Beyond mock politeness: sarcastic interrogatives as tools for face-threatening acts

Abstract This paper examines the use of sarcastic interrogatives as a face-aggravating strategy and the contextual factors influencing their use. Through a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses of data from three distinct American English corpora, we present two key findings. First, sarcastic interrogatives function as a face-aggravating strategy by projecting a negative image of addressees through connotations, ad hoc categorization, and maxim-flouting. Such usage challenges previous research that predominantly associates sarcasm with insincere or mock politeness. Instead, results position sarcasm as a more direct and conventionalized face-threatening act in certain discourse contexts. Second, our study demonstrates that sarcastic interrogatives are more commonly employed as a face-aggravating strategy in online political debate forums, compared to spoken and unscripted TV discourse. This variation is attributed to contextual differences, including social distance, anonymity, and the likelihood of joint accomplishment in each discourse type. The findings highlight the role of discursive environments in shaping sarcastic usage, offering new insights into the relationship between sarcasm and impoliteness. Overall, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of how discursive environments shape the use of sarcasm, emphasizing its nuanced role in impoliteness and face-aggravation across varying communicative contexts.