The Development Patterns Of Discourse Topics In Casual Talk Shows

This article analyzes the content of the type of casual talk shows from the perspective of the development patterns of discourse topics,taking the fourth season of the talk show "The Round Table" as the research object.Compared to common interview programs,the characteristics of this type of talk show are to downplay the "interview" aspect,transforming it from a one-on-one interview between the interviewer and the interviewee into a round table discussion involving several people.This change allows the conversation to evolve from a fixed question-and-answer format to a more free-flowing "casual talk," resulting in a more diverse conversational format and greater research value.Based on these unique features,this paper provides a detailed description and analysis of the various discourse topic development patterns in the program.Apart from the introductory chapter,this paper is divided into five sections for analysis and investigation.The second main chapter analyzes discourse topics and their formal markers,focusing on the topic initiation stage of the program’s conversation.This stage is divided into three steps: greetings,background introduction,and topic introduction.The analysis examines how the host initiates the conversation,chooses appropriate topics to introduce the theme,and extracts several common topic initiation combination patterns in "Round Table." The third chapter describes the topic continuation part of the program’s conversation from multiple perspectives,formally analyzing various means of topic continuation and discussing different semantic relationships between the continuation segments.Additionally,several topic unfolding structures that have appeared in this program are summarized,including single-topic type,single-line extension type,new topic embedding type,and multiple new topic embedding type.The fourth chapter analyzes the topic transition part of the program’s conversation,distinguishing and comparing different discourses based on factors such as the degree of association between the context and the topic,and explores the pragmatic purposes behind the speaker’s deliberate topic shifts,including opening up new ideas,enlivening the atmosphere,adjusting topics,and transferring discourse rights.The fifth chapter briefly discusses the factors influencing the participants’ topic selection in the program,and ultimately analyzes the participants’ topic choices as being adaptive to the conversational context,social norms,context,and program theme.The sixth chapter provides a general summary of the content and analyzes the differences between the topic promotion of TV talk show conversations and natural spoken conversations.This paper attempts to explore the coherence and connection within the discourse of conversational TV talk shows by analyzing the hierarchical networks formed by various topics,providing material and ideas for conversation analysis and topic research,and enriching theoretical achievements.