Questions and Answers in Korean Political Talk Based on Big Data Analytics

Abstract

This dissertation aims to identify the varying linguistic designs of question and response sequences observed in Korean political talk in order to broaden understanding about the institutional uses of questions and answers. Based on big data drawn from 34 televised Korean political debates (approximately 280 hours and 18 minutes in total) from 2016 to 2021, this study obtained 19,533 questions and answers for its analysis. The distinct features of question formulations and response designs with the highest frequency numbers within specific sequential environments are explored through the analytic framework of Interactional Linguistics. Types of questions with lexico-grammatical options are examined to elucidate the relationship between grammatical forms and their associated interactional functions. Findings indicate that participants adhered to certain action types based on their epistemic status and stances toward shared issues. They also designed questions to achieve their institutional identities and roles. Four types of question formulations were found: Polar questions, Wh questions, Rhetorical questions and Alternative questions. Among them, Polar questions including (75.73%) and Wh questions (Wh-Qs) (15.2%) were the most frequent forms. The incongruence of participants’ epistemic statuses prompted diverse compositional forms of question types and their sequences. When questions were posed from a [K-] position, they carried a basic function of information seeking. However, questions delivered from a [K+] status delivered other social actions such as a speaker’s criticisms or challenges that could be construed as face-threatening acts. Response designs were also studied in terms of various turn designs and action properties. Analysis of response designs to questions was concerned with features used by respondents to deal with multifaceted constraints imposed by question formats and their social actions. Recipients displayed a wide range of strategies that signified other interactional elements such as epistemic rights and authority over shared issues. Ultimately, the current study elucidates the relative contributions of question and answers as well as what participants accomplish moment-by-moment in institutional forms of talk-in-interaction, thereby contributing to the fields of Interactional Linguistics, Korean Political Communication, and Korean Linguistics.