Question Typology in Kenyan TV Argumentative Talk Shows
https://doi.org/10.24833/2687-0126-2024-6-1-44-68
Abstract
The argumentative talk on radio and TV has become a popular feature of media discourse in Kenya. Question-answer sequences as the talk unfolds through the joint participation of co-participants in the talk have emerged as a means to put argumentative talk into effect. Yet, the nature of questions and their categorization remain little understood. Given the recursive nature of question-answer sequences, this paper investigates question typology that sets apart argumentative talk shows from other types of talk. The data consists of transcripts from two Kenyan TV argumentative talk shows: Checkpoint on KTN and Opinion Court on Citizen TV. A question classification scheme by Schirm [2008] was used to discuss the incidence and usage of questions in argumentative talk shows. Findings revealed that clashing, rhetorical, classic clarifying, and opinion-eliciting questions were the most frequently used types in the data sets. It was also noted that different question types served unique rhetorical purposes leading to the conclusion that argumentative talk shows on TV exhibit recursive interactional resources qualifying it as a genre.
About the Authors
L. W. Mwai
Kenyatta University
Kenya
Kenya
Loice Wamaitha Mwai, PhD in applied linguistics
G. M. Maroko
Machakos University
Kenya
Kenya
Geoffrey Mokua Maroko, PhD in applied linguistics, Associate Professor of applied linguistics
D. O. Orwenjo
Technical University of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya
Daniel Ochieng’ Orwenjo, PhD in applied linguistics, Associate Professor of applied linguistics, Director of the Centre for Languages and Communication Studies
E. A. Ogutu
Kenyatta University
Kenya
Kenya
Emily Auma Ogutu, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Foreign Languages, PhD in Linguistics
References
1. Clayman, S.E. (2010). Address terms in the service of other actions: The case of news interview talk. Discourse and Communication, 4(2), 161-183. doi: 10.1177/1750481310364330
2. Clayman, S.E, & Heritage, J. (2002). The news interview: Journalists and public figures on the air. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Clayman, S.E., & Heritage, J. (2021). Conversation Analysis and the study of socio-historical change. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 4(2), 225-240.
4. Clayman, S.E., Heritage, J., & Hill, A.M.J. (2020). Gender matters in questioning presidents. Journal of Language and Politics, 19(1), 125-143.
5. Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed method research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
6. Devitt, A. (2004). Writing genres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
7. deRuiter, J.P. (2012). Questions: Formal, functional and interactional perspectives. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
8. Fleiss, J.L. (1971). Measuring nominal scale agreement among many raters. Psychological Bulletin, 76(5), 378-382. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0031619
9. Givon, T. (1993). English grammar. A function-based approach. Amsterdam, Netherlands/ Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
10. Greatbatch, D. (1988). A turn-taking system for British news interviews. Language in Society, 27, 401-430. doi:10.1017/S0047404500012963
11. Gruber, H. (2001). Questions and strategic orientation in verbal conflict sequences. Journal of Pragmatics, 33, 1815-1857.
12. Heritage, J. (1998). Conversation analysis and institutional talk: Analysing distinctive turn-taking systems. In S. Cmejrkova et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th international congress of IADA (pp.3-17). Tubigen: Niemeyer.
13. Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1427-1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00072-3
14. Hutchby, I. (2006). Media talk: Conversational analysis and the study of broadcasting. Glasgow: Open University Press.
15. Hutchby, I. (2019). Conversational analysis. SAGE Research Methods Foundations. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036
16. Ilie, C. (1994). What else can I tell you? A pragmatic study of English rhetorical questions as discursive and rhetorical acts. Stockholm Studies in English. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell International.
17. Ilie, C. (1995). The validity of rhetorical questions as arguments in courtroom. In F.H. Van Eemeren, R. Grootendorst, J.A. Blair and C.A. Willard (Eds.), Special fields and cases: Proceedings of the third international ISSA conference on argumentation (73-88).
18. Ilie, C. (1998). Questioning is not asking: The discursive functions of rhetorical questions in American talk shows. Texas Linguistics Forum, 39, 122-135.
19. Ilie, C. (1999). Question-response argumentation in talk shows. Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 975-999.
20. Ilie, C. (2001). Semi-institutional discourse: The case of talk shows. Journal of Pragmatics, 33, 209-254.
21. Ilie, C. (2015). Questions and questioning. The International Encyclopaedia of Language and Social Interaction. Wiley &Sons Inc. doi:10.1102/97811/8611463/wbie/si202
22. Jagitani, N. (2013). Questions – Formal, functional and interactional perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23. Koshik, I. (2002). A conversation analytic study of yes/no questions which convey reversed polarity assertions. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1851-1877.
24. Kuhlen, E. (2012). Some truths and untruths about final intonation in conversational questions. In J.P. de Ruiter (Ed.), Questions: Formal, functional and interactional perspectives (123- 145). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
25. Landis, J.R., Koch, G.G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159-174. https://doi.org/10.2307/2529310
26. Maroko, G.M. (1999). Rhetorical structure in Master of Arts (M.A.) research proposals of Kenyatta University [Unpublished M.A Thesis]. Kenyatta University: Nairobi.
27. Maroko, G.M. (2008). A genre analysis of selected Master of Arts (M.A.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) theses in Kenyan public universities [Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis]. Kenyatta University: Nairobi.
28. Martinez, E.R. (2000). Political interview, talk show interview and debates on British TV: A contrastive study of the interactional organization of the three broadcast genres. [Unpublished PhD Thesis]. University of Santiago.
29. Montgomery, M. (2007). The discourse of broadcast news: A linguistic approach. New York and London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
30. Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Startvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London, England: Longman.
31. Raymond, G. (2003). Grammar and social organization: Yes/no interrogatives and the structure of responding. American Sociological Review, 68(6), 939-967.
32. Reynolds, E. (2011). Enticing a challengeable in arguments: Sequence, epistemic and preference organization. International Pragmatics Association, 21(3), 411-430. doi:10.1075/prag.21.3.06rey
33. Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
34. Schegloff, E. (2007). Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35. Schegloff, E., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica, 8, 289-327.
36. Schirm, A. (2008). Chapter eight of the role of questions in talk shows. University of Szeged: Hungary.
37. Schirm, A. (2009). The role of questions in Talk shows. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
38. Strivers, T. (2010). An overview of the question-response system in American English conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(10), 2772-2781. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.04.011
39. Strivers, T. (2011). Morality and question design. “Of course” as contesting a presupposition of askability. In S. Tanya, M. Lorenza, S. Jakob (Eds.), The morality of knowledge in conversation (pp.82-106). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511921674.005
40. Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
41. Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
42. Tolson, A. (1996). Mediations, text and discourse in media studies. London: Arnold.
43. Tolson, A. (2006). Media Talk: Spoken discourse on TV and radio. Edinburg University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1g09vbv
44. Wangari, S., & Maroko, M.G. (2023). Metadiscourse in the Kenyan CEO Letter Genre: A Corpus Assisted Study. Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature, 18(1), 148 – 159. https://doi.org/10.15294/lc.v18i1.47447
Review
For citations:
Mwai L., Maroko G., Orwenjo D., Ogutu E. Question Typology in Kenyan TV Argumentative Talk Shows. Professional Discourse & Communication. 2024;6(1):44-68. https://doi.org/10.24833/2687-0126-2024-6-1-44-68
Email this article 