La interacción en diálogos transmitidos por la radio en la frontera

Abstract

In this study we analyze conversations between radio talk show hosts and their listeners broadcast in Reynosa-Río Bravo, Tamaulipas and McAllen, Texas in February 2003. Our objectives are (a) to describe the structure for the macro-act of “complaints” according to the communicative projects of the participants (van Dijk:1991; Ruiz de Mendoza:2003); (b) to define the alignment strategies based on the positioning of the host and the listener as they communicate (Goffman, 1981; Linell, 1994; Koike, 2003); and (c) to analyze the identity construction of these particular talk as revealed in what the listeners and the hosts say. The study is informed by Ducrot and Anscombre (1983) regarding the presuppositions underlying all utterances and how they lead to a given comprehensibility by listeners, by Vila (2003) on the identity of those who live in the Mexican-United States border region, and poststructuralist concepts and the Theory of Chaos regarding the complexity of the object of study. The investigation finds that the dialogues on these radio programs reflect the political and social reality of both sides of the border. The dialogues are attempts at strengthening cultural and regional ties by the listeners of a given region, and show the construction and reconstruction of identities through the expression of attitudes of rejection of the ‘others’ across the border and a reinforcement of themselves on a particular side of the border. The conclusions lead us to question the notion of a “hybrid” reality of the border region as an entity in itself.