A Performative Perspective of Flouting and Politeness in Political Interview*

This paper examines in the perspective of performance how politicians in political interviews rely on linguistic strategies to grapple with the conflict between being uncooperative and being polite. Three pairs of question-answer regarding North Korea nuclear crisis between the spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry and the reporters were illustrated. As the illustration shows, the spokesman did not simply answer the questions as commonly anticipated, but rather flout frequently and draw on the information already raised by the reporters. It argues that to better understand how opinions and attitudes are expressed by politicians in reply, it is essential to study carefully their verbal acts as performance for particular interpretation.