Popularization and Online Interaction: public inclusion in TEDx Talks

Abstract

The study analyses the communicative strategies employed by TEDx Talks speakers in order to determine a interactional space which acknowledges and engages the spectator, overcoming the restraints of a monological and (partially) virtual communicative context. TEDx Talks constitute an innovative textual genre and popularization format for the dissemination of Specialized Discourse – a cybergenre – combining the organization and the delivery of a multi-code text in a digital format. This textual organization process, the editing of the audiovisual product deriving from the delivery of the texts and the online archiving possibilities appear to influence the content transmission and reception. This study, conducted within the framework of the author's doctoral research, adopts a multidisciplinary theoretical perspective, integrating concepts from functionalism, sociolinguistics, and text linguistics. It explores how the use of inclusive pronouns in TEDx Talks can facilitate audience engagement in the communication process. We examine the impact of the audience’s participation mode on the construction of the interactional space, starting from the hypothesis that the physical presence of an audience can influence the use of inclusive strategies, leading to a reduction in the use of the selected pronominal forms in case of a virtual only audience. Based on the data, we propose that a compensatory communicative mechanism may intervene, by which speakers seek to emphasize the interlocutor inclusion through 1PP pronouns, reinforcing the engagement of a non-physically present audience.