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Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 30:3 (2020) ► pp.303–325

The “Long List” in oral interactions

Definition, examples, context, and some of its achievements

ORCID logo | University of Massachusetts, Amherst
This paper discusses lists, a neglected structure, to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about them in oral interactions. Two such assumptions are: unlike narratives, lists are perceived as centered on the delivery of objective information; and three-part lists are normative. Using Israeli and U.S.A. radio call-in shows data, this paper discusses the “Long List” – a list with more than three parts. These lists deliver their speaker’s meaning in a structure resembling stories: a “lister” delivers the “list” in a “listing” process. Listings may be explicit or implicit and may include evaluative elements. Long Lists might appear in chains, and in the Israeli data Long Lists demonstrate normative features similar to three-part lists in mundane interactions. Connecting them with their context, lists are sometimes used to emphasize media biases. The conclusion connects the Long Lists to their speech event and to poetics.
Keywords: lists, narratives, extended discourse structure, meta-discourse, radio call-in shows, poetics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Lists: Between facts and rhetoric
  • 3.Comparing a narrative to a long list
  • 4.Counting lists in corpora
  • 5.Chains of lists
  • 6.Normative-like elements in Israeli long lists
  • 7.Lists about the media
  • 8.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 5 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19007.dor
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