Questions And Power Relations In Talk Shows

The study of questions has always been carried out in institutional discourse. Talk show, as a kind of media discourse, also belongs to the category of institutional discourse, bearing some similarities with both daily conversation and institutional discourse. Therefore, it is regarded as a combination of "interpersonal communication and media transmission". On the basis of specification and classification of questions, this thesis aims to disclose power relations in talk shows between participants (mainly host and guests) by studying questions in them from a critical perspective;also intends to enrich CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) theory by applying it to more institutional genres and broaden the scope of question studies, deepening people's understanding about the nature of questions and talk shows.After an overview of question specifications and classifications from different angles, specification and classification of questions for the present analysis are determined on the basis of the previous researches. After this, the studies of the two major categories in the classification—standard questions and non-standard questions are surveyed;firstly, the inter-relationship between standard questions and power relations is explained by pointing out they serve as a means to exercise power;then the investigations of standard questions are surveyed from four linguistic levels and their significance in probing power relations in each linguistic level is discussed— phonological, lexical, syntactical and conversational levels;lastly, the studies of non-standard questions are reviewed from pragmatic perspective and their inferences on the research of power relations are also expounded.Then the author elaborates the methodology adopted for the present research after a general survey of the studies in standard and non-standard questions. Firstly, the contents and features of the talk show "Meet Lu Yu for your stories", as well as the motivations in choosing it as the focus of research, are introduced and explained before the data source and data-collection process are clarified. Next, the name, broadcasting time and duration of each talk show program are also recorded and the reasons why some downloaded video data are selected as the research object are stated. Additionally, the features of each guest in the selected programs are introduced before the transcription process ismentioned, in which the transcription marks with their specified respective meanings for the present data are listed. Lastly, the author explains how quantitative, qualitative and Conversational Analysis (CA) approaches are employed in the present analysis. In quantitative analysis, figures and ratios of standard and non-standard questions of both the host and guests in each talk show program are calculated respectively;also, numbers and ratios of various types of standard questions from the host and self-response-eliciting questions and rhetorical questions in the guests' non-standard questions are calculated;while in qualitative analysis, according to the statistics calculated in quantitative analysis and the survey of investigations of different types of questions, the issue of how questions affect power relations is mainly analyzed. In addition, turns, moves and acts in a sample dialogue from one of the talk show program are marked by means of CA approach to prepare for the investigation of power relations between participants from conversational level.From the statistics above, it is argued that the host acts as the main power-holder by occupying more standard questions, while the guests are not passively controlled by her because they do produce some standard questions and more non-standard questions than the host. Then the author continues to investigate how standard questions in talk show programs affect power relations from four linguistic levels. Through a careful analysis of the selected dialogue excerpts, it is found out that different degrees of power are exercised by the host over the guests from different ages, professions, experiences and degrees of familiarity with the host. Lastly, basing on the analysis of the pragmatic functions of non-standard questions in talk shows, the author analyzes how participants in the programs exercise power by means of non-standard questions. It is thus deduced that the guests, who act as the main story-tellers in talk shows, can resort to self-response-eliciting questions and rhetorical questions in their story-telling processes in order to stimulate the host and audience's listenership or persuade them to acknowledge their opinions and standpoints;consequently, they have more power than the host and audience temporarily, of which the degree is largely determined by different characteristics of the guests themselves;however. As for the host, by employing self-response-eliciting questions, she manages to control topic-shift and monitor the process of the conversation. Moreover, she can question the guests' utterance by rhetorical questions and thus realizes her control over them if accepted. Finally, thephenomenon that expository, echo and exclamatory questions are exclusively found in the host's utterances, with their functions of presupposing topics, commenting on the guests' utterance and expressing attitudes, is a good evidence to show the host's manipulating role in the programs.According to the analysis above, it is concluded that power relations in talk shows are dynamic and power is not monopolized by one side. The host, who has the most power, is the main organizer and controller of talk shows;while the guest, who has a certain degree of power, is the main subject in story-telling and center of the program though acting as the subordinate part controlled by the host. Talk show, just as what has been proved by previous studies, is a semi-institutional discourse, sharing similarities with both daily conversation and normal institutional discourse. It is hoped that the present analysis could be of some help for the planning of talk shows to journalist workers.