Conversations in Live Streaming Selling: A Case Study in China

Abstract

As a new emergence of commercial activities, live steaming selling, which shares the characteristics of both live streaming and online shopping, has been developing rapidly with the prosperity of the Internet and the pervasive use of mobile electronic devices in recent years in China. Given that the consumption in live streaming selling is stimulated by the real-time interaction between live streamers (online sellers) and customers to a great extent, how live streamers construct their conversations in order to attract the audience and hold on to potential customers arouses research interests from linguists. To answer the call for more research on live streaming selling and to enrich the body of studies on discourse other than English, the present study aims at examining how trouble sources in live streaming conversations were taken advantage of to attract the audience as well as how sequences of speech were taken to emphasize the essential purpose of live streaming. The case study is based on the conversations between Li Jiaqi, the top live streamer in China, and Jin Jing, his guest, during a session of live streaming selling. The analysis reveals that a) different forms of repair were initiated skillfully by the two live streamers to create humor to attract more audience, and b) strategies of turn-taking were used smartly to get the topic back on the track of selling.