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Article published In: Pragmatics & Cognition
Vol. 24:2 (2017) ► pp.186–211

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When language bites

A corpus-based taxonomy of sarcastic utterances in American television series

 | Université Paris 8, EA1569 TransCrit
Published online: 19 October 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.17027.tab
Abstract
This article focuses on sarcasm, for which the definitions have often been loose and confusing, integrating it into the concept of irony. My approach is based on a large corpus of examples taken from two contemporary television-series, which help identify the wide range of linguistic processes at the core of sarcastic utterances. I present a quantitative and descriptive analysis of the main processes found in two American television-series: House M.D. and The Big Bang Theory. The results show the intricate meanings created in sarcasm through various linguistic mechanisms, such as repetition, explicitation, metonymy, metaphor, shift of focus, reasoning, and rhetorical questions. This more holistic analysis, including a broad corpus of instances and a more detailed analysis of the examples, aims to fill the unexplored gaps in more classical analyses, emphasizing the complexities and implications that can be drawn in interaction.
Article outline
  • 1.A review of the literature on sarcasm
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.Sarcasm: Means and meanings
    • 3.1Saying the opposite (incongruity)
    • 3.2Repetition
    • 3.3Explicitation
    • 3.4Metonymy
    • 3.5Metaphor
    • 3.6Shift of focus
    • 3.7Reasoning
    • 3.8Rhetorical questions
  • 4.Sarcasm and exaggeration
  • 5.Discussion: Sarcasm as defined by a target
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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