On the use of cognitive verbs in political interviews

Vol.41,No.1(2015)

Jana Kozubíková Šandová

https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2015-1-3

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/134763

PDF
Abstract
This paper focuses on the use and functions of cognitive verbs in the genre of political interview. These verbs are frequently used in argumentative discourse to modify the meaning conveyed in a proposition and to show different degrees of speaker involvement. Apart from expressing a subjective standpoint, they also have an intersubjective function, which means that they show the recipient how the speaker's viewpoint expressed in the proposition should be understood. The intersubjective perspective also indicates that a certain piece of information conveyed by the speaker is open for negotiation. The aim of this contribution is to examine the distribution, frequency and functions of cognitive verbs occurring in a corpus of political interviews and to find out how these constructions modify the meaning of utterances. Since these verbs co-occur frequently with discourse markers such as and, because, but, so, well, etc., these configurations were investigated as well.

Keywords:
cognitive verbs; parentheticals; political interview; pragmatic functions; intersubjectivity

Pages:
41–59
References

Aijmer, Karin (1997) " I think – an English Modal Particle." In: Swan, Toril and Olaf J. Westvik (eds.) Modality in Germanic Languages. Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Berlin: Mouton, 1–47.

Barth, Dagmar and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (2002) " On the development of final though: A case of grammaticalization?" In: Wischer, Ilse and Gabriele Diewald (eds.) New Reflections on Grammaticalization (Typological Studies in Language 49). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 345–361.

Biber, Douglas (1988) Variation across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Defrancq, Bart and Bernard De Clerck (2011) " Intersubjective Positioning in French and English. A Contrastive Analysis of 'ca dépend' and 'it depends'." In: Aijmer, Karin (ed.) Contrastive Pragmatics. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 40–71.

Dehé, Nicole (2014) Parentheticals in Spoken English. The Syntax-Prosody Relation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Downing, Laura Hidalgo and Begona N. Perucha (2013) " Modality and Personal Pronouns as Indexical Markers of Stance: Intersubjective Positioning and Construction of Public Identity in Media Interviews." In: Marín-Arrese, Juana I., Marta Carretero, Jorge Arús Hita and Johan van der Auwer (eds.) English Modality: Core, Periphery and Evidentiality. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 379–410.

Fairclough, Norman (1995) Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold.

Fetzer, Anita (2008) " And I Think That Is a Very Straightforward Way of Dealing With It": The Communicative Function of Cognitive Verbs in Political Discourse." Journal of Language and Social Psychology 27 (4): 384–396. | DOI 10.1177/0261927X08322481

Fetzer, Anita (2014) " I think, I mean and I believe in Political Discourse. Collocates, Functions and Distribution." Functions of Language 21 (1): 67–94. | DOI 10.1075/fol.21.1.05fet

Givón, Thomas (1993) English Grammar. A Function-Based Introduction. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Günthner, Susanne and Katrin Mutz (2004) " Grammaticalization vs. pragmaticalization? The development of pragmatic markers in German and Italian." In: Bisang, Walter, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann and Björn Wiemer (eds.) What makes Grammaticalization? A look from its fringes and its components (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 158). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 77–107.

Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood (1994) Introduction to English Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.

Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kaltenböck, Gunther (2013) " The Development of Comment Clauses." In: Aarts, Bas (ed.) The Verb Phrase in English. Investigating Recent Language Change with Corpora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 286–317.

Kärkkäinen, Elise (2003) Epistemic Stance in English Conversation: A Description of its Interactional Functions, with a Focus on I think. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Kozubíková Šandová, Jana (2014) Speaker Involvement in Political Interviews. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Leech, Geoffrey (2004) Meaning and the English Verb. 3rd edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Nuyts, Jan (2001) " Subjectivity as an Evidential Dimension of Epistemic Modal Expressions." Journal of Pragmatics 33 (3): 383–400. | DOI 10.1016/S0378-2166(00)00009-6

Palmer, Frank Robert (1987) The English Verb. 2nd edition. London: Longman.

Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum Sidney, Leech Geoffrey, Svartvik Jan (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.

Schiffrin, Deborah (1987) Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne-Marie (2000) " The Functions of I Think in Political Discourse." International Journal of Applied Linguistics 10 (1): 41–63. | DOI 10.1111/j.1473-4192.2000.tb00139.x

Stein, Dieter and Susan Wright (eds.) (1995) Subjectivity and Subjectivisation: Linguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thompson, Sandra A. and Anthony Mulac (1991) " A Quantitative Perspective on the Grammaticalization of Epistemic Parentheticals in English." In: Traugott, Elizabeth and Bernd Heine (eds.) Approaches to Grammaticalization, Vol. 2. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 313–339.

Traugott, Elizabeth (1989) " On the Rise of Epistemic Meanings in English: An Example of Subjectification in Semantic Change." Language 65 (1): 31–55. | DOI 10.2307/414841

Traugott, Elizabeth (1995) " Subjectification in Grammaticalization." In: Stein, Dieter and Susan Wright (eds.) Subjectivity and Subjectivisation: Linguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 31–54.

Urmson, James Opie (1952) " Parenthetical Verbs." Mind 61 (244): 480–496. | DOI 10.1093/mind/LXI.244.480

Blair, Tony (2003a) Transcript of Blair's Iraq interview. 6 February, 2003. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/2732979.stm.

Blair, Tony (2003b) Tony Blair Interview – BBC Newsnight. 29 April, 2003. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/newsnight/1372220.stm.

Blair, Tony (2006a) Blair/Frost Iraq 'Disaster' Interview: The Full Transcript. 11 December, 2006. Al-Jazeera English. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/frostovertheworld/2006/11/2008525184756477907.html.

Blair, Tony (2006b) Tony Blair Interview: Complete Transcript George Stephanopoulos' Exclusive Interview with British Prime Minister. 10 December, 2006. ABC NEWS. http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Politics/Story?id=2720220&page=1.

Blair, Tony (2007a) Blair: 'I'm going to finish what I started.' 28 January, 2007. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/politics_show/6293605.stm.

Blair, Tony (2007b) Blair Defends his 10-year Legacy. 15 April, 2007. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politicsc_show/6544295.stm.

Blears, Hazel (2006) Interview with Hazel Blears, Chair of the Labour Party. 17 September, 2006. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politics_show/5354132.stm.

Blears, Hazel (2007) Hazel Blears Interview. 25 February, 2007. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politics_show/6381575.stm.

Bush, George W. (2006a) President Bush Sits Down with Bob Schieffer. 27 January, 2006. CBS NEWS. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/27/eveningnews/main1248952_page4.shtml.

Bush, George W. (2006b) Couric's Interview with President Bush. 6 September, 2009. CBS NEWS. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/06/five_years/main1979933_page4.shtml, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/06/five_years/main1980074_page4.shtml.

Bush, George W. (2007a) President Spoke to 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley at Camp David. 14 January, 2007. CBS NEWS. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/14/60minutes/main2359119_page5.shtml.

Bush, George W. (2007b) President Bush Defends Decision to Send Additional Troops to Iraq. 16 January, 2007. PBS Newshour. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june07/bush_01-16.html.

Bush, George W. (2007c) NPR Interview with President George W. Bush. 29 January, 2007. NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7065633.

Bush, George W. (2008) George W. Bush BBC Interview. 14 February, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7245670.stm.

Cameron, David (2008) David Cameron Interview. 16 March, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7286279.stm.

Clinton, Hillary (2006) Hillary Clinton Talks with Nightline's Cynthia McFadden. 7 September, 2006. ABC NEWS. http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2403942.

Clinton, Hillary (2007) Hillary Clinton Interview. 11 October, 2007. CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/id/21254463/.

Clinton, Hillary (2008) Hillary Clinton Interview. Meet the Press. 13 January, 2008. MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22634967/page/6/.

Cooper, Yvette (2007) Yvette Cooper Interview. 15 July, 2007. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politics_show/6270720.stm.

Duncan, Alan (2006) Jon Sopel interviewed Alan Duncan MP. 2 July, 2006. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/politics_show/5124232.stm.

Gove, Michael (2008a) Interview with Michael Gove MP. 2 March, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7261388.stm.

Gove, Michael (2008b) On the Politics Show, Jon Sopel Interviewed Michael Gove, MP. 29 April, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7372603.stm.

Hague, William (2008) Hague on Zimbabwe Recount. 27 April, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7362715.stm.

Harman, Harriet (2007a) Harriet Harman Interview. 15 June, 2007. http://www.harrietharman.org.

Harman, Harriet (2007b) Harman: 'Increase in spending...' 17 June, 2007. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politics_show/6746407.stm.

Harman, Harriet (2008) Harriet Harman Interview. 29 April, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7372602.stm.

Johnson, Alan (2008) On the Politics Show, Jon Sopel interviewed Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Health. 13 April, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7336215.stm.

Kelly, Ruth (2007) Interview with Ruth Kelly, MP, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government. 10 June, 2007. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politics_show/6725673.stm.

May, Teresa (2008) On the Politics Show, Jon Sopel Interviewed Shadow Leader, House of Commons, Theresa May. 9 March, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7276464.stm.

McCain, John (2007) Larry King Live: Interview with Senator John McCain. 16 August, 2007. CNN.com. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/16/lkl.01.html.

Miliband, David (2008) David Miliband Interview. 11 May, 2008. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/politics_show/7385768.stm.

Napolitano, Janet (2008) Interview with Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. 24 April, 2008. FOX NEWS. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,595926,00.html.

Palin, Sarah (2008) '20/20' Co-Anchor Elizabeth Vargas Speaks with Alaska Governor on Campaign Trail. 29 October, 2008. ABC NEWS. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/Story?id=6140030&page=2.

Rice, Condoleezza (2006) CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer: Interview With Condoleezza Rice. 26 March, 2006. CNN.com. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/26/le.01.html.

Rice, Condoleezza (2007a) Interview on NBC's Today Show with Matt Lauer: Condoleezza Rice. 19 March, 2007. NBC. http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2007/mar/81865.htm.

Rice, Condoleezza (2007b) CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer: Interview With Condoleezza Rice. 29 April, 2007. CNN.com. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/29/le.01.html.

Rice, Condoleezza (2007c) Interview on the Charlie Rose Show: Secretary Condoleezza Rice. 7 May, 2007. U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2007/may/84460.htm.

Rice, Condoleezza (2007d) Cynthia's McFadden's Interview with Condoleezza Rice. 28 November, 2007. ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=3927548&page=1.

Rice, Condoleezza (2008) Interview with the Washington Times Editorial Board: Secretary Condoleezza Rice, 27 March, 2008. U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/03/102757.htm.

Smith, Jackie (2005) Interview with Jacqui Smith. 27 November, 2005. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/politics_show/4475810.stm.

Metrics

2

Crossref logo

3

8

Views

0

PDF views

PDF