An Analysis Of Talk Show About Making Friends From The Adaptation Theory

Today, as the mass media are gaining more and more popularity, TV programs becomean indispensable part of people’s life and one of the major means of entertainment. Duringthe last several years, TV programs grow rapidly and have won numerous stable audiences. Inthis case, they also exert great influence on people’s life. Spurred by the great audienceratings of Jiangsu TV’s If You Are the One, making friends TV programs sprung up likemushroom after the rain. As a result, almost every TV station has at least one of making-friends program and most of them achieved various degrees of success.Making friends programs are originated from the western countries. In both Britain andAmerica, they have their golden times. This thesis takes the phenomenon of the popularity ofTV marriage interview as its study core. In the beginning, a review of making friendsprogram is taken and a definition is given to it. Take If You Are the One of Jiangsu TV as thechief source of analysis, the thesis then studies the language choice and use in making friendsprogram from the aspect of Adaptation Theory. By using speech of the attendees of If You Arethe One as language material, the thesis proves that Adaptation Theory is also applicable forChinese TV talk show and points out the shortages that need correction in talk show’slanguage use in a purpose to improve the quality of programs.The subject of this thesis is the language use of all participants. Based on the AdaptationTheory proposed by Verschueren, it aims to give this use an explanation. According to thetheory, using language is a process of continuous choice making in order to adapt tocommunication reality. The reason of successful choices is that language itself owns thefollowing three features: variability, negotiability as well as adaptability. They are mutuallyinseparable and among them, adaptability is the most general one. Adaptation can explainlanguage use from four angles, which are contextual correlates of adaptation, dynamics ofadaptation, structural objects of adaptation, and the salience of the adaptation process. During the language choice making process, choices must adapt to language users’ mental world,social world and physical world. The users’ degree of adaptation can influence the success ofthe communication.Its major findings are: first, as the macro-master and tuner of the show, the host has topay attention to the adaptation of his own language; second, the host should guide guests toguarantee that their speeches adapt to the context in order to make sure the smoothproceeding of the show; third, in the process of the show, the mutual adaptations among thehost, commentors and guests contribute to the harmonious and humorous atmosphere; fourth,the realization of adaptation helps to avoid conflicts and embarrassing situation, which makesthe show relaxing. That is also one important reason of the popularity of If You Are the One.