Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Communication
First Advisor
Jeffrey D. Robinson
Date of Publication
Summer 8-17-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Communication
Department
Communication
Language
English
Subjects
Sequence (Linguistics), Debates and debating, Campaign debates -- United States, Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 2016 -- Case studies, Conversation analysis
DOI
10.15760/etd.5730
Physical Description
1 online resource (v, 124 pages)
Abstract
This thesis takes a conversation-analytic approach examining the pragmatic functions of the linguistic marker "first (off/of all)" in second-pair-part (i.e., responsive) position relative to questions. Using data from question-answer sequences in the 2015-2016 U.S. Presidential Republican primary debates, I propose six claims regarding the composition, position, and action of what is referred to as the practice of "First"-prefacing. Analysis reveals that "First"-prefacing projects the displacement of a response (conforming or non-conforming) to a question. In projecting the displacement of a response, "First"-prefacing does two things: (1) it projects that the unit(s) of talk to come immediately next will be something other than a response, and thus this "first" matter should not be heard as being designedly "responsive" to the question; and (2) it claims that a conditionally relevant response to the question is forthcoming after the "first" matter is resolved. Debaters largely used "First"-prefacing to temporarily "get out from under" a question's conditional relevancies in order to "reach back" beyond the question and perform actions more properly sequentially fitted to earlier portions of the debate (e.g., defend themselves, make additional comments, counter-criticize other debaters). The more general function of "First"-prefacing as a misplacement marker is discussed, and its existence in ordinary conversation is briefly demonstrated.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/21394
Recommended Citation
Montiegel, Kristella Marie, ""First"-Matters: Projecting the Displacement of Responses to Questions in the Context of Presidential Primary-Campaign Debates" (2017). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3836.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5730