María Isabel Kalbermatten (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures) edited the book En busca de una caracterización de la ironía verbal en español. This volume brings together leading scholars from Spain, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina to explore verbal irony in a range of linguistic and social contexts. The book highlights the diversity of research on irony, which includes more than 140 studies conducted across the Spanish-speaking world over the past four decades.
The contributors examine how verbal irony functions in everyday conversation, media, humor, and educational settings. Topics include irony and humor in Peninsular Spanish, phonopragmatic and experimental approaches, sociopragmatic variation, the intersection of metaphor and irony, metalinguistic awareness in students, and the co-construction of ironic messages in familial and friendly interactions.
Organized by country, the volume reveals both shared patterns and regional differences in the use and understanding of irony. The authors demonstrate that multiple approaches—experimental, theoretical, and discourse-analytic—can complement one another, offering nuanced perspectives on how irony is realized and interpreted.
This edited volume underscores the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of research in the field of Spanish linguistics. By bringing together these diverse scholarly voices, the book provides valuable insights for students, researchers, and anyone interested in the complex ways language shapes social interaction and meaning.