Research Article

A Discoursal Study of Turn Taking in Political Interviews

Authors

  • Hussein Hameed Ma'yuuf Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences, University of Babylon, Iraq
  • Wafaa Abid Ali Mahdi Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences, University of Babylon, Iraq

Abstract

A political interview or any type of conversation is a collaborative effort between all speakers involved. That is, participants, take turns, and the control of a conversation is negotiated by the parties involved. According to Richards (1980: 424), it is governed by turn-taking conventions that determine who talks, when, and for how long. For a successful collaboration to ensue, it is important for speakers to know how and when to take, hold onto, and relinquish their turns in conversation. This study highlights turn-taking as a strategy in Trump's speech. The study tries to show the importance of turn-taking use in political discourse and how it is dominated. The results of the study revealed that there are three strategies of turn-taking: taking the turn, holding the turn and yielding the turn, which Trump used them. Also, the study found that on some occasions, politicians make use of gestures and facial expressions to employ as turn-taking strategies.

Article information

Journal

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

Volume (Issue)

5 (2)

Pages

139-144

Published

2022-02-28

How to Cite

Ma’yuuf, H. H., & Mahdi, W. A. A. (2022). A Discoursal Study of Turn Taking in Political Interviews. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 5(2), 139–144. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2022.5.2.17

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Keywords:

Political discourse, turn-taking, yielding the turn