IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v9y2022i1d10.1057_s41599-022-01422-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discourse features of an Ethiopian health radio phone-in

Author

Listed:
  • Jemal Mohammed Adal

    (Policy Studies Institute)

Abstract

This study aims to describe the discourse features of an Ethiopian health radio phone-in program. More specifically, building on previous studies that draw on the methodological insights of CA/MCA, we demonstrate how topical discussion about public health issues on a radio phone-in show is accomplished. Our analysis is based on eight hours of recorded and transcribed talk data from a public FM radio station broadcasting in Amharic, FM Addis 97.1. Our analysis shows that the speech exchange between the host and callers is central to the organization of interactions in the talk show and comprises phases such as openings, topical talk, and closings. We further demonstrate using examples how what counts as ‘topical talk’ is initiated and pursued through reliance on a sequential development of relevant categories and identities, where one builds upon another during the course of the interaction. Our analysis reveals that interaction resources such as reminding callers of the theme/topic, posing a question relating to the theme of the talk, and using ‘eshi’ (which translates as ‘ok’) or ‘eshi’ prefaced statements or questions are employed to initiate topical talk as well as elicit callers’ membership categories vis-à-vis the theme. Such categorical information is in turn drawn upon to develop topical talk. Central to the development of topical talk in the program then is the elicitation of callers’ first-hand experiential accounts. Overall, we illustrate that the accomplishment of the topical talk involves a reflexive combination of categorical and sequential methods through which layers of background context are built and drawn upon by the participants in the talk show.

Suggested Citation

  • Jemal Mohammed Adal, 2022. "Discourse features of an Ethiopian health radio phone-in," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01422-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01422-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-022-01422-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-022-01422-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01422-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.