The discursive structure of the onset of narratives in chat shows

In this article, a combined methodology of conversation analysis and discourse analysis disciplines is used to examine the onset of chat show anecdotes. Through an analysis of several chat show programmes, I show that story prompts, i.e. the questions the host poses, are vital to story production not only because they bring forth stories, but also because they function as abstracts to the stories to follow. The narratives produced in chat shows, in this case, do not start with an abstract. Instead, they usually start with an evaluative statement, meta-talk and some other discourse markers which signal a shift in the discourse mode from turn-by-turn conversation to an extended turn at talk; they are also used as dramatization technique to enhance the tellability of the story.