragmatic Approaches | 第27-34页 |
| ·Irony as Violation of the Maxim of Quality: Grice’s theory | 第27-29页 |
| ·Irony as Indirect Negation and Graded Salience Violation: Giora’s Revision of Grice’s Approach | 第29-31页 |
| ·Irony as Relevant Inappropriateness: Attardo’s Development of Grice’s | 第31-32页 |
| ·Irony as an Insincere Speech Act: Analyses of Irony within Speech Act Theory | 第32-34页 |
| ·Cognitive Approaches | 第34-47页 |
| ·The Echoic Mention/Interpretation Theory: Sperber & Wilson’s Approach | 第34-39页 |
| ·The Pretense Theory: Clark & Gerrig’s Approach | 第39-41页 |
| ·The Echoic Reminder Theory: Kreuz & Glucksberg’s Approach | 第41-42页 |
| ·The Allusional Pretense Theory: Kumon-Nakamura et al.’s Approach | 第42页 |
| ·Irony as Implicit Display of Ironic Environment: Utsumi’s Prototype-based Approach | 第42-47页 |
| ·An Integrated View on the Nature of Irony | 第47-50页 |
| ·Irony as a Prototype-based Category | 第48页 |
| ·Irony as a Critical Evaluation | 第48页 |
| ·Irony as a Multi-dimensional Incompatibility | 第48-49页 |
| ·Irony with Pragmatic Forces | 第49-50页 |
| Chapter 3 Identification of Irony | 第50-89页 |
| ·Introduction | 第50页 |
| ·The Criterion for the Identification of Irony | 第50-54页 |
| ·Psychological Basis for the Identification of Irony | 第50-53页 |
| ·The Criterion | 第53-54页 |
| ·Irony and Other Related Tropes | 第54-60页 |
| ·Irony and Sarcasm | 第54-55页 |
| ·Irony and Satire | 第55-56页 |
| ·Irony and Innuendo | 第56-58页 |
| ·Irony and Parody | 第58-60页 |
| ·Irony and Other Related Speech Acts | 第60-66页 |
| ·Irony and Jokes | 第61-62页 |
| ·Irony and Teasing/Jocularity | 第62-64页 |
| ·Irony and Lies | 第64-66页 |
| ·Identification of Pragma-linguistic Cues Triggering Ironic Interpretation | 第66-89页 |
| ·The Role of Pragma-linguistic Cues in Irony Understanding | 第66-67页 |
| ·A Review of Previous Studies on Ironic Cues | 第67-74页 |
| ·A List of Pragma-linguistic Cues for Irony | 第74-89页 |
| Chapter 4 Pragmatic Functions of Irony and Ways of Responding to Irony | 第89-98页 |
| ·Introduction | 第89页 |
| ·Pragmatic Functions of Irony | 第89-94页 |
| ·Enhancing the Speaker’s Ironic Attitude, Especially a Negative One | 第90-91页 |
| ·Amusing and Exhibiting a Sense of Wit | 第91-92页 |
| ·Saving Face | 第92-93页 |
| ·Establishing Solidarity | 第93-94页 |
| ·Ways of Responding to Irony | 第94-98页 |
| ·A Review of Recent Researches on the Responses to Irony | 第94-96页 |
| ·The Relationship between Pragmatic Functions of Irony and Responses to | 第96-98页 |
| Chapter 5 Pragma-linguistic Cues for Irony Used in Mandarin Chinese and American English | 第98-139页 |
| ·Introduction | 第98-99页 |
| ·Research Design | 第99-101页 |
| ·Objectives of the Study | 第99页 |
| ·Description of the Data | 第99-101页 |
| ·Pragma-linguistic Cues Used in Chinese Ironic Utterances | 第101-117页 |
| ·An Overview of the General Types of Ironic Cues | 第101-103页 |
| ·Lexical Cues | 第103-107页 |
| ·Syntactic Cues | 第107-108页 |
| ·Typical Rhetorical Devices | 第108-112页 |
| ·Pragmatic Acts and Strategies | 第112-117页 |
| ·Pragma-linguistic Cues Used in American English Ironic Utterances | 第117-132页 |
| ·An Overview of the General Types of Ironic Cues | 第117-119页 |
| ·Lexical Cues | 第119-122页 |
| ·Syntactic Cues | 第122-123页 |
| ·Typical Rhetorical Devices | 第123-126页 |
| ·Pragmatic Acts and Strategies | 第126-132页 |
| ·Comparison and Discussion | 第132-138页 |
| ·An Overall Comparison | 第132-133页 |
| ·Lexical Cues | 第133-135页 |
| ·Syntactic Cues | 第135页 |
| ·Typical Rhetorical Devices | 第135-136页 |
| ·Pragmatic Acts and Strategies | 第136-138页 |
| ·Summary | 第138-139页 |
| Chapter 6 Ways of Responding to Irony in Mandarin Chinese and American English | 第139-159页 |
| ·Introduction | 第139页 |
| ·Research Design | 第139-142页 |
| ·Purposes of the Study | 第139-140页 |
| ·Description of the Data | 第140-142页 |
| ·A Classification and Brief Account of the Ways of Responding to Irony | 第142-148页 |
| ·Serious Responses to the Implied | 第142-144页 |
| ·Acceptance of the Irony and Playing Along | 第144-146页 |
| ·Simple Laughter | 第146-147页 |
| ·Zero Response | 第147-148页 |
| ·A Comparison of the Responses to Irony between Mandarin Chinese and American English | 第148-155页 |
| ·An Overall Comparison | 第149页 |
| ·Serious Reactions | 第149-153页 |
| ·Acceptance of the Irony and Playing Along | 第153页 |
| ·Simple Laughter | 第153-154页 |
| ·Zero Response | 第154-155页 |
| ·Summary | 第155-159页 |
| Chapter 7 Conclusion | 第159-167页 |
| ·Introduction | 第159页 |
| ·Summary of the Major Findings | 第159-163页 |
| ·Major Findings in the Study on the Pragma-linguistic forms and Pragmatic Strategies in Irony Realization | 第159-161页 |
| ·Major Findings in the Study on the Ways of Responding to Irony | 第161-163页 |
| ·Practical Implications of the Present Study | 第163-165页 |
| ·Limitations of This Study and Suggestions for Further Research | 第165-167页 |
| Appendix | 第167-172页 |
| References | 第172-183页 |
