A Pragmatic Study Of Interruption In Let's Talk

As one of the possible realizations of turn-taking system,interruption has been extensively studied in various fields like anthropology,sociology,psychology and so on.This study looks at interruption from the perspective of linguistics and specifically it aims at examining the pragmatic functions of interruption.Based on data from Let's Talk,a Chinese debate show,this thesis will answer the following three questions:(1)What are linguistic features of interrupting utterances?(2)How is interruption realized?(3)Why are the interrupting strategies used?Firstly,interrupting utterances from 39 episodes are analyzed from structural,lexical and phonetic aspect respectively.Structurally,interrupting utterances feature a signal(s)followed by target content,either of which makes interruption possible.Lexically,we have analyzed lexical items at initial parts of interrupting utterances and divided them into six categories.They are connectors,commentary lexical items,attention drawers,pronouns,those of stop and politeness markers.Then,phonetically,stress is found common at initial part of interrupting utterances and after interrupting signals,pauses ensue.Following linguistic features,twelve specific interrupting strategies in four groups are identified.The first group includes those from interrupters' perspective to show one's desire to talk.They are interrupting by addressing,being incomplete,repeating oneself and prefacing with interrupting signals.The second group includes those from the perspective of the interrupted.Categorized as showing concerns on preceding utterances,strategies of this group include agreeing or disagreeing,extending,repeating others,interpreting and questioning,all of which tend to be extension of preceding talk and serve as bridges between preceding turns and new ones.The third group of strategies are those that help to reduce imposition including hedging and person-number switching.The last one is direct interrupting strategy.After that,we account for the choice of strategies within the framework of rapport management theory.Three factors are identified.They are rapport orientations,contextual variables and pragmatic functions of interrupting strategies.Although there are numerous studies on interruption,only a few have shed light on specific linguistic features of interrupting utterances and factors for the choice of interrupting strategies.So this research can offer certain insights into these aspects.Then,since it is an empirical test of rapport management theory,this research provides empirical basis for its further development.Apart from that,as interruption is one of the possibilities of turn-taking,this study is a test of turn-taking system as well.Moreover,as interruption can be embarrassing and destroying in communication,this analysis provides suggestions on how to interrupt in our daily life.