An Adaptation-Theoretic Study On Interruption In TV Talk Show

Interruption occurs when the hearer wants to speak and has tried to get the say from speakers.In previous studies,researches on interruption in conversation have been made mainly from perspectives of the Cooperative Principle,Speech Act Theory or the Turn-taking Mechanism,seldom from the perspective of Adaptation Theory,which the author has found is very powerful to account for the causes of different choice-making on interruption forms in conversation.Therefore,explaining the interruption from the angle of Adaptation Theory will not only enlighten researchers on the perspective of interruption research,but also extend the application of Adaptation Theory.This thesis attempts to find out the interruption patterns,causes of different choices of interruption patterns,and their pragmatic functions in some speeches of Ellen Show from the perspective of adaptation theory by means of qualitative and quantitative analysis,with the aim of helping people better understand conversational strategies adopted in TV programs,providing guidance for the participators in TV programs,in which the host and guests can use interruption decently to communicate effectively,and promoting the melioration of domestic TV programs.This thesis consists of six parts.The first part,introduction part,gives a brief introduction of this thesis,including the background,the purpose,the significance,and the framework of this study.The second part,chapter 1 and chapter 2,presents the literature review and the theoretical basis of this thesis.Then,the third part,chapter 3,is mainly devoted to research design and data analysis.The fourth part,chapter 4,discusses the causes of different choice-making of interruption forms on Adaptation Theory.The first part in chapter 4 will focus on the local structure analysis,presenting an elaboration on the causes from the angle of contextual correlates of adaptability.The second part in chapter 4 will turn to the analysis on overall structure of conversation,trying to give a tentative explanation on the causes of the dynamic change of the choice of interruption forms from the perspective of dynamic of adaptability in the global process of conversation.And the fifth part,Chapter five,presents a profound discussion on pragmatic functions of different linguistic choices.Finally,the conclusion part sums up the research findings.This paper finds out that interruption is not only the violation of the turn-taking rules,but also the betrayal to the linguistic and social norms.It varies a lot according to the speaker's intentions and their communicative strategies.The interruption patterns are divided by this research into linguistic and non-linguistic forms as well as cooperative and non-cooperative forms,which are in accordance with the form and position of interruption respectively.The reason why utterers choose when and how to interrupt the conversation is non-accidental but mainly the conscious or unconscious dynamic adaptation to the corresponding context.During the whole process,it is a two-way act of dynamic adaptation that the different choices on interruption forms adapt to some specific contexts dynamically with the changes of communicative context,which has been altered by the influence of different linguistic choice-making simultaneously.Pragmatic functions of different interruption patterns mainly involve the impacts on the topic of conversation and on the implementation of hearer's psychological intention.