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In:Follow-ups in Political Discourse: Explorations across contexts and discourse domains
Edited by Elda Weizman and Anita Fetzer
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 60] 2015
► pp. 3–24

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Follow-ups in broadcast political discourse

speeches, interviews, and parliamentary questions

Published online: 20 August 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.60.01bul
The concept of the follow-up as the third element of a sequential triad was originally formulated in the context of classroom discourse by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975). In this chapter, it is applied to the analysis of three distinct genres of political discourse: speeches, interviews, and parliamentary questions. Illustrative examples are drawn from television broadcasts with British politicians. It is proposed that the concepts of the follow-up and the sequential triad can be usefully applied to all three genres of political discourse. Their application also highlights significant gaps in the current research literature, most notably, how both interviewers and politicians follow up equivocal and unequivocal responses by politicians to questions. In addition, it is argued that the concept of the follow-up can be usefully extended beyond the sequential triad to analyze not only sequential interactions over time, but also various forms of political action within and outside parliament.
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