Turn-taking In CCTV 9's English Talk Program-Dialogue

This thesis investigates the turn-taking phenomenon between hosts and guests and the turn-control strategies they adopt in CCTV 9's English talk program Dialogue. The aim of the study is to testify with this TV talk program to the classic rules found by Sacks et al (1974) based on daily conversation to see whether the turn-taking model they proposed also fits TV talk shows, and it also aims to describe the turn-taking features in talk shows.Through analysis of the scripts of CCTV 9's program Dialogue, we find that the turn-taking model worked out by Sacks et al in 1974 originally targeted at daily conversation largely suits institutional discourses like TV talk shows, but in some way there could be limitations on the guests'side and more responsibility in the host's role, which is reflected in single rule-set and the unequal distribution of institutional power between hosts and guests.The present study may add comprehensiveness to the study of turn-taking and help to gain deeper insights into the nature of interactions in TV talk shows. It is also hoped that the investigation into the turn-taking operation in TV talk shows may benefit the chief editors, sponsors and especially the hosts in similar TV talk programs.As pointed out at the end of this thesis, much more work remains to be done about turn-taking in the program and other similar TV programs, since the present study only makes a macro study on turn-taking based on Sacks et al's model. Future work can be carried out in different situations of the talk program, when there is a two-party talk, a three-party talk or a four-party talk…and other linguistic perspectives like turn-length, topic development, paralanguages, etc. can also be examined.