Televised political discourse in New Zealand

The world Englishes approach to discourse analysis has extended our understanding of the ways in which socio-pragmatic norms may be expressed in various varieties of English. In this vein, this paper addresses relational practices in New Zealand English and their impact on language use. While relational strategies have been linked to politeness devices and mitigation strategies, this paper identifies a range of relational practices that appear to be distinctive in the New Zealand context. The frequency of relational strategies and the amount of communicative effort interactants invest is evidence for an underlying wish for harmony and conflict avoidance that often typifies spoken New Zealand English interactions. An understanding of the social motivations underpinning such interactions may thus broaden our understanding of New Zealand English patterns of discourse, with particular reference to spoken interactions in the public arena