Language and Dialogue - Online First

The current study examines individual differences in self-reported irony use in a sample of 151 young adult females in Poland (Mage = 22.19; SD = 2.17). In addition to self-reported irony use (via the Irony Self-Report Scale, a Polish translation of the Sarcasm Self-Report Scale, SSS, Ivanko et al. 2004), we analyzed Big Five personality traits (Ten-Item Personality Inventory, Gosling et al. 2003), humor styles (The Humor Styles Questionnaire, Martin et al., 2003), and self-reported social media use, frequency of face-to-face interactions, and the number of siblings. Self-reported irony use was partially predicted by the personality trait of agreeableness and by three humor styles — aggressive, self-defeating and self-enhancing. Among the other variables, only the number of siblings proved to be a significant predictor of self-reported irony use. Overall, our results add to the emerging literature on individual differences in irony use.

The growing need for sustainable lifestyle practices, both individual and collective, has sparked ongoing debates on environmental and social sustainability. Public transit plays a key role in these discussions, for its capability to meet both (Mattioli 2016; Miller et al. 2016). Recently, public bodies have successfully used participatory web tools, such as social media and websites, to promote services and engage users. This approach has fostered increased trust and improved perceptions of transparency by making information more accessible (Criado et al. 2013; Song and Lee 2016). Dialogic features in texts, pointing to interaction between writer and audience (Bondi 2022), can create the impression of transparent communication, thereby showcasing willingness to build an open dialogue. Therefore, this study analyzes dialogic features on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) website and Instagram, revealing how both platforms distinctively resort to dialogicity to enhance communicative transparency and align with the audience’s expectations.

The paper examines leave-takings and farewells as linguistic routines in Akan. It emerged from my previous works on ethnopragmatics of Akan linguistic routines, namely apology, requests, greetings, thanking, advice, compliments, etc. This paper adopted Weigand’s (2010) Mixed Game Model, which deals with dialogic action games. It employs qualitative approaches including interviews, observation, and the recording of natural ethnographic events in the Akan society. These include closings and farewells at funerals, durbars, visits, travelling, arbitrations, folksongs, etc. The paper discusses the ethnosemantics of the leave-takings and farewell expressions. The findings of this paper will contribute to the use of dialogic action games in discussing other linguistic routines. This study will help further research in leave-taking and farewell in other Ghanaian languages.