A Contrastive Analysis Of Conversation Structure Between Chinese And English Life-story Interview Programs

This article probes into the contrastive study of conversation structure of life-story interview programs in Chinese and English language.Based on former studies on conversation analysis and on life-story interview programs, this study analyzes two naturally occurring Chinese and English life-story interview programs---A Date with Luyu and BBC Outlook with the approach of conversation analysis. Five of the programs which are taken respectively from A Date with Luyu and BBC Outlook are repeatedly listened and carefully transcribed with the help of a software named FOLKER and then compared and analyzed.Within the framework of conversation analysis, the present study gives emphasis to overall structure of life-story interview programs, including the interactions between interviewer(s) and interviewee(s) in the opening, closing, and main body of conversation. Compared with English life-story programs BBC Outlook, the opening, closing, and question-and-answer sequences in main body in Chinese life-story interview programs A Date with Luyu are more diversified. subjective. casual, and indirect. The lack of varieties, objectivity, and directness of English life-story programs can also be presented as a cultural phenomenon. The different language system of Chinese and English means there are differences between two cultural systems, including value system and thinking pattern, etc.The thesis is an attempt to apply the theories of conversation analysis to a more and more popular media carrier—life-story interview programs. The contrastive study of Chinese and English programs can contribute to mutual communication of different cultures and avoid cultural misunderstanding and even conflicts, promoting the development of the country in general.