Abstract:

In the modern global world the item of developing intercultural competence has acquired a particular importance. It is recognized that successful intercultural communication is impossible without the knowledge of background information, which includes communicative and cultural values, history and traditions. Being an essential part of a language culture, humour and irony pose vast challenges for research. The studies of humour and irony (Attardo 2007, Bilig 2005, Hutcheon 2005, Simpson 2003) show that both phenomena have national and cultural peculiarities which should be taken into consideration while understanding and interpreting the implied sense. On the contrary, the inability to penetrate into the disguised meaning of an ironic utterance may cause communicative failures, misunderstanding and even conflicts. The present paper focuses on the functions and objects of humour and irony in the modern discourse and is based on the authentic material of the speeches of British, American and Russian cultural and political figures. The aim of the paper is to single out some national peculiarities of humour and irony usage thus contributing to its better understanding for a foreign addressee. The results of the study can be applied in the development of discourse theory as well as teaching and learning intercultural communication.

Keywords:

Humour, irony, discourse, communication, interpretation, competence.