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Part of
Questioning and Answering Practices across Contexts and Cultures
Edited by Cornelia Ilie
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 323] 2021
► pp. 35–70

Evasive answers vs. aggressive questions

Parliamentary confrontational practices in Prime Minister’s Questions

The goal of this investigation is to scrutinize the interplay of parliamentary questions and answers in the notoriously polarized PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions), in terms of three pragmatic criteria: topical focus, addressed target(s), and pursued goal(s). A pragma-rhetorical analysis explores the interrelatedness between the confrontational question-asking behaviour of the Leader of the Opposition (LO) and the evasive question-answering behaviour of the Prime Minister (PM). The findings indicate that (i) the LO Jeremy Corbyn strives to hold the PM accountable not through straightforward questions, but rather by calling into question and attacking the PM Theresa May, her decisions and actions; (ii) the PM, in her turn, rather than providing straightforward answers, confronts the LO’s aggressive questions by partly or fully evading them, by rejecting the questions’ presuppositions, or by counterattacking. The interrelatedness between parliamentary questions and answers provides evidence that both MP Blackford and the PM are pursuing double agendas: on the one hand, an issue-oriented agenda with well-established political goals, and on the other, an audience-oriented agenda adjusted to presumed audience expectations.

Keywords: question, answer, parliamentary, PMQs, argument, pragma-rhetorical, audience, government, opposition, Prime Minister, leader of the opposition
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Data and research questions
  • 2.Parliamentary questioning practices – previous studies
  • 3.Parliamentary questions: Standard or non-standard questions?
  • 4.Interrelatedness of parliamentary questions and answers
    • i.Topical focus/foci of parliamentary questions and answers
    • ii.Targets addressed by parliamentary questions
    • iii.Goals pursued by parliamentary questions and impacts on parliamentary answers
  • 5.Strategies of parliamentary questioning and answering in PMQs
  • 6.Asking and answering parliamentary questions
    • 6.1Confirmation-eliciting questions and confirming/disconfirming- or evasive answers
      • 6.1.1Confirming/disconfirming answers
      • 6.1.2Evasive and multi-purpose answers
    • 6.2Commitment-eliciting questions
      • 6.2.1Commitment-displaying answers
      • 6.2.2Evasive and multi-purpose answers
    • 6.3Action-eliciting questions
      • 6.3.1Action-eliciting question and action-endorsing answer
      • 6.3.2Action-eliciting question and fully evasive answer
      • 6.3.3Account-prompting question and partly evasive answer
  • 7.Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.323.02ili
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