Some Standard Uses of "What about"-Prefaced Interrogatives in the Broadcast News Interview

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" Some Standard Uses of "What about"-Prefaced Interrogatives in the Broadcast News Interview "
Roth, Andrew; Olsher, David

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	928730
Doc. No	:	LA7bg0c37w
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Roth, Andrew; Olsher, David
Title & Author	:	Some Standard Uses of "What about"-Prefaced Interrogatives in the Broadcast News Interview [Article]\ Roth, Andrew; Olsher, David
Title of Periodical	:	Issues in Applied Linguistics
Volume/ Issue Number	:	8/1
Date	:	1997
Abstract	:	Interrogatives (as linguistic objects, described by their grammatical features) and questioning (as a social action, responsive to prior actions and consequential for subsequent ones) can both serve as vehicles for a range of social activities. This article reports on one distinctive form of interrogative, the ''what about''-prefaced interrogative, with a particular focus on its uses in broadcast news interviews. We analyze the internal composition and sequential position of ''what about''-prefaced interrogatives and identify four standard uses of them by interviewers: pursuing a prior interviewee's response, juxtaposing multiple interviewees' positions, invoking a prior agenda, and proposing membership in a category. On the basis of this analysis, we consider how the recurrent use of this particular interrogative form can serve as an interactional means of instantiating a particular broadcasting ''style,'' thus contributing to distinctions among various public affairs programs.