Discursive Constraints of Teasing: Constructing Professionality via Teasing in Chinese Entertainment Interviews

Teasing can be approached as a linguistic resource for examining the interpersonal issues of im/politeness and face, or as a discursive strategy for displaying relationships or constructing social identities. However, studies have underestimated the discursive constraints of teasing in specific contexts. Meanwhile, a majority of teasing studies were based on Western cultures and did not pay sufficient attention to the variety of teasing across cultures. By collecting data from two Chinese entertainment interviews, where the interviewer employs teasing frequently for performing institutional roles, this study examined how teasing functions to assist the interviewer to complete communicative goals, and explored the discursive constraints of teasing in media context. Data analysis exemplified how teasing helped the interviewer to manage an interview event, obtain the guest's disclosure and seek audience involvement, helping to construct the interviewer's professionality. Implications for understanding the discursive features of teasing in the Chinese media context were addressed.