A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI POLITICAL TALKSHOWS

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This thesis attempts to examine the ways and means through which the politicians remain both un-cooperative and polite both at the same time and skilfully grapple with this dilemma, relying on certain linguistic strategies.The selected sample for this study comprises four selected one-toone political talkshows, aired on Pakistani Private Channels. This study focuses on the pragmatic analysis of the selected political interviews. Grice’s cooperative principle describes how effective communication in conversation is achieved in common social situations. Similarly, politeness is a contextually expected behaviour, in which the addressee’s feelings/face wants are of seminal importance and the basic purpose of which is that the conversational exchange flows smoothly between the interlocutors, without any confrontation and miscommunication. Applying the conversational maxims of Grice and Leech on the selected talkshows, the impact of flouting or violating the speech maxims is being analysed. This research also explores the use of certain politeness strategies in order to avoid damage or risk to the face. Furthermore, different impoliteness strategies employed in order to attack the face of the hearer are also analysed and discussed in detail. This research also aims to analyse the evasive behaviours of the politicians. Hence, the application of various pragmatic principles on the conversations of these political talkshows forms the basis for the present research.