Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-182). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

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Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Emma Betz / This conversation analytic study aims to describe how advice is re-issued in German in an institutional setting. Schank (1979) has shown that conversation during German advice programs consists of five different phases, one of which is the advice-giving phase. For the current study, four conversations from a radio advice program were analyzed. The data show that the advice-giving phase identified by Schank is further characterized by three sub-phases: 1) issuing of initial advice, 2) negotiation of rejected advice through reformulations of the initial advice, and 3) offer to move to the closing phase, done via generalization of the previously-given advice. I focus on the delivery of the second phase, in which the advice, previously rejected by the recipient, is re-issued using a number of discourse strategies on the part of the advice giver. These strategies include a change in recipient, a shift in source of the advice, the selection or change in reference (i.e. du ‘you’ vs. ich ‘I’), a change in advised action, and a change in strength. In selecting one of these identified discourse strategies, the advice giver addresses the reason for the rejection of the advice on which the reformulation is based. Finally, in looking at the third phase, I explain the function of generalizations and their role in situating the interlocutors interactionally within the larger advice-giving phase, thus sequencing the complex action (Schank, 1981).

This study contributes to an understanding of how coherence can be assigned or constructed by participants in authentic multiparty conversational interaction. Coherence is analysed as a type of organisation relevant for the making of meaning in situated interaction, but also in retrospect from a third party's (or analyst's) perspective; it is both constructed and reconstructed. Important questions are: what makes multiparty talk hold together, what do a number of participants in conversation (have to) do in order to sustain coherence, and in what senses can multiparty conversations be argued to be coherent? A notion of episode is (re)introduced as a unit of natural social interaction, manifest at a structurally intermediate, or a global. level of conversation. The use of episode implies that coherence, a pragmatic phenomenon, steadily encompasses text, i.e. talk, context(s) and actions, and sense-making practices invoking contexts during the progression of interaction. This reflects the reciprocal relations between länguage, social interaction, and cognition. Also, a coding method of coherence has been developed, Topical Episode Analysis (abbreviated as TEA). The thesis explores the concept of episode and its place among units of interaction, and describes the episode structure and coherence-making in some specific activity types. The empirical material used, 24 multiparty conversations making up a total of 1500 episodes, consists of dinner conversations among peers, multi-generational family gatherings (involving aphasics), radio talk shows, and conversations recorded at a centre aimed for elderly people (with symptoms of dementia). In all conversations, conversing is a main activity. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses have been carried out. Results include the following points: (i) coherence in multiparty conversation can be regarded as a co-construction; (ii) coherence is accomplished through the invoking of contexts (cotext, situation, and background knowledge), implying that coherence is an attribute of activities in context and not only 'text'; (iii) coherence-making is the unmarked case in authentic conversation and incoherence or non-coherence appear to be theoretical constructs; (iv) coherence patterns are activityspecific; (v) coherence is multilayered, consisting of one local and several global levels; (vi) coherence is constructed through a division of communicative labour, suggesting that also people with communicative impairments contribute to coherence-making.

I den här uppsatsen undersöks interaktionen mellan tre programledare och en intervjuad forskare i ett utdrag från ett intervjusamtal i radio. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka övergripande topiker och vilka kommunikativa projekt som förekommer i samtalsutdraget. Likaså att undersöka hur de kommunikativa projekten kan relateras till den hybriditet som detta samtalsutdrag kännetecknas av, då samtale tkan kategoriseras som en hybridiserad pratshowintervju. Samtalsdelen består av drygt åtta minuter, som transkriberas och analyseras med hjälp av en topikanalys i kombination med en analys av de kommunikativa projekt som florerar i samtalsutdraget. Resultatet av analysen visar att samtalsutdraget innehåller olika kommunikativa projekt som ibland kolliderar. Programledarna vill ha svar på sina mestadels enkla och grundläggande frågor, men forskaren svarar inte alltid enkelt och grundläggande. Forskaren är där för att beskriva omständigheterna kring hundraårsjubileet av upptäckten av kosmisk strålning, i egenskap av elementarpartikelfysiker. Programledarna är beroende av att deras lyssnare tycker att innehållet är intressant och värt att lyssna på. Därför hamnar det på deras lott att så gott de kan göra programinnehållet intressant för lyssnarna. För att uppfylla det tillkommer lokala projekt, såsom att förmå den intervjuade att vara mer personlig och göra ansatser för att ge samtalet en mer vardaglig och avslappnad prägel. Till exempel genom det sätt som de ställer frågor till forskaren. Men även den journalistsiska uppgiften att popularisera vetenskapen som forskaren intervjuas om tillkommer, då det rör sig om ett radioprogram inom sektorn för Public service.

This study is a comparative examination of approaches to talk radio as a genre on three Ugandan radio stations. The aim is to draw conclusions, from observations made about these stations, about the potential of talk radio to encourage public debate around social issues and improve democratic participation despite pertinent challenges in Uganda. The study first outlines a theoretical framework, which is informed by Habermas's theory of the media as a 'public sphere'. This framework is applied to an exploration of traditions of talk radio that have emerged globally in order to assess the potential of these traditions to play a role in contributing to the establishment of such a 'public sphere'. The study then goes on to discuss the historical development of radio in Uganda and the establishment of the current broadcast landscape. The focus is on the way in which this history has been defined by a struggle around public expression, in which government has repeatedly sought ways to control media as a vehicle for public expression. It is proposed that Ugandan talk radio has the potential to play an important role in ensuring broad participation in public expression. It is against this background that the study then describes and analyses the development of the talk genre at three Ugandan radio stations (each one an example of, respectively, a commercial, community and public service station). It is explained that staff on all three stations emphasise the importance of talk radio in encouraging participation, by their audiences, in the public debate of social and political issues. It is argued that, because of limitations that exist within these stations, none of the talk show teams fully realize the potential of the genre for participation in such debate. The picture that emerges is one of unequal access, with those sections of radio audiences in positions of privilege being further empowered, while those on the margins remain excluded from public discussion. The study finally recommends ways to improve public participation on Ugandan talk radio, noting the need to review government support, the problems of organizational culture within the stations, the need for more guidelines on practical arrangements around talk show production and the question of contradictions that exist at policy level.

Text had abstracts in English and Tshivenda. No keywords / Very few scholars have ventured into language use in media discourse, especially in African Languages. The purpose of this study was to determine the language use in media discourse in the Nḓevhetsini Programme on Phalaphala FM, to investigate linguistic elements that create challenges amongst presenters, reporters, listeners and guest speakers and also the manner in which the message is received by listeners. This study employed a qualitative approach to obtain data from Nḓevhetsini episodes. The episodes were divided into themes identified in order to compare common cases and those that differ in language use amongst presenters, reporters, compilers, listeners and guest speakers engaged on the Nḓevhetsini episodes. The study found that borrowing, code-mixing, dialectal variants use, and not interpreting the English message to listeners bring challenges in language use in media discourse. Language programmes that promote language should be implemented. Rules that guide language use are important in language preservation. / A hu athu tou vha na vhaḓivhi vha maṅwalwa vhe vha sedzulusa kushumisele kwa luambo kha nyanḓadzamafhungo nga maanḓa kha ngudo ya Nyambo dza Vharema. Ndivho ya ngudo yo vha u ṱoḓa u wanulusa kushumisele kwa luambo kha nyanḓadzamafhungo kha mbekanyamushumo ya Nḓevhetsini, ho sedzwa zwiteṅwa zwa luambo zwine zwa vha fha khaedu khathihi na u sedza uri mulaedza u swika nga nḓilaḓe kha vhathetshelesi. Ngudo iyi yo shumisa ngona ya Khwaḽithethivi kha u kuvhanganya mafhungo u bva kha episode ṱhanu. Episode dzo saukanywa u ya nga thero dzo wanalaho hu u itela u ita mbambedzo dza kushumisele kwa luambo dzi fanaho na dzi sa faniho. Ngudo iyi yo wanulusa uri u hadzima, u ṱanganyiswa ha maipfi kana mafurase a nyambo dzo fhambanaho, na u sa pindulelwa ha milaedza ya English ndi khaedu. Milaedza i hashiwaho nga English i ṋea vhathetshelesi khaedu kha kushumisele kwa luambo kha khasho. Mbekanyamushumo na milayo i ṱuṱuwedzaho tshumiso ya Tshivenḓa zwi tea u sikiwa. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

In 1971, radio station KGBS, Los Angeles, developed a format featuring a male host taking telephone calls from females only who discussed explicit sexual experiences over the air. Many other radio stations in the United States programmed this "sex-talk" format until 1973, when the Federal Communications Commission took steps to eliminate it. This study examines the origin, development, success, causes for eventual demise, and impact upon the broadcasting industry of the sex-talk format. The United States Congress pressured the FCC to act on the sex-talk format, and the study concludes that broadcasters would not have succumbed to government pressure if they had not feared governmental intrusion in programming and Congressional rejection of license renewal legislation.