There are multiple interesting linguistic features that can be picked out from George Galloway’s interview with Jeremy Paxman. A feature of spoken language that is used throughout the interview, mainly by Jeremy Paxman, is a sardonic tone. At times it feels like Paxman is mocking Galloway. ‘You’re not answering that one?’ Paxman says this after repeatedly forcing a rhetorical question that Galloway clearly isn’t going to answer. Paxman uses rhetorical questions to embarrass Galloway and to put him on the spot. ‘Are you proud of having got rid of one of the very few black women in Parliament?’ This is a question that answers itself and is also difficult for Galloway to answer.
A feature of the way that Galloway speaks is his assertive tone, ‘… move onto your next question.’ Galloway is very commanding and wants to be in control of the interview. He also voices his opinion very clearly, ‘Oh well there’s no doubt about that that one.’ Forming his opinion in this manor eradicates any room for discussion on the given subject.
Another thing that features a few times throughout the interview is the deliberate reversal of pronouns. ‘… but wouldn’t you be better starting by congratulating me for one of the most sensational election results in modern history.’ This reversal of the pronouns is quite accentuated in this case and it is a continuation of the assertive tone, Galloway is taking control of the interview and the direction it is taking. Paxman then does the same thing later in the interview, ‘Absolutely, because you then went on to say…’ Paxman has reversed the pronoun again here but in this case it is not used to be assertive or to take control; it is used here to heap pressure upon Galloway. He heaps this pressure upon him by clearly showing a contradiction that Galloway has made.
Finally, another thing I noticed from the interview was the accusatory tone that Galloway uses at times. ‘You’re the one who is trying to badger me.’ This is when Galloway is uncomfortable with the way Paxman is conducting the interview and he is reduced to this rather childish, ‘He started it!’, tone.
React!