Exploring Sarcastic English Utterances in English in ‘Gilmore Girls’ TV Series Season 2

Abstract

Sarcasm is inherently embedded in everyday communication, often going unnoticed, as its use shifts fluidly across different contexts. This study explored sarcastic utterances in English, focusing on sarcastic types and strategies in various relationship contexts. Adopting a mixed-method approach, the research categorized sarcasm into explicit and implicit types, examining seven strategies: incongruity, explicitation, reasoning, metonymy, metaphor, rhetorical question, and echoing (shift of focus), adapting from Tabacaru’s taxonomy of sarcastic English utterances (2017). Gilmore Girls TV series (Season 2) was selected to analyze sarcastic types and utterances occurred in close-symmetrical, close-asymmetrical, distant-symmetrical, and distant-asymmetrical relationship contexts. The findings revealed that explicit sarcasm accounted for 51% while implicit sarcasm accounted for 49%. Among these, 33% involved incongruity, 24% rhetorical question, 19% metonymy, 15% explicitation, 6% echoing, 3% reasoning, and 0% metaphor. It appears that the use of sarcastic utterances is dynamic. It depends on relationship contexts, with explicit sarcasm is more common in close or high-power relationships to signal solidarity or assertiveness, while implicit forms dominate distant or hierarchical contexts to maintain politeness and face. Notably, sarcasm also emerged as a subtle resistance tool among lower-power speakers. The study highlights sarcasm as a context-dependent communicative tool which is salient across diverse interpersonal communication settings.