Bilingual irony processing during natural reading: A within-participant look at L1 versus L2 effects using eye-movement measures.

Ironic utterances (i.e., when people intend the opposite of what they say) are often more difficult to understand than literal utterances during natural reading (reviewed in Olkoniemi & Kaakinen, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75, 99-106, 2021). Moreover, ironic compliments ("Good job!" spoken upon a failure) tend to be even more challenging compared to ironic criticisms ("Terrible job!" spoken upon a success) (Pexman & Olineck, Discourse Processes, 33, 199-217, 2002). Relevant here, understanding irony is thought to require mentalizing capacity, which may be impacted by bilingual language experience (Tiv et al., Memory & Cognition, 51, 253-272, 2023) and differ for first and second language reading (L1 and L2, respectively). In this study, bilingual adults read sentences containing ironic compliments, criticisms, and matched literal statements in both their L1 and their L2 (blocked and counterbalanced), enabling a rigorous within-participant evaluation of L1 versus L2 irony processing. Linear mixed-effects modelling demonstrated the increased difficulty of ironic compliments during reading but indicated no group-level, within-participant L1 versus L2 irony differences. However, a significant effect of bilingual language experience emerged, in that individual differences in how readers distribute use of their L1 and L2 (i.e., language entropy) patterned with faster go-past times for ironic sentences during L1 reading. These findings cohere with the idea that bilingual language experience may relate to mentalizing processes that underlie irony resolution (e.g., Tiv et al., Memory & Cognition, 51, 253-272, 2023).