| In this paper I will present my findings on how one particular host of a well-known Czech TV talk show uses his prosody as well as facial expressions in particular sequential settings as a means of joking or making fun of his guests. With the help of prosody in conversation, speakers can alter the meaning of what their partners have said. One important way of achieving this is ‘stylized prosodic orientation (Szczepek Reed 2006). As the author of this concept says, ‘[b]y prosodically stylizing a previous non-stylized item or action participants introduce a new perspective on it.’ (Szczepek Reed 2006: 147). The host of the talk show uses specific prosodic resources to ironize the answers of his guests or to make fun of them: he matches the pitch of the ending of the guest’s answers absolutely (especially when repeating their words) in two different ways: 1. he ends on the same pitch level on which his guest has ended; 2. he takes over the turn, matching the pitch at which the guest’s turn has ended. These two ways differ with respect to sequential position. The former is used to contextualize (Auer – DiLuzio 1992) an assessment of the guest’s finished answer or merely a reaction to it (i.e. “sequence-closing third” (cf. Schegloff 2007)), and the latter is used to contextualize the host’s incoming laughable remark. The “sequence-closing third”, which is meant to trigger the laughter of the audience, is framed, in turn, as a disaffiliative action by means of the longish pause preceding it and the host’s facial expression. |
