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A Discourse Analysis of Interruption, Moderator A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF INTERRUPTION, MODERATOR ROLE, AND ADDRESS TERMS IN ARAB AND AMERICAN PANEL NEWS INTERVIEWS BY YOUSEF IBRAHIM AL-ROJAIE Bachelor of Arts King Saud University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 1995 Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado 2001 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December, 2003 A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF INTERRUPTION, MODERATOR ROLE, AND ADDRESS TERMS IN ARABIC AND AMERICAN PANEL NEWS INTERVIEWS ~ - . ~ ;:Graduate College 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The accomplishment of this dissertation could not have been possible without many people's support and help. I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to all the people who have played significant roles during my Ph.D. studies. First, I am deeply grateful to Dr. Carol Lynn Moder, my mentor and major advisor, not only for her guidance and support of this research, but also for introducing me to discourse analysis upon which much this study b\has been based. Her professional example is a constant source of inspiration. I am also extremely grateful to my wonderful dissertation committee, Dr. Gene Halleck, Dr. Ravi Sheorey, and Dr. Kouider Mokhtari, who all have provided assistance and friendship throughout researching and writing of this work. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friends for their support, encouragement, and help. Special thanks go to Dr. AbdulAziz al-Ahmad for his enormous efforts with my scholarship. I am also appreciative to other relatives, my father and mother-in law, and my friends, Khalid Abalalkhail and Mansour al-Gefari for their modal support. Finally, I thank my mother for her support, patience, and prayers. I am indebted to my wife, Maha, for her continuous encouragement, love, devotion, and enthusiastic support. To my daughter, Shaden, I am indebted to her cheerfulness and love. I dedicate this work to my mother, wife, and my beloved friend, Abdullah al-Nusayyan, who passed away just few hours before I defended this dissertation. 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 Background ............................................................................................................. 1 Rationale .................................................................................................................. 1 Focus and Scope ...................................................................................................... 5 Organization of the Study ........................................................................................ 6 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................................................... 10 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 10 Related Approaches of Discourse Analysis ........................................................... 10 Speech act theory (Pragmatic Approach) .................................................. 11 Interactional Sociolinguistics ..................................................................... 12 The Ethnography of Communication ......................................................... 15 Political Interview as a Speech Event ................................................................... 16 Previous studies on political interviews ..................................................... 21 Previous studies on televised panel news interviews ................................. 26 Interruption ............................................................................................................ 30 Interruption in Political Discourse ............................................................. 36 The Moderator's Role .......................................... .-................................................. 41 Address Terms ....................................................................................................... 48 Address terms in American English .......................................................... 52 Address terms in Arabic ............................................................................. 55 Address terms use in political interviews and debates ............................... 59 III. METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 64 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 64 Data Selection ........................................................................................................ 64 Description of the Arabic program (Al-Jazeera 'The Opposing Sides ') .... 72 Description of the English program (PBS NewsHour) .............................. 77 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 78 Transcription .............................................................................................. 78 IV Chapter Page IV. INTERRUPTION ........................................................................................................ 95 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 95 Participants' framing of the context.. ..................................................................... 96 Arabic participants' framing of panel news interviews ......................................... 97 English-speakers' framing of panel news interviews ............................................ 99 Arabic Interviews ................................................................................................. 100 Overview of the results ............................................................................ 100 1. 'The Increasing International Alliance Against America' ....... 102 2. 'The Iraqi Opposition' ............................................................. 107 3. 'Kurds and the Expected Changes in Iraq' .............................. 114 4. 'Arab Peoples and the Resistance of American Plans' ............ 122 5. 'Arab Countries and the Expected American Attack on Iraq' .128 Summary and Discussion ......................................................................... 133 English Interviews ............................................................................................... 134 Overview of the results ............................................................................ 134 1. War or Diplomacy .................................................................... 136 2. After the War: The U.N.'s Role ............................................... 141 3. Shields & Brooks # 1 ............................................................... 144 4. Shields & Brooks# 2 ............................................................... 147 5. Talk of War .............................................................................. 150 Summary and Discussion ......................................................................... 153 Comparison between Arabic and English Speakers' Usage oflnterruption ........ 155 V. THE MODERATOR'S ROLE .................................................................................... 162 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 162 First Task: Encouraging Disagreement between Interviewees ............................ 163 Arabic Interviews ..................................................................................... 163 English Interviews ................................................................................... 169 Second Task: Challenging the Interviewees ........................................................ 173 Arabic Interviews ..................................................................................... 17 4 English Interviews ................................................................................... 181 Third Task: Managing an Escalating Disagreement.. .......................................... 184 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 191 VI. ADDRESS TERMS ................................................................................................... 193 Introduction ...... :.................................................................................................. 193 Arabic interviews ................................................................................................. 194 Overview of the findings ......................................................................... 194 1. 'The Increasing International Alliance against America' ....... 202 2. 'The Iraqi Opposition' ............................................................ 213 3. 'Kurds and the Expected Changes in Iraq' ............................ .218 V Chapter Page 4. 'Arab Peoples and their Resistance to the American Plans' ... 224 5. 'Arab Countries and the Expected American Attack on Iraq' 233 Summary and Conclusions ..................................................................... 240 English interviews ................................................................................................... 242 Overview of the results ..........................................................................
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