The Alternative Question in YouTube-Interview: Linguistic, Pragmatic and Cognitive Aspects

Abstract

Within the framework of the culture of questioning we have explored alternative questions that occupy an intermediate position between the well-known open and closed questions. In terms of language, this is a situational or contextually incomplete sentence. Based on the regular incomplete implementation of the language model, we can speak about the formation of an independent interrogative syntactic structure “N₁ or N₁?”, in which the idea of choice is realized through grammatical rather than lexical means. In this case, the semantics of the construction actualizes the meaning of the disjunctive conjunction or. In terms of media communication, it is important that this type of question is widely used in interviews on the popular video hosting platform YouTube (in particular, on the channels “Wdud” (recognized as a foreign agent), “Caution: Sobchak”, “Tell Gordeeva”, RTVI: “Special Guest”). The alternative question is the element of play, agonality, competition. It is usually included in a series of short questions of the “Blitz” section and allows the interviewer to realize different intentions: to update important topics of the conversation or to touch on new areas. In this case, a binary opposition is created based on contextual homonymy, which allows assessment according to the principle: “friend or foe”. Various scenarios of the interviewee's speech behavior have been identified. The cooperation strategy is implemented in different versions of the answer to an alternative question; the strategy of confrontation is the refusal to answer (direct or indirect). Alternative questions emphasize the binary nature of thinking, embody the strategy of polarization.