• ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.caOP
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    2 days ago

    I just did a quick research on tonal languages, it’s quite tricky for a beginner to grasp these subtle expressions. Imagine a life without sarcasm. Brutal. I wonder if they have their own way of conveying it.

    • Bilb!@lemmy.ml
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      22 hours ago

      Even in English, sarcasm can be delivered very dryly in a way that would be undetectable without knowing context. It doesn’t need to be spoken with exaggerated tones. I do it too much.

      • ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.caOP
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        21 hours ago

        Someone commented that his sarcasm was lost with, mostly, religious folks in Oklahoma, and I realized that yes it happened to me too plenty of times (but not in Oklahoma). So yeah, even in English it can be elusive to some people.

    • GreenBeard@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Oh, they do. Depending on the context, there’s a whole host of ways to imply sarcasm without depending on intonation. Body language, context, double entendre, formality shifts, etc.

    • lemming@anarchist.nexus
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      2 days ago

      Sarcasm can be conveyed non-verbally. Through facial expressions, gestures or situational context for example. The core concept is not bound to specific languages but to the social/cognitive ability of the communicators, I’d say. Young children have a very hard time with sarcasm, regardless of where they’re born.

      • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        As someone who will live and die by snark in my online comments, I confirm. However, annoyingly, I’ve had a noticeably higher proportion of replies on Lemmy from people who don’t know how sarcasm works, than on Reddit.