TURN-TAKING AND OVERLAPPING IN A NIGERIAN ONLINE POLITICAL INTERVIEW

Abstract

Previous studies on media discourses in Nigeria have not given adequate attention to the language of television interviews. The broadcast media seems not to have many admirers like the print media does. This study therefore attempts to fill this gap by analyzing turntaking types and overlapping in a news interview. The specific objectives are to describe the turn-taking pattern and describe the overlapping speech patterns. The interview, which was downloaded from YouTube and transcribed using SayMore, was selected because of the importance of the politician in Nigerian politics. The method used in this study is qualitative and the analysis is inductive. The findings of the study revealed that the turn-taking pattern in the interview deviates from the question-response pattern expected of news interviews. The pattern identified in this study is explanation, question and response. Interruptive and non-interruptive overlaps were identified in the study. Interestingly, this study also identified a recursive interruptive overlap. Finally, it was observed that disagreement between the interviewer and the interviewee often led to cases of overlaps.