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A survey was conducted of 218 students and non-students regarding their use of sarcasm and various other personality traits. One question on the survey asked respondents to describe a sarcastic comment that they remembered making and why they remembered making it. Of the 218 respondents, 73 produced usable responses to this question. Respondents reported messages that exhibited more positive rather than negative language, more other-directed than self-directed messages, and more teasing rather than serious messages.
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“Yeah, right!”: A Linguistic Analysis of Self-reported
Sarcastic Messages and Their Contexts
Patricia Rockwell
Department of Communication
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Lafayette, LA
70504
Presented to the Language and Social Interaction Division of the Southern States
Communication Association at the annual convention, Dallas, TX,
April, 2006
Abstract
A survey was conducted of 218 students and non-students regarding their use of sarcasm
and various other personality traits. One question on the survey asked respondents to
describe a sarcastic comment that they remembered making and why they remembered
making it. Of the 218 respondents, 73 produced usable responses to this question.
Respondents reported messages that exhibited more positive rather than negative
language, more other-directed than self-directed messages, and more teasing rather than
serious messages.
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“Yeah, right!”: A Linguistic Analysis of Self-reported
Sarcastic Messages and Their Contexts
Sarcasm is a linguistic phenomenon used by many speakers to express opinions of
something or someone--often negative opinions. Unlike other verbal behaviors, sarcasm
represents the opposite of what speakers actually mean. Speakers expect, in most cases,
for recipients to recognize this contradiction. The assumption by linguists regarding
sarcasm use is that speakers knowingly choose to use sarcasm to create a particular effect
and should be able to explain their reasoning for choosing sarcasm in any particular
situation or context if asked. This assumption may be premature. Are language users
actually aware of their own use of sarcasm? That is, can they recall instances in which
they used sarcasm? Do they know why they used sarcasm in any particular situation?
And if so, what language features prevail in their sarcastic messages? This study
attempted to answer these questions.
Recall of Sarcastic Messages
Survey questionnaires provide extensive data for social science researchers.
Survey respondents are often asked about their recollections of behaviors, attitudes, and
feelings. Typically, behavioral questions tap respondents’ memories of macro-level
behaviors. Sometimes, however, researchers query for more micro-level behaviors such
as specific instances of language use. Researchers in many fields have found that the
accuracy of behaviors determined through self-report data is often comparable to that
determined through observational or experimental means (Ghaderi & Scott, 2001;
Goodman, Meltzer, & Bailey, 2003; Sherbourne & Meredith, 1992).
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Researchers note, however, that certain types of behavior are more amenable to
investigation through retrospective self-report data. For instance, Benoit and Benoit
(1988) report that respondents are better able to remember verbal rather than nonverbal
behavior, and their own comments better than their partners’ comments. Thus, we should
expect that respondents will be able to report instances of sarcastic comments they have
made. Researchers also report that survey respondents are typically able to recall and
report their own attitudes and emotions (Metts, Sprecher, & Cupach, 1991). As sarcasm
use represents instances of speakers expressing their attitudes or emotions, we should
expect that survey respondents will be able to remember instances in which they have
used sarcasm to express these attitudes or emotions and what attitudes or emotions
prompted their sarcastic comments.
On the other hand, researchers report that survey respondents are more likely to
remember the general content of a message rather than the actual words (Benoit &
Benoit, 1988). One exception to this rule, however, is that respondents are likely to
remember actual wording of a remark that is recent (Ericsson & Simon, 1980). Thus,
respondents should be likely to remember sarcastic remarks that they have made recently.
Also, various confirmed heuristic biases may prevent respondents from accurately
recalling specific comments they may have made. For example, as sarcasm is generally
seen as a negative, insulting behavior, respondents may be reluctant to report their own
use of sarcasm because they may feel that it does not present a positive self-image
(“social desirability bias,” Crowne & Marlowe, 1960).
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Linguistic Features of Sarcasm
Researchers have investigated various linguistic features of sarcastic messages.
Verbal cues of sarcasm may be morphological, syntactic, lexical, or typographical
(Attardo et al., 2003). For example, Williams (1984) says that unusual wording and
vocabulary often accompany sarcasm. Rockwell (2004) found that sentence types of
sarcastic utterances were more often declarative than interrogative or imperative. One
researcher (Rastall, 2003) found that the pronoun “we” was often used in sarcastic
remarks such as “And how are we today?” This type of usage was most often seen as
sarcastic when used by an adult speaker to address another adult in the second perrson.
Valence, or the degree of positivity or negativity of a message is a major feature
of sarcasm. In most instances, a sarcastic comment is positively worded and the intent is
negative, such as “Great job!” said to someone who has done a terrible job (Gibbs, 2000).
It is possible, however, to produce sarcasm with a positive intent and negative language,
such as “You look awful!” to someone who looks especially nice. Needless to say, this
second form of sarcasm is much less prevalent due to the possibility of misunderstanding
and is typically used only in close relationships (Rockwell, 2005). Researchers have
labeled these two types of sarcasm (using positive words with negative intent and using
negative words with positive intent) in various ways: praise/blame (Anolli, Ciceri, &
Infantino, 2002; Knox, 1961), kind/blame (Anolli & Infantino, 1997); sarcasm/jocularity
(Gibbs, 2000), light/heavy (Leggitt & Gibbs, 2000), or ironic criticism/ironic insults
(Clift, 1999; Gibbs, 1999; Kreuz & Link, 2002; Oring, 1994; Pexman & Zvaigne, 2000).
Another common feature of sarcasm often analyzed by researchers involves the
target or victim of the sarcasm. Researchers consider whether the sarcastic comment is
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self-directed (self-deprecating) or other-directed (Ball, 1965). Some researchers (Ivanko,
Pexman, & Olineck, 2004) suggest that women are more likely to produce the self-
directed form of sarcasm and men are more likely to produce the other-directed form.
A third area of research into sarcastic messages involves the severity of the
remark. Many researchers have suggested that most sarcasm is light-hearted or teasing
(Gibbs, 2000), but others have noted that much sarcasm is highly destructive and
damaging to relationships (Anolli & Infantino, 1997; Leggitt & Gibbs, 2000).
Sarcasm is generally evaluative in content (Rockwell, 2004). That is, sarcastic
messages imply some sort of evaluation of something—often a person and often the
recipient of the remark. Evaluative comments about the weather are also prototypically
sarcastic: “Great weather we’re having!” or “Lovely weather!” Thus, the wording of
many sarcastic remarks involves evaluative terms such as “beautiful,” “wonderful,”
“great” or “excellent.” Because of the nature of sarcasm, these terms are often extremes
and often contain intense language. That is, sarcastic speakers are more likely to indicate
their sarcasm by using superlative adjectives and adverbs (e.g., “great,” “wonderful,” or
“really”) than they are to use more moderate terms (e.g., “nice,” “good” or “somewhat”)
(Kreuz & Roberts, 1995; Seto, 1998).
Method
A questionnaire was completed by 150 students in undergraduate communication
courses at a large southern university. These students were then offered extra credit to
solicit questionnaire responses from individuals they knew. This procedure brought in an
additional 68 questionnaires. The questionnaire contained numerous items about
sarcasm use and various personality traits which were used in another study. One open-
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ended question on the survey asked “Please describe a sarcastic comment that you
remember making. Tell why you remember making it.” This question was designed to
produce specific sarcastic comments and also to elicit something about the speaker’s
intent and the context of the comment.
Results
Of the 218 questionnaires returned (males = 87, females = 131), 55 respondents
did not answer this question. Of the 163 respondents who did answer the question, 73
produced responses that actually represented a sarcastic message. In some instances
responses were presented without rationale but were considered usable because the
context was implied (e.g. “Boy, are you a great driver!” suggests a comment made to
someone exhibiting poor driving behavior).
The 73 usable responses were examined for four features: language valence
(positivity versus negativity), self- versus other-directed language, teasing versus serious
language, and evaluative versus non-evaluative language. Regarding language valence or
whether the message exhibited criticism or praise, 69 of the 73 messages exhibited
sarcastic criticism; that is the statement used positive language to imply a negative intent.
Examples of these included: “’You did a wonderful parking job,’” said when I opened
the car door and stepped in a puddle,” or “You are the brains of this organization.” Of
the four messages that exhibited sarcastic praise (using negative language to imply
positive intent), two were produced by males and two by females. In one message, the
speaker “told a girl she was very fat. . . . She is actually svelte and gorgeous.” In a
similar vein, one speaker reported, “My mom is skinny, but she says she’s fat so one day
I agreed with her. I did it extremely sarcastically so that she’d stop complaining.” A
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female respondent said, “I was talking about a really attractive guy on TV and said he
was not cute, but I did think he was attractive.”
The next feature examined was whether the message was self- or other-directed.
Of the 73 messages evaluated, 67 were other-directed. Examples of these included: “Oh,
that was a genius remark!” or “You are so cool!” Of the six self-directed remarks, three
were produced by males and three were produced by females. Examples of these
included: “I made a mess by spilling my glass of tea and said, ‘That was smart,’” and
“Last night I went bowling and told my friends I was going pro (except I suck at
bowling).”
Another feature considered was the seriousness or severity of the context of the
message. Of the 73 comments, 62 involved teasing. Examples of these included:
“Someone hit the door frame and I said, ‘You know, there is a door right there.’” Or “I
told my friend how well she sang when she was trying to sing a song that she didn’t know
the words to.” Only two of the comments were considered to be serious in nature and
both were produced by females. These were: “Yesterday my fiancé filled out something
on the computer about his interests and it didn’t include me and I told him he was sweet
and made me feel warm inside,” and “Someone cut in front of me in a line and I said,
‘You go right ahead of me because you are much more important than I am!’” It is
possible that these two instances were intended as teasing, but as with all cases of
sarcasm, particularly written examples, it is often difficult to determine intent. In any
event, compared to the other comments, these two were deemed serious.
An examination of the evaluative terms used in the messages reported by the
respondents indicated that only 30 of the 73 comments used evaluative language.
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Examples of this include: “’Oh, that looks fabulous,’ to my boyfriend who was wearing
something totally inappropriate to go to a function,” or “’Nice shot, Sally!’ to a friend
who makes a bad shot in golf.” Comments using evaluative language, particularly those
exhibiting sarcastic criticism (positive words with negative intent) are easy to recognize
as they represent the typical sarcastic comment. Sarcastic comments that do not include
evaluative language are atypical and less easy to recognize. However, in this study, the
majority (43) of the 73 sarcastic comments conveyed the sarcastic intent without the use
of evaluative language: “’We should do this more often,’ when I wasn’t having fun
Saturday night with my friends” or “Someone said I was being mean to them and I said,
‘Sure, anytime, just call me.’” Obviously, many respondents were able to remember and
record these more atypical forms of sarcasm.
It is also instructive to examine some of the responses that were made that did not
meet the criteria for sarcasm (90), to determine how speakers and listeners may be
confused about the concept of sarcasm. For instance, some respondents considered any
nasty, negative comment to be sarcastic: “You really need to stop letting things blow
your head up because you’re not that cute,” or “I coach a girls’ softball team and during a
game I yelled at a girl jogging to the base, ‘My grandmother can run faster than that.’”
Some respondents confused sarcasm with lying: “I told someone that it was good to see
them and they looked good and I didn’t mean it,” or “My roommate told me he lost a lot
of weight and I told him he looked skinny but he doesn’t.” However, the vast majority of
90 responses that were included in the non-sarcastic category were included because it
was impossible to determine by the wording of the comment itself or the context if it was
sarcasm (e.g., “My friend was talking about her wedding being postponed and I said
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something sarcastic to make her laugh,” or “I just take what people say and throw it back
in their face.”)
Responses in this study may exhibit certain features because when respondents
are asked to remember a sarcastic comment they made, they may be more likely to
remember a comment that represents a more typical type of sarcasm. This may also
account for the fact that many of the reported remarks concerned intelligence (“You are
so smart!” or “Way to go, Einstein!”) and beauty (“You look fabulous!” or “That’s
attractive!”), topics frequently associated with sarcasm.
Discussion
This study allowed a close inspection of actual sarcastic remarks as reported by
their producers. Of course, with any self-report data, caution must be taken, as
respondents may consciously or unconsciously present self-report data in a positive light
(Hofstee, 1994). Even so, many respondents in this study reported using sarcasm with
negative intent and often presented themselves in a less than positive light.
Researchers (Koehler, Brenner, Liberman, & Tversky, 1996) have also found that
people tend to be overconfident is estimating difficult behaviors, which certainly
describes sarcasm. It is gratifying to note that many respondents were able to recall
sarcastic comments they had made and the context that prompted the comment. Many,
however, were unable or unwilling to report a sarcastic comment. And many who did
report a comment did not report comments that represented actual sarcasm. These results
verify the intellectual sophistication required to produce and recognize sarcasm.
Although many responses were common and immediately recognizable (“Yeah,
right”) as sarcasm, some respondents presented instances of unusually worded sarcasm
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produced in unique circumstances (“’Why don’t you throw your body out of a moving
car!’ said to drivers in different cars trying to converse at a stoplight” or “’I’m in AA’
said to a bartender at a pub”). From a numerical standpoint, the sarcastic comments
reported exhibited more positive language than negative language (that is, more sarcastic
criticism than sarcastic praise), more other-directed than self-directed messages, and
more teasing remarks than serious remarks. Less than half of the sarcastic messages
reported, however, utilized evaluative language (Great job!” or “Nicely done!”) as was
expected. This was surprising. However, in many of these cases, evaluation was
implied. For example, “Are you coming this year or next?” implies the target is very
slow and “I’m having a ball,” implies that the speaker is not having a great time. These
last remarks may be considered evaluative even though they do not include any
evaluative adjectives or adverbs.
The results of this study expand the picture of sarcastic speakers and how those
speakers use language to convey their sarcastic intent. Sarcasm represents a difficult
verbal behavior, and many speakers who attempt to use it, fail to accomplish their task.
However, some speakers are creative and invent unique, effective, sarcastic “zingers.”
We can learn much from studying these speakers and how they make sarcastic language
work for them in conversation.
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