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results suggest that children initially depend more heavily on intonation than on context in recognizing sarcasm.
This present thesis has similar topic to be discussed in which it is to find out how the response from the hearer in responding sarcasm which delivered both
harsh or in a form of irony. However, it is different in a way that Carrol A. Capelli, Noreen Nakagawa and Cary M. Madden
’s thesis doing the experiment to children compared to adult as the data while this present thesis uses the dialogues
in Two Broke Girls TV Series Episodes 1, Season 1 to 5 as the collected data. Also, Carrol A. Capelli, Noreen Nakagawa and Cary M. Madden
’s thesis focuses more on how intonation affect the understanding for the children in
recognizing sarcasm while this present thesis is more concerned with the purposes of sarcasm itself and the response from the hearer in responding
sarcastic utterances Capelli, 2016: 1.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Purposes of Sarcasm
Sarcastic utterances serve certain purposes when they are used in conversations. Salvatore Attardo in his article Humor and Irony in Interaction:
From Mode Adoption to Failure of Detection 2001 lists six purposes of sarcasm. a.
Group Affiliation Sarcasm can affiliate a group. In this case, sarcasm works in two ways.
First, it highlights the boundary of a group by stating the standards or values PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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that the group has. Secondly, it expresses an understatement about outsider of the group that does not meet the standards of the group 2001: 183.
For example, when a son is going back from school but he does not greet his mom or dad while they are sitting close from where he passed. Then his
dad says, “Sometimes silence is better, but not this one with ignoring us.” As the older, his parents
obviously hope their son’s greeting when he comes home. It highlights
that the son’s act does not meet the values of parents which has the standard for their family there. What parents want is that their
son should give respect to them or to the older person even his son is inside the group of family. This example shows sarcasm as a group affiliation.
b. Sophistication
Sarcasm shows the speaker’s ability to play with language. Sarcasm as sophistication usually means as a humor, however, in some cases, it expresses
the speaker’s level of emotion. By playing language, sarcasm shows how the
speaker can take control over his emotion 2001: 183. As the example, when someone really wants to go swimming in a rainy
day then a friend says “Yeah, go on. But don’t blame me if I can’t differentiate you with an ice berg.” As a friend, of course she wants to tell
that it is better to not go swimming when it’s raining to avoid getting cold or freezing. However, when the speaker cannot handle the emotion, she tends to
use sarcasm as sophistication so that it will not really offends someone’s
feeling. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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c. Evaluation
Sarcasm can mute negative effects of the criticism that it may emerges. At the same time, sarcasm can mute the positive effects of the praise that it
may convey. The way sarcasm mutes those two aspects simultaneously becomes the point of using sarcasm Attardo, 2001: 183.
When the speaker uses sarcasm as evaluation, she usually does not really want to show the negative thing in criticizing someone or she does not really
want to show the positive way in giving compliment. For example, when a mother says “you looks calm like you did not do it” to her son who just ate all
the food. Instead of delivering the exact meaning, the mother chooses to use sarcasm for evaluates her son’s act. From the utterance, the mother actually
gives compliment for his act that can be calm as nothing happens. On the other hand, the mother also gives critique to his son who eats all the food.
d. Politeness
Sarcasm can be used as a “tool for politeness.” Although sarcasm seems aggressive, it is admitted that sarcasm is less
damaging the hearer’s face than overt aggression 2001: 184. For example, when a man
says “I will buy some food so you do not have to cook today.” can be means that his wife’s
food is not delicious or his wife cannot cook well so that he prefers buy it outside. However, sarcasm as politeness used to make the utterance a little
less aggressive. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
