B_solo_zgibanke male new_1 - Filozofska fakulteta

eing impressed by). thus she distinguishes between ‘expressive’ and ‘attitudinal’
intonation. the first reflects emotions, as well as, opinions, beliefs and knowledge
about something or somebody. the second reflects speakers’ behaviour as intended
by them, or perceived by the addressees, or both.
2. tHe DiSCOURSe aND PRaGMatiC FUNCtiONS OF iNtONatiON iN
tHe Weakest link QUiz
the Weakest link quiz, which is with a huge success regularly broadcast on BBC
Prime, was chosen for the analysis of the discourse and pragmatic functions of
intonation in english. the quiz is an endurance test characterized by anne
Robinson’s putdowns and bitter and sarcastic chats with the contestants, who
embarass themselves by providing preposterous answers and stab each other in the
back as they vote off their rivals. the show exploits the darkest corners of the human
nature and language plays the main role.
the Weakest link quiz has a strictly defined structure in which the dominant role
is played by the hostess, anne Robinson, who asks questions and evaluates the
answers as right or wrong. the other participants in the quiz are nine contestants
whose aim is to answer correctly as many questions as possible and bank as much
money as they can. the quiz is divided into eight rounds. after each round the
contestants have to decide who among them deserves to be voted off as the weakest
link. the choice need not always follow the reality, especially towards the end of the
quiz when the players strategically get rid of sometimes better players than
themselves. in the end only two contestants remain and they have to play against
each other in order to win the money that has been banked throughout the show.
after each round the hostess spends some time chatting with the contestants. the
purpose of this is to belittle and make fun of the contestant in question thus putting
at risk their self-confidence. anne Robinson has made her fame by being truly
sarcastic, nasty and rude.
the relations among the participants in the quiz are strictly defined. the
dominant speaker par excellence is anne Robinson and if anyone of the contestants
tries to endanger her dominant role, they are immediately punished by one of
anne’s caustic remarks. When it comes to the relationships among the contestants,
they are clearly subordinate in relation to anne, but fight for dominance among
themselves when anne gives them the chance to speak and explain why they voted
for a particular contestant as the weakest link.
the purpose to use the Weakest link quiz for the analysis was primarily to show
how intonation is used to express dominance, cooperativeness and
non-cooperativeness among the contestants, their attitude to the topics of
conversation and especially the expressive and attitudinal aspects of their speech
which are extremely vital for the success of this show.
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