The sociopragmatics of compliment in the media discourse

Abstract

This study investigated whether and how the gender of the judges in the TV talent competitions affects the pragmatics of the compliments in their evaluative comments addressed to the contest participants. The explicitness of the compliments, the distribution of positive semantic carriers and intensifiers, the personal focus of the compliments, and the supportive discursive moves in the male and female judges’ complimenting speech events were qualitatively analysed and statistically compared. Results, however, do not support the general belief that women’s complimenting style is more socioemotional than men’s. The function of the compliments that the judges would like to accentuate in the formal institutional setting appears to have a greater impact on their linguistic performances than their gender role. The male and female judges’ complimenting styles seem to be strategic manoeuvres to create their preferred social image in the public media discourse.