Statements as questions in interviews with celebrities: A Mandarin Chinese and American English comparative perspective on a questioning strategy

Drawing on eleven television/radio celebrity interviews (316 min), broadcast in American English and Mandarin Chinese in the US and in China, the current study is a comparative discourse analysis of an indirect questioning strategy in media interview discourse, i.e., the interviewers’ deployments of statements that effectuate turn-transfer and function as information-soliciting questions. The findings show parallels between the two datasets regarding the types of statement-questions prevalent, such as formulations of the interviewee's experiences (Heritage and Roth, 1995), appraisals of the interviewee-associated events, and third-party attributed/descriptive statements. Differences in the two datasets lie in the particular discursive formulations and subsequent functions of these similar types of statement-questions. For instance, the American English interviewers' third-party attributed/descriptive statements focus on public controversies, while the same types, in the Mandarin interviews, may evoke others' (hypothetical) perceptions of the guest as a person, effectuating a normative ideology. Overall, the study contributes to a broader understanding of the universality of indirect speech acts and the potential cultural specificity of indirect speech acts. The findings also expand the literature of media interviews by illustrating the types of statement-questions arguably particular to the celebrity interview genre, including use of positive addressee-assessments to organize topics and support the interviewee's public persona.

► The study examines celebrity interviews in Mandarin Chinese and American English. ► The analysis focuses on turn-transferring, question-functioning statements. ► The Chinese and English interviews are largely similar in statement types and ranges. ► Differences lie in specific uses including evocation of normative ideology. ► The findings expand knowledge of indirect speech acts in mediated public discourse.