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A Cognitive Pragmatic Study of Misunderstandings in TV Talk Shows

Author: LiYiCheng
Tutor: ZhuYue
School: Anhui University
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: misunderstanding Relevance Theory TV talk shows ostensive-inferential model
CLC: H030
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 45
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Abstract


As an unavoidable phenomenon in human communication, misunderstandings have been the focus of scholars of different domains, including linguists. It has been studied from the perspective of philosophy, socio-linguistics, pragmatics, rhetorics, logic, and so on home and abroad. Despite the rich results yielded from the previous studies, exclusive research on misunderstandings in TV talk shows is relatively insufficient. This thesis will probe into misunderstandings of TV talk shows within the Relevance-theoretic framework. It aims to not only further testify the explanatory power of the theory itself but also uncover the generative mechanism of misunderstandings in TV talk shows.The theoretical framework of the thesis is Relevance Theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson. The thesis first provides the literatures of relevant studies on misunderstandings and TV talk shows home and abroad. Then the author presents his own classification of misunderstandings in TV talk shows within the Relevance Theory. The analysis is based on the collected data transcribed from representative Chinese and American TV talk shows. It aims to apply Relevance Theory to the analysis of misunderstandings in TV talk shows, to classify the misunderstandings in TV talk shows within the Relevance-theoretic framework, and to explore the features of the occurrence, the repairs and the effects of misunderstandings in TV talk shows.Through the application of Relevance Theory to the analysis of misunderstandings in TV talk shows, this thesis has reached the following conclusions:(1) The thesis has confirmed the explanatory power of the Relevance Theory in applying it to the analysis of misunderstandings in TV talk shows. The research shows that Relevance Theory is not confined to the analysis of daily communication, but also applicable to the analysis of TV talk shows which is a quasi-actual communication. It will deepen our understanding of the relevant conversational phenomenon.(2) Reviewing the previous classifications of misunderstandings and taking the actual characteristics of misunderstandings in TV talk shows into consideration, this thesis has presented its own classification of misunderstanding from the perspective of ostensive-inferential model proposed in Relevance Theory. According to the different phases where the possible causes of misunderstandings lies, misunderstandings in the present study are divided into four categories: misunderstandings of the speaker’s wrong presuppositions, misunderstandings of the speaker’s unintended implication, misunderstandings of the hearer’s wrong context construction and misunderstandings of the hearer’s unintended misperception of the stimulus.(3) It has been found out that due to the unique conversational formula of TV talk shows, most of the misunderstandings are initiated by the interviewers, which means the host is usually the one who misunderstands the guests. As for the repairs of misunderstandings, the speaker is cooperative enough to realize the misunderstanding and takes initiative ostentations to repair the misunderstandings. Although there are negative effects of the misunderstandings, it turns out that mature hosts possess the ability to skillfully counteract the negative effect and even produce better entertaining effect.Above all, this thesis is expected to discuss the characteristics and generative mechanism of misunderstandings in TV talk shows from the perspective of Cognitive Pragmatics, with an expectation to deepen the understanding of Relevance Theory and misunderstandings and to shed light on the development of TV talk shows.

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