Pragmatics and Society - Volume 16, Issue 2, 2025

Abstract

This paper considers the interplay of small-scale pragmatic actions and large-scale discursive formations; specifically, we examine frame-shifting and keying in the globally syndicated BBC television show Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby. Focusing on the fourth season of Amazing Hotels, which broadcast in 2021, we document how work and workers are staged for entertainment as quintessential examples of a non-serious frame that Goffman called regroundings. We argue that this particular keying of other people’s labour as play is further evidence for how mediatized representations of super-elite lifestyles normalize inequality by “democratizing” privilege and amplifying entitlement.

Abstract

Police interviewers in England and Wales engage in the practice of investigative interviewing that is based on obtaining neutral, institutionally accepted account from suspects. This involves a process not only of eliciting information from suspects, but also of managing the interview by choosing topics for questioning, seeking clarification and additional details, and shaping the account to fulfil institutional requirements. Interviewers must therefore be sensitive to any unclear meanings from the suspect and avoid potential misunderstandings in order to avoid misrepresentation of account. This study uses authentic police interview data to exemplify the interactional process of meaning negotiation between police officers and suspects, examining how multiple constraints of this very restrictive communication context can affect which meanings are put on record and resolved, and which are ignored or left unresolved. The paper finishes by offering practical applicable insights about how interviewers can avoid misunderstandings in the interview room.

Abstract

This paper has aimed to look into the terms and expressions used in the Jish linguaculture when talking about the deceased. Seventeen such terms and expressions are presented, discussed, and explicated using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach. The explications appear in simple, (semi-)universal language, which makes them relatively easily understood and readily translatable into any language. This, in turn, means that the explications are accessible by linguacultural insiders and outsiders. In addition, the study provides anthropologists and linguists with precise analysis owing to its micro-level focus; it investigates the micro-linguaculture of Jish, which belongs to the macro-culture of the Arab world. Lastly, the study documents one aspect of this undocumented linguaculture; this documentation can preserve one part of this linguaculture from fading into oblivion.

Abstract

Trust in society is related to a perception of fairness and lack of bias. But bias has many faces. This article presents a conversation analytic study of the initial introduction of the debaters in so-called ‘presidential’ TV debates during the final stages of the general election campaigns in Denmark. The data represents a rare possibility to compare almost identical debate contexts: two different elections, but same TV channel, host, presidential debate setup and campaign contexts. The analyses show how male party leaders were given a chance to construct themselves as experienced, engaged, and hardworking politicians, while a female party leader was merely positioned with regard to her gender and age and as an underdog meeting a strong opponent. This allows us to explore how bias is not just about what is actually said and done but also about what could (based on the comparison) have been said and done.

Abstract

While language remains a constant channel of communication, visual information also plays a significant role in contemporary communication. This study explores the application of interactional metadiscourse and meaning-making in public health posters issued during the COVID-19 crisis. It examines both the textual and visual communicative strategies adopted in the multimodal texts of 60 COVID-19 posters published on the official websites of the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia. Principally, the study is framed within the theories of interactional metadiscourse by Hyland (2005b) and multimodality by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996/ 2006/ 2010), as investigated through their work on visual grammar. The frequency and functions of interactional metadiscourse resources and socio-semiotic resources were scrutinized and analyzed. The findings reveal that reader pronouns and directives were the most frequently used interactional metadiscourse to explicitly engage the target audience and guide them toward physical acts that maintain the application of health-protective procedures. The results further demonstrate that framing, salience, and images were the socio-semiotic resources most commonly utilized to achieve compositional meaning, explain content visually, and make information more readily comprehensible to the public.

Abstract

This study explores how guided tour interaction is achieved through certain question formats, specifically known-answer questions (KAQs), as they are deployed by guides for subsequently designing their talk to fit perceived visitor knowledge and for inviting visitor involvement in question-initiated talk. The approximately 470 minutes of video-recorded data come from guided tours in Japan, Belgium, South Korea, and Cambodia. In these tours, English was used as a common language among local guides and their foreign visitors. Analysis revealed how mobile tours are accomplished through sequences initiated by guides’ KAQs, exposing the guides’ strategic deployment of these questions and demonstrating how they subsequently utilized visitor responses to construct their talk. Comparison of the findings from the current study with those from previous research on KAQs in other institutional talk, such as educational and political settings, implies that, depending on the interactional goals, KAQs may perform diverse actions.

This article reviews The Pragmatics of Hypocrisy0922–842X