On The Explanatory Validity Of The Relevance Theory On Host Discourse In TV Talk Shows

Over the past thirty years since reform and opening up, Chinese people haveincreased their cultural awareness gradually. After the demand of people for materialis satisfied, people’s need for spiritual satisfaction increases. These factors set thesocial condition for television talk show to produce and become popular. At the sametime, TV talk shows in China face many problems. Shen Yuanyuan(2009) points outthat in China TV talk shows lack good host, the program is similar and lacks authenticcommunication, the topics are not deep. Now people’s life styles are diversified, andculture has becomes globalized and the network takes part in the competition, whichmakes TV talk shows face more challenge. Since host is the core of TV talk showsand host discourse is of great importance to improve the quality and audience ratingsof the program. Therefore, it is necessary to study host discourse in TV talk shows.What is more, the relevance theory, as the theoretical basis of cognitive pragmatics,has been applied to other fields widely. Zhou Yang (2011) maintains that the relevancetheory as a cognitive theory has a great explanatory power. The scholars at home andabroad mainly apply it to translation, second language teaching, cognitive psychologyand phonology. Few researches are about TV talk shows. In addition, the relevancetheory originates from communication, in TV talk shows, the interaction between thehost and the guest also belongs to communicational act. There still exists somecommon ground between the relevance theory and TV talk shows. Therefore, thisthesis takes Yang Lan talk show for example and explores the explanatory validity ofthe relevance on host discourse. It is hoped that this study can provide the frameworkfor host discourse in theory and offer some advice to other new hosts and secondlanguage teaching.The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction to theresearch background, necessity and significance of the research and structure of thispaper.Chapter Two is literature review. This chapter reviews the current studies on host discourse at home and abroad in TV talk show. Definition, participants of TVinterview programs and the general features of TV interview programs are alsodiscussed in this chapter. Although many scholars study host discourse form differentperspectives, it is found that these studies are not systematic, and thus have notachieved satisfactory result.Chapter Three is the theoretical framework of the thesis. This thesis adopts theRelevance Theory to give a specific and deep analysis of host discourse in TV talkshow. The Relevance Theory’s main claims are: human cognition is relevanceoriented; human cognition tends to be geared to the maximization of relevance andevery act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its ownoptimal relevance; communication is regarded an ostensive-inferential process.Chapter Four is the research method. This chapter introduces the reasonschoosing Yang Lan one on one with Michael Phelps, the process of data collectionand research questions. As this thesis is descriptive and explanatory type, thequalitative method is adopted.Chapter Five is the analysis of host discourse in TV talk shows under theRelevance Theory with adequate examples. In TV talk shows, he host must play tworoles: the listener and the speaker. So host discourse includes host discourseunderstanding and host discourse production. During these two processes, thecognitive context cannot be ignored. The cognitive contexts consist of the linguisticcontext and non-linguistic context which vary dynamically with the process ofcommunication. In the process of communication, the context has two basic functions:explanatory function and restrictive function. When the host understands thediscourse as a listener, only when she puts the information into the optimal context todeal with the information, can she understand effectively the implication of thediscourse. In other words, when the host becomes a listener to understand thediscourse of the interviewee and the audience on the spot, she must use theexplanatory function of context to infer the speaker’s utterance. When the hostbecomes the speaker, she must choose the optimal relevant utterance according to thecontext. That is, host discourse is constrained by the contexts.What is more, during the process of host discourse construction, host discourse isrelevance-oriented; host discourse is to seek the optimal relevance; host discourse isostensive and inferential. Host discourse in TV talk shows is a dynamic process and agood host needs to create and construct positively the dynamic contexts so as to makesure the success of communication. Chapter Six is the conclusion of the thesis. It summarizes this paper’s majorfindings, limitations and suggestions for further study.