Conversational violence in political TV debates: Forms and functions

This article develops a concept of ‘conversational violence’ based on Galtung's (1975), general definition of violence and on the linguistic studies of Frank (1992), and Burger (1995). After a discussion of these approaches, I propose my own definition. In the second part of the article, acts of conversational violence in the Swiss political TV debate show, ‘Arena’, are analysed. This show has been very successful since its commencement in 1993. To date, it is the only political TV debate show in German-speaking Switzerland. The analysis demonstrates how the setting and the behaviour of the host influence the argumentative behaviour of the politicians. The main forms of conversational violence are discussed (allegations of incompetence and allegations of insincerity). It is shown how politicians use everyday conversational patterns (such as asking questions or giving advice) to stage cooperative behaviour while they are in fact exerting conversational violence. The staging of confrontation is also discussed, as well as the question whether these violent utterances can be understood as staged in a conversational game.