The Language of Broadcasting and the Way It Is Presented To Its Audience

By Emily Miles
 
The world of broadcasting is a complex and interesting one that comes with its own way of presenting language to its audience. Broadcasting can be defined as sending messages via television or radio with no technical control over who receives them.

In the early period of broadcasting it was possible to describe BBC English as the medium of communication. The BBC originally adopted Received Pronunciation because this was thought to be the form of English that could be understood universally and was least likely to be criticised. However in the 1990s a much wider range of regional and social accents were introduced. Broadcast programmes are received by a large audience and this means people have become increasingly familiar with accents and dialects that would not have been heard locally. Also because most viewers or listeners of the text only hear the linguistic codes once which means there are no easy ways of clarifying what has been said. The language of broadcasting needs to be easily understandable and accessible to all different classes of people.

Sara Thorne, in the book Mastering Advanced English Language (2008) says that the language of broadcasting is hardly ever completely spontaneous although it may be presented as if it were. When ordinary people appear in programmes, editing will have often eliminated many of the false starts, hesitations and repetitions that are characteristic of a truly spontaneous informal conversation. Thorne also states that in drama the writers and actors will actually write non fluency markers into the script in order to emulate the structures of normal interaction.

Broadcasting language covers a really large range of linguistic features that mark it out as different from other varieties. The mode of most texts will often be written and spoken. In contrast to broadcasting language rarely being spontaneous there are occasions in which it will be completely unprepared such as unrehearsed answers in debates; live interviews (even though the basis of the interview will always be pre-planned beforehand) and commentaries. The structure of most texts really depends on programme type. On one hand the News will always use direct language and start with a formal greeting and on the other documentary style is less likely to do this. Other programmes that are quizzes such as Mastermind, University challenge and game shows such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks require participants to behave accordingly to certain rules. Although there may be interruptions, overlaps or digressions, adjacency pairs establish the basic structure of the programmes.  Thorne also says that prosodic features play in important part in conveying meaning. This includes intonation patterns that reinforce the meaning of the words that are spoken; changes in intonation can indicate different attitudes and moods. Stress patterns and pauses also allow speakers to draw attention to certain 'lexical items.' Newsreaders in particular are sometimes criticised for stressing inappropriate syllables and pausing after grammatical function words.

The language of broadcasting is an unusual mix of spoken and written language and like written language it can be edited. It is important to remember that what we see and hear on television is not always fixed in some way or another.