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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 949

Part of Session 155: Changing linguistic norms in the audiovisual media (Other abstracts in this session)

TV celebrities as promoters of informal non-standard vocabulary in the public sphere

Authors: Tamaševičius, Giedrius
Submitted by: Tamaševičius, Giedrius (Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Lithuania)

A typical paradox in Lithuanian broadcast media in recent times is that people who have become popular TV hosts are actually those who for many years had been criticised for their incorrect language, especially for using the vocabulary of the lower social strata. However, broadcasting corporation executives often ignore language gatekeepers’ requests to dismiss certain “bad” speakers, because usually it is precisely these hosts’ participation as celebrities which guarantees high programme ratings. In this paper, I shall explain the situation as an ideological conflict between two concepts of broadcast media.  The traditional concept sees radio and television as an authoritative educator whose mission is to spread the norms of the standard variety. The new concept reflects the global movement of media discourse towards conversationalisation and informalisation, and the media’s efforts to build ‘intimacy at a distance’ with the audience.

            The paper deals with three leading Lithuanian TV personalities, who are assumed to be the model speakers of standard Lithuanian. Before becoming TV celebrities, all three of them were acknowledged as professionals in their primary field of activity. Two of them (a rock singer and a comedian) are the most requested TV hosts of entertainment programmes, whereas the third one (a professor of history) hosts interview programmes about popular science. All three TV hosts can be distinguished for their active participation in a wide range of broadcast programmes (talk shows, interviews and debates) during the research period of 2009-2011.

                      The analysis of the transcripts of 15 different programmes aims to identify how speakers’ lexical choices are influenced by the main settings of broadcast communication: the genre, the speaker’s role and the level of familiarity between interlocutors. The paper also intends to describe how informal vocabulary is used as a tool for constructing leading TV personalities’ identities.