A model of metadiscourse for multiaudience talk—the case of police interviews

Abstract

Abstract The study of metadiscourse, or commentary on ongoing talk or text, has its origins in the context of academic writing, and the phenomenon has since been explored in relation to a range of types of institutional talk including classroom interaction, health communication, public hearings, parliamentary debates, and courtroom interaction. This paper turns attention to the discourse event of the police investigative interview, drawing on a small corpus of interactions with individuals reporting rape to an English police force in 2019/2020. I identify a range of instances of metadiscourse functioning interactively and interactionally, with some pointing to other points within the interaction, some flagging the interviewers’ and interviewees’ roles in relation to the unfolding talk, and a final category of features speaking explicitly to the eventual audience of the interview—the broader legal system and the Court at a potential future trial. I propose a bespoke model of metadiscourse to fit this specific multiaudience interaction type.