Analysis Of Hosts' Discourse In Television Talk Show Programs

"Kang and Xi Come!" is the most popular TV program in Taiwan in these two years,while its equivalent "Super Interview",a talk show,is well received in the mainland.It is worthwhile to make a comparison of these two programs.This thesis seeks to compare and analyze them from four aspects: topics,turns of speech,styles of hosts,and how the hosts' language is influenced by the context.Through the comparison and analysis,the thesis tries to discover the different laws governing the language pattern of hosts and the different structures of the talk shows in the mainland and Taiwan.The topics of "Super Interview" are mainly about family love and friendship,and most of them are encouraging to the audience.It is the hosts who control the transformation of topics and decide to which direction the topic is leading.The smooth development of topics and the stress which the hosts put on the logical relationship of the topics and on transitions enable "Super Interview" to take on the characteristics of being tightly-organized and integrated.On the other hand,the topics of "Kang and Xi come!" are more private.The hosts do not control the topics;instead,guests can talk more freely,thus developing further the topics.Because of such embedded pattern of taking turns of speech and the sometimes illogical relationship between topics,the program appears to be covering a wide range of topics which are loosely organized.The hosts of "Super interview" seem to dominate the topics,only occasionally letting the guests take their turn to speak.The guests will not interrupt or take lead in developing new topics;they merely need to reply to the hosts' questions.In this sense,the guests appear to be passive. In contrast to this,the hosts of "Kang and Xi come!" do not control the topics,and the turns of speech are much shorter and change more frequently. The guests as well as the hosts may often interrupt others to develop a new topic.In terms of hosting styles,the hosts of "Super Interview" like to seek agreement rather than differences.They are generally gentle,mild,and good at listening.The hosts of "Kang and Xi come!",however,seeking more to find "different opinions",appear to be more aggressive.The differences mentioned above are influenced by the different contexts. The language of the hosts and the style of the program are largely decided by the socio-cultural contexts,media contexts,and audience contexts.