Sarcasm on Instagram: A Study of Comments on @Sarcasticᵤs page

Social media platforms, especially Instagram, have become a significant source of digital communication where users can interact through satire, humour, and irony. Sarcasm is a rhetorical device primarily used to convey hidden meaning, criticism, or humour. This study examined sarcastic comments on the Instagram page @Sarcasticᵤs, categorising them into different types of Sarcasm based on contextual and linguistic features. A descriptive, qualitative approach was employed to analyse 600 comments from 30 posts using content analysis. Key findings of the study reveal six primary types of Sarcasm employed by Instagram users: absurd Sarcasm, deadpan Sarcasm, polite Sarcasm, playful Sarcasm, ironic Sarcasm, and self-deprecating Sarcasm. The study analysed different types of Sarcasm in Instagram comments. It also presented the most dominant form of self-deprecating Sarcasm (30%), which is used for humour and relevance. 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