Delicate Questioning Practices in Broadcast Talk

Abstract

From a conversation analytic perspective, this study aims to explore how the talk show host accomplishes delicate questioning practices through the employment of the directly or hypothetically quoted reported speech as well as syntactic and multimodal resources. For the analysis, the third-party quotation, the anonymous party quotation and the nonco-present TV audience quotation are examined. In quoting the thirdparty or the anonymous party, the host claims less knowledgeable epistemic stance and solicits the stories from the guest speakers (or more knowledgeable speakers). In quoting the non-co-present TV audience, the host establishes the tellability on the story-to-be-told and questions possible inquiries that the audience may have for the guest speakers. Through such practices, the host strategically approaches the guests rumors or personal questions while detaching himself from the produced report.