Zvuková signalizace verbální ironie v češtině

The study investigates how native speakers of Czech signal irony through articulation rate and speech melody modulations. Recordings of six speakers reading short ironic and non-ironic statements were analyzed. To ascertain the validity of the data, a perceptual test was administered in which respondents evaluated utterances as ironic, neutral or otherwise affective. A detailed analysis of changes in articulation rate and fundamental frequency contours took into account the linguistic classes of strategies that were used by the speakers: while some used what we call a localistic approach, others exploited a globalistic mode of signaling irony in their voice.