Indirect suggestion by request - 臺灣政論節目中的政治意識型態之社會語用學研究

Chapter 3 Methodology

2. Indirect suggestion by request

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necessary operation. The conjunction, yin wei (因為) ‗because,‘ semantically shows that Turn 9 is a clarification to the motivations behind the given policy decision.

However, in close examination, it is noticed that speaker M2 does not offer any new information in this turn. Basically, what he said is ‗the policy should be executed because it has to be executed,‘ which is a tautology and a violation of quantity maxim.

In a word, it is not a genuine clarification. However, the use of Taiwan Southern Min modals, including it ting (一定) ‗must‘ and ai (愛) ‗have to‘ reinforce the necessity of the policy. In all, by performing obscure clarification and stating that the policy is necessary, speaker M2 suggests that it is also what the current government should do in the post-disaster management.

2. Indirect suggestion by request

The other Secondary Speech Act expressing suggestion is request, as represented in (48). Request here, in the form of a rhetorical question, is performed for eliciting the approval from the hearers, namely the audience, of the speaker‘s proposed solution.

(48)

1 F: …確定災區的情況之後接下去其實此時此刻該要做的已經是分區細膩的救災跟安置[[了]]

2 Host: [[我們]]所有的設備都有喔 3 F: 對是[分]區喔

4 Host: [嗯]

→ 5 F: 什麼叫做分區就是說你 [不]能夠讓中央去 6 Host: [嗯]

7 F: 完完全全的說啊今天這邊你去啊就大家都像抓蝦一樣你今天去小林村明天去新發部落然後後天你可能要去梅山鄉

[2100 全民開講, TVBS, August 13, 2009]

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In the above excerpt, speaker F suggests possible remedies for rescuing the trapped victims. It is recommended that the government should carefully rescue people and arrange their shelters zone by zone. To further explain her ‗zone-by-zone‘

solution, speaker F raises a rhetorical question in Turn 5 and later answers it with the prohibitions of rescue operation. Base on the violation of adjacency pairs, it is observed that the rhetorical question is designed to lead out the details of the suggested remedies and it is therefore a part of the speech act—suggestion.

3.5. Summary

This study intends to study the ideological difference between the pragmatic strategies applied in two political talk shows, namely DaHuanXingWen (大話新聞) and QuanMinJaiJiang (全民開講). Speech acts in these two shows are categorized into direct and indirect speech act based on the identicality of the primary and secondary illocutionary acts. There are 12 types of direct speech acts and 26 types of indirect speech acts identified in the collected data. Detailed categorization of the speech acts are listed in Table 11. The distribution of these categorized speech acts are analyzed in the next chapter.

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Table 11. The categorization of direct and indirect speech acts emerged in this study

Direct speech act Category Purposes of speech acts

Assertive informing, confirmation, correction, justification Expressive thanking, praising, sympathizing, condemnation Directive request, suggestion, inquiry, warning

Indirect speech act

Category Primary speech act Secondary speech act Assertive Informing confirmation, inquiry

Expressive

Praising informing, request Sympathizing informing, suggestion Defense informing, agreement, request Condemnation informing, clarification, correction,

agreement, concession, apology, praising, sympathizing, worrying, defense, suggestion, request, warning

Directive Request informing, inquiry Suggestion clarification, request

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Chapter 4 Data Analysis

This chapter depicts the quantitative analysis of speech acts collected from the six episodes of the two shows. Speech acts are first analyzed in general. Then, condemnation, the major speech act in political talk shows is examined.

4.1. Quantitative Analyses of Speech Act

This section represents the quantitative analysis and the preliminary findings of the speech acts performed in two political talk shows that hold opposite ideologies.

Speech acts are first analyzed with their pragmatic strategies (directness and indirectness). Then, these acts are examined with the categorization proposed by Searle (1965). Finally, the illocutionary purposes of the collected speech acts are explored. For the simplicity of presentation, DaHuaXinWen (大話新聞) is abbreviated as DaHua, and QuanMinKaiJiang (全民開講) as QuanMin in the following sections.

4.1.1. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts in The Talk Shows

This section represents the directness and indirectness of the speech acts performed in the talk-show data. It is hypothesized in this study that indirect speech act is more often used than direct speech act in political talk shows (see hypothesis A on page 4 of this thesis), and that the pragmatic strategies are applied differently in ideologically opposite shows (see hypothesis C-1 on page 5 of this thesis). Table 12 presents how direct and indirect speech acts are used in DaHua and QuanMin, and Table 13 compares the distribution of direct and indirect speech acts of the two shows.

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Table 12. Comparison of direct and indirect speech acts in the two individual talk shows

According to Table 12, indirect speech act is generally performed more frequently than direct speech act in political talk shows. The result is consistent with hypothesis A. As to the ideological influence on the individual talk show, the frequency gap between direct and indirect speech act varies according to their political attitudes. Specifically, among the speech acts used in each show, DaHua uses indirect speech act 6.95 times more often than direct speech act (87.42% vs. 12.58%) but QuanMin only uses indirect speech act 2.33 times more often than direct speech act (69.94% vs. 31.62%).

Table 13. Cross-show comparison of direct and indirect speech acts

Names of than DaHua does (67.71% vs. 32.29%); on the contrary, DaHua uses indirect speech act 1.42 times more often than direct speech act does (58.76% vs. 41.24%). Such distributional disparity does not conform to hypothesis C-1. In fact, it is the show challenging the government that uses more indirect speech acts. The great amount of indirect speech act in DaHua is due to its heavy condemnation toward the government

Names of Indirect speech act 87.42 (1147) 69.94 (805) Total 100.00 (1312) 100.00 (1151) Note: χ² = 112.064, df = 1, p =0.000

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(a type of SA that is mostly expressed indirectly¹⁴). As to the minor difference between the frequency of indirect speech act and direct speech act in QuanMin, it is because QuanMin puts its efforts on giving information (the type of direct SA often expressed directly) as well as condemning the government. In all, political ideology affects the pragmatic strategies applied in the talk shows: DaHua, holding the opposition political party‘s stance, tends to perform more indirect speech acts, while QuanMin, as the supporter of the ruling party, performs more direct speech act.

4.1.2. Speech Acts Categories in the Talk Shows

This section represents the distribution of illocutionary acts by Searle‘s categorization (1979): assertive, expressive, directive, commissive, and declarative.

Due to the purpose of commentary and the necessity of filling background information in political talk shows, this thesis hypothesizes that the frequency order of illocutionary categories is: expressive > assertive > directive > commissive >

declarative (see hypothesis B-1 on page 4 of this thesis), and that political inclination would result in different choice of speech act categories (see hypothesis C-2 on page 5 of this thesis).

4.1.2.1. Speech Acts Categories

This section depicts the distribution of the three speech act categories: assertive, expressive, directive, commissive, and declarative. Table 14 demonstrates how the speech act categories are used in DaHua and QuanMin, and Table 15 compares the distribution of speech acts categories between the two shows.

14 Details represented in Table 24 and Table 25

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Table 14. Comparison of speech act categories in the two individual talk shows

Table 14 exhibits that, in terms of illocutionary act categories in political talk show, Expressive is the most often used category, followed by Assertive, and Directive the least. Comparing this distribution with hypothesis B-1, it is found that, except for the fact that Declarative and Commissive are not applied to the genre of political talk show, the frequency of speech act categories is consistent with hypothesis B-1. Expressive, the category expressing the psychological status of the speaker, takes up the largest part of speech act categories because of the commentary nature in political talk show; Assertive, the category giving factual information, ranks second due to the recurring reports of background information about news events;

Directive, the category asking the hearers to do something, is the least common category due to the limit of one-way communication. Though the pattern of using the three types of illocutionary acts (namely Assertive, Expressive, and Directive) appears to be the same in the two political talk shows, the use of each type of illocutionary act reveals distributional differences, as represented in Table 15.

Table 15. Cross-show comparison of speech act categories

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In Table 15, it is revealed that, on the part of Expressive, DaHua uses it 1.75 times more often than QuanMin does (63.69% vs. 36.31%); as to Assertive, QuanMin conversely performs it 3.81 times more than DaHua does (79.20% vs. 20.80%); in terms of Directive, QuanMin overwhelmingly uses it 7.53 times more often than DaHua does (88.28% vs. 11.72%). Such distribution of speech act categories is strongly related to political inclinations. DaHua, holding the opposite political stance from the ruling party, focuses solely on criticizing the government's post-catastrophe management and hence uses more Expressive than QuanMin does. On the contrary, QuanMin, standing on the same side with the ruling party, focuses more on giving information about natural catastrophe so as to absolve the government from malpractice, and consequently performs more Assertive than DaHua does. This result is consistent with hypothesis C-2. Also, to show its support to the government, QuanMin gives much suggestion to the catastrophic event and therefore performs many Directives. However, such frequent usage does not appear in DaHua because the act means believing in the ruling party, which is against DaHua‘s political stance.

In all, political ideology affects the speech act categories performed in the talk shows:

Expressive is more preferable for the opposition party (DaHua) while Assertive and Directive are much more preferred for people holding a stance of supporting the ruling party (QuanMin).

4.1.2.2. Speech Acts Categories and Pragmatic Strategies

To discuss further on the use of speech acts in political talk shows, the following paragraphs examine the interaction between pragmatic strategies (directness and indirectness) and illocutionary act categories. Table 16 displays the use of direct and indirect speech act categories in DaHua and QuanMin, and Table 17 compares the distribution of direct and indirect speech act categories between the two shows.

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Table 16. Comparison of direct and indirect speech act category in the two individual talk shows

Similar to the patterns found in Table 12 and Table 14, it is noticed in Table 16 that the frequency gap of illocutionary act categories in direct/indirect expression exhibits some distributional differences between the two shows. First, DaHua uses direct Assertive nearly 10% more than direct Expressive (50.30% vs. 40.61%), yet the gap increases to 38.73% in QuanMin (55.78% vs. 17.05%). Second, indirect Expressive is 98.95% more than indirect Assertive in DaHua (99.39% vs. 0.44%) while only 60.5% in QuanMin (78.14% vs. 17.64%). Third, direct Directive is minor in DaHua (9.09%) but it takes up nearly one-third of the direct speech act in QuanMin (27.17%). In all, in terms of direct speech act, QuanMin performs more direct Assertive and direct Directive, and DaHua expresses more indirect Expressive; in terms of indirect speech act, the two shows share the same pattern of using speech act categories. In other words, hypothesis B-1 is only verified in indirect speech act.

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Table 17. Cross-show comparison of categories of direct and indirect speech acts

In Table 17, the distributional divergence between the two is even clearer.

Hypothesis C-2 is verified in both direct and indirect speech act category. Overall, the tendency of using direct Assertive and direct Directive over indirect ones in QuanMin is the consequence of concerning hearers‘ comprehension toward factual information.

As to the high frequency of using indirect Expressive over direct one in DaHua, it is for the purpose of impartial report as well as the illocutionary force. In terms of the nature of Expressive—expressing subjective judgment, indirect expression conceals the political inclination of the show and maintains impartial report in a sense; as for the force of Expressive, indirectness helps to accumulate the illocutionary force of illocutionary acts and intensifies DaHua‘s condemnation to the government.

4.1.3. Illocutionary Purposes of Speech Act Categories in the Talk Shows

All the utterances in the data are examined and identified to their illocutionary purposes. This section represents the distribution of these illocutionary purposes in the ideologically opposite talk shows and displays the results by illocutionary act category.

Names of talk show Speech act

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4.1.3.1. Illocutionary Purposes of Assertive

Table 18 and exhibits the illocutionary purposes under the category of Assertive in DaHua and QuanMin, and Table 19 compares the distribution of these illocutionary purposes between the two shows.

Table 18. Comparison of illocutionary purposes of Assertive in the two individual shows¹⁵

As Table 18 indicates, among the illocutionary purposes of Assertive, informing (giving factual information) is the main speech act performed in political talk shows (93.18% in DaHua and 60.00% in QuanMin). Such a high frequency of use is a consequence of speakers‘ need to provide background information about the landslide and the post-disaster situation in order to lay the ground for the coming commentary.

names of talk show

speech act categories 大話新聞全民開講

Assertive

informing 93.18 (82) 60.00 (201) defense 0.00 (0) 36.42 (122) clarification 3.41 (3) 0.90 (3) correction 2.27 (2) 0.90 (3) agreement 0.00 (0) 0.90 (3) justification 0.00 (0) 0.60 (2) confirmation 1.14 (1) 0.30 (1) Total 100.00 (88) 100.00 (335) Note: χ² =50.088, df = 6, p =0.000

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Table 19. Cross-show comparison of illocutionary purposes of Assertive¹⁶

Nonetheless, according to Table 19, the frequency of informing varies in the two shows. Specifically, the pan-blue party show, QuanMin, performs informing 2.45 times more often than DaHua does (71.02% vs. 28.98%). By providing large amount of information about the disaster, QuanMin focuses on the natural causes of massive death and therefore alleviates the blame onto the ruling party‘s malpractice. In addition to the frequency gap of informing, another illocutionary purpose—defense—

also represents distributional divergence. In Table 19, it exhibits that defense is an act performed only in QuanMin and never in DaHua. This all-or-none distribution clearly reflects that QuanMin, as a pan-blue show, tends to perform the speech acts that are beneficial to the government; but DaHua, the pan-green show, is reluctant to perform such supportive illocutionary acts.

4.1.3.2. Illocutionary Purposes of Expressive

In addition to the distributional divergence revealed in using illocutionary purposes of Assertive, the illocutionary purposes of Expressive also distribute differently in the two shows. Table 20 demonstrates the illocutionary purposes under the category of Expressive in DaHua and QuanMin and Table 21 compares the distribution of these illocutionary purposes between the two shows.

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Table 20. Comparison of illocutionary purposes of Expressive in the two individual talk shows¹⁷

As represented in Table 20, condemnation accounts for the majority (over 90%) of Expressive in both shows. This high frequency of use indicates that criticism, especially the negative ones, is the main purpose of political talk shows.

Table 21. Cross-show comparison of illocutionary purposes of Expressive¹⁸

Nonetheless, as represented in Table 21, there is distributional divergence of the use of condemnation in the two shows. Specifically, DaHua performs condemnation 1.85 times more often than QuanMin does (64.93% vs. 35.07%). This distributional divergence is the consequence of two factors. First, DaHua, the pan-green show, gives large amount of criticism to serve the obligation of supervising the government.

Second, the pan-blue show uses relatively less condemnation in order to minimize unfavorable evaluation to the government.

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4.1.3.3. Illocutionary Purposes of Directive

It is not only the illocutionary purposes of Assertive and Expressive exhibiting distributional divergence, those of Directive also reveal different pattern of use.

Table 22 displays the illocutionary purposes under the category of Directive in DaHua and QuanMin and Table 23 compares the distribution of these illocutionary purposes between the two shows.

Table 22. Comparison of illocutionary purposes of Directive in the two individual talk shows¹⁹

In terms of Directive, Table 22 shows that suggestion is used most often in both shows. However, the suggested resolutions in the two shows are different from each other: DaHua proposes advice for the typhoon victims while QuanMin puts forward guideline of rescue and plans of reconstruction for the government. These different kinds of ‗suggestion‘ indicate the ideological divergence between the two shows.

Table 23. Cross-show comparison of illocutionary purposes of Directive²⁰

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Moreover, Table 23 presents the distributional divergence in the two shows.

Specifically, QuanMin uses suggestion 4.93 times more often than DaHua does (83.15% vs. 16.85%). Such divergence in distribution, again, indicates that QuanMin devotes its attention to helping the government and giving beneficial instruction while DaHua avoids doing so.

4.1.3.4. Illocutionary Purposes of Speech Act Categories and the Pragmatic Strategies Related

As represented in Figure 4 (see page 27 of this thesis), when speakers perform each illocutionary act, they can achieve it either directly or indirectly. That is, pragmatic strategies play important roles in the process. Table 24 and Table 25 display the distribution of all the illocutionary purposes in the two shows by pragmatic strategies (directness and indirectness)

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Table 24. Comparison of direct and indirect illocutionary purposes in the two individual talk shows²¹

Table 24 indicates that speakers in political talk show incline to express some illocutionary purposes directly and others indirectly. Specifically, informing and suggestion are illocutionary purposes that are more often conveyed in indirect strategy²²; hearers‘ ease of comprehension accounts for such phenomenon. In contrast, condemnation and praising are more often performed by indirect strategy in the two

21 The column in shade is highlighted for its significant number or the great difference between the two shows

22 Direct informing vs. indirect informing—DaHua (5.87% vs. 0.38%); QuanMin (15.46% vs. 2.00%) Direct suggestion vs. indirect suggestion—DaHua (0.99% vs. 0.15%); QuanMin (4.69% vs. 1.74%)

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increasing the force of condemnation.

Table 25. Cross-show comparison of direct and indirect illocutionary purposes²⁴

Despite the general pattern indicated in Table 24, there is different distribution between the illocutionary purposes in the two shows. Table 25 demonstrates distributional divergence on direct and indirect speech acts in DaHua and QuanMin.

It is shown that QuanMin uses informing and suggestion more often than DaHua does, either directly or indirectly; contrarily, DaHua uses both direct and indirect

23 Indirect condemnation vs. direct condemnation—DaHua (85.37% vs. 3.96%); QuanMin (51.52% vs. 3.48%) Indirect praising vs. direct praising—DaHua (1.14% vs. 0.53%); QuanMin (1.30% vs. 0.09%)

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condemnation more often than QuanMin does. Another noteworthy divergence is the distribution of defense. As exhibited, both direct and indirect defense never appear in DaHua. Figure 5 represents the main illocutionary purposes (including indirect condemnation, direct informing, direct suggestion, and indirect defense) in political talk shows.

Figure 5. Cross-show comparison of major illocutionary purposes

It shows that political talk shows perform more speech act that is favorable to their political position (or unfavorable to the opposite side) and that they use less speech act that is unfavorable to their political position (or favorable to the opposite

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