37.179, Confs: Theme Session at the 9th International Conference on Figurative Thought and Language: How to Conceptualize Communicative Ironies (Spain)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-179. Thu Jan 15 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.179, Confs: Theme Session at the 9th International Conference on Figurative Thought and Language: How to Conceptualize Communicative Ironies (Spain)

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Date: 13-Jan-2026
From: Angeliki Athanasiadou [angath at enl.auth.gr]
Subject: Theme Session at the 9th International Conference on Figurative Thought and Language: How to Conceptualize Communicative Ironies


Theme Session at the 9th International Conference on Figurative
Thought and Language: How to Conceptualize Communicative Ironies
Short Title: FTL 9
Theme: How to Conceptualize Communicative Ironies

Date: 09-Sep-2026 - 11-Sep-2026
Location: Valencia, Spain
Contact: Angeliki Athanasiadou and Herbert Colston
Contact Email: angath at enl.auth.gr
Meeting URL: https://cogclare.com/ftl9/

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Discourse Analysis;
Pragmatics; Semantics
Subject Language(s): English (eng)

This theme session continues the discussion that began in various
events  and lately in the online workshop, 4-5 October 2025, entitled
“The Figure of Irony revisited” in which the multifaceted and varied
nature of irony was reestablished, its pervasive character in thought
and language was reconfirmed, though, as expected, more facets were
deemed necessary for further theoretical and empirical investigation.
The present theme session once again aims to extend the discussion of
irony in figurative thought and language, eventually approaching irony
as a broad family with members such as sarcasm, satire, antiphrasis,
parody,… ; and investigating its link(s) to overstatement and
understatement, to allegory, and to other extensions closer or
remotely approaching irony. Based on parameters that would constitute
irony a central member of the family, is it possible to say that
verbal irony is the central figure? In which ways are the other
members linked to irony? What characteristics enable such a collection
of things? These are some of the questions this theme session hopes to
address.
The study of more peripheral members of the family which receive less
attention might advance research of the figure of irony and might
provide more of an overall coherent view of irony’s character and
extent.
The central aim is to develop an enhanced understanding of the term
verbal irony by providing in-depth analyses of relevant conceptual
structure and functioning; in this approach, verbal irony conveys much
more than simply reversal of values or, generally, a departure from
literal meaning.
The study of ironic construals, for instance, could embrace central
issues such as viewpoint, perspective shift, embodiment, deixis and
deictic shift, subjectivity and subjectification, among others.
As for constructions that facilitate the expression of ironic
construals, what is the role of negatives, interrogatives,
conditionals? What is the role of adjectives or intensifiers, or of
of-constructions?
Some key questions we aim to explore, apart from or together with the
ones of the online workshop,  include the following:
 - Are figures such as satire, sarcasm subordinate to central
(satiric[al] irony, sarcastic irony) or do they have an independent
status?
 - In case they have a peripheral status, can they be situated on a
continuum which ranges from locations towards or farther from irony or
on some other relevant dimension(s)?
 - What conceptual tools/constructs are needed to fully define verbal
irony? In particular, should it be treated in terms of frames, domains
or mental spaces, or explained as the result of cognitive operations
such as echoing?
 - How do cognitive grammar and construction grammar contribute to an
in-depth understanding of irony?
 - What are the sociocultural and affective factors that motivate the
creation and usage of figures such as allegory, fables, …?
 - What is the role of verbal irony in viewpoint, in the shifting of
perspective, in deictic shift, in subjectivity, guiding pragmatic
inference or in any effect leveraging?
Let us know if you would be interested in participating and, if so,
for now please send us your name(s) and a tentative title of your
presentation. The theme session proposal with paper titles and
presenters will be submitted by February 15th to FTL conference
organizers. You can later submit your abstract individually, by March
31st.
Should you have any further inquiries do not hesitate to contact us.
(angath at enl.auth.gr)
(colston at ualberta.ca)



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