PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

This study explores evasion employed by Malaysian ministers and deputy ministers during Question Time using Clayman’s Framework of Evasion (2001, 2012). While most evasion studies have focused on political interviews, particularly within western settings, this study examines evasion during Question Time in the Malaysian parliament. The study is content-analytic and uses parliamentary Hansards. Ministers and deputy ministers performed various overt and covert strategies of resistance by refusing to commit to an answer, attacking the questioners, justifying the agenda shifts to counter negative presuppositions and provide rationales, minimizing the divergence to downgrade the severity of a situation, and operating on the question by asserting agreements and talking about the current policy. Further, the questioners did not pursue overtly employed instances of evasion, indicating the influence of context on evasion. Finally, other strategies of evasion found in this study that were not found in Clayman (2001, 2012), such as jokes, could be further explored in future studies.

• Alfahad, A. (2016). Equivocation in Arabic news interviews. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 35(2), 206-223. http://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X15579126

• Bavelas, J. B., Black, A., Chovil, N., & Mullet, J. (1988). Political equivocation: A situational explanation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 7(2), 137-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X8800700204

• Bull, P. (1994). On identifying questions, replies, and non-replies in political interviews. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 13(2), 115-131. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X94132002

• Bull, P. (2008). “Slipperiness, evasion, and ambiguity” equivocation and facework in noncommittal political discourse. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27(4), 333-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X08322475

• Bull, P., & Fetzer, A. (2006). Who are we and who are you? The strategic use of forms of address in political interviews. Text and Talk, 26(1), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2006.002

• Bull, P., & Fetzer, A. (2010). Face, facework and political discourse. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale, 23(2), 155-185.

• Bull, P., Fetzer, A., & Kádár, D. Z. (2020). Calling Mr Speaker ‘Mr Speaker’: The strategic use of ritual references to the Speaker of the UK House of Commons. Pragmatics, 30(1), 64-87. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19020.bul

• Bull, P., & Mayer, K. (1993). How not to answer questions in political interviews. Political Psychology, 14(4), 651-666. https://doi.org/10.2307/3791379

• Bull, P., & Strawson, W. (2020). Can’t answer? Won’t answer? An analysis of equivocal responses by Theresa May in Prime Minister’s Questions. Parliamentary Affairs, 73(2), 429-449. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsz003

• Carranza, A. V. (2016). Evading and resisting answering: An analysis of Mexican Spanish news interviews. Pragmatics and Society, 7(4), 570-594. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.7.4.03car

• Chovanec, J. (2020). “Those are not my words”: Evasion and metalingual accountability in political scandal talk. Journal of Pragmatics, 158, 66-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.01.003

• Clayman, S. E. (2001). Answers and evasions. Language in Society, 30(3), 403-442. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404501003037

• Clayman, S. E. (2012). Conversation analysis in the news interview context. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 630-656). Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325001.ch31

• Dillon, J. T. (1990). The practice of questioning. Taylor & Francis.

• Feldman, O. (2020). The rhetoric of broadcast talk shows in Japan: The art of equivocation as a political skill. In O. Feldman (Ed.), The rhetoric of political leadership: Logic and emotion in public discourse (pp. 139-155). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789904581.00016

• Feldman, O., & Kinoshita, K. (2017). Expanding factors in threat to face: Assessing the toughness/equivocation connection in Japanese televised political interviews. Language and Dialogue, 7(3), 336-359. https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.7.3.02fel

• Feldman, O., Kinoshita, K., & Bull, P. (2016). ‘Ducking and diving’: How political issues affect equivocation in Japanese political interviews. Japanese Journal of Political Science, 17(2), 141-167. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1468109916000013

• Fetzer, A. (2006). “Minister, we will see how the public judges you”: Media references in political interviews. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(2), 180-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.06.017

• Gnisci, A. (2021). Pragmatic functions of question-answer sequences in Italian legal examinations and TV interviews with politicians. In C. Ilie (Ed.), Questioning and answering practices across contexts and cultures (pp. 115-150). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Gnisci, A., & Bonaiuto, M. (2003). Grilling politicians: Politicians’ answers to questions in television interviews and courtroom examinations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22(4), 385-413. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X03258088

• Goddard, C. (1994). The meaning of Lah: Understanding” emphasis” in Malay (Bahasa Melayu). Oceanic Linguistics, 145-165. https://doi.org/10.2307/3623004

• Goss, B., & Williams, L. (1973). The effects of equivocation on perceived source credibility. Communication Studies, 24(3), 162-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510977309363165

• Guditus, C. L. (2021). You were resisting the whole time! In C. Ilie (Ed.), Questioning and answering practices across contexts and cultures (pp. 151-170). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Hamilton, M. A., & Mineo, P. J. (1998). A framework for understanding equivocation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 17(1), 3-35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X980171001

• Hanafe, N. Z. (2016). Evasion strategies by politicians in news interviews. [Master’s thesis, Universiti Malaya]. Universiti Malaya’s Students’ Repository. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/id/eprint/6812

• Haugh, M. (2016). “Just kidding”: Teasing and claims to non-serious intent. Journal of Pragmatics, 95, 120-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.12.004

• Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(10-11), 1427-1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00072-3

• Hyland, F., & Hyland, K. (2001). Sugaring the pill: Praise and criticism in written feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(3), 185-212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481311434763

• Hyland, K. (1994). Hedging in academic writing and EAF textbooks. English for Specific Purposes, 13(3), 239-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/0889-4906(94)90004-3

• Ilie, C. (2015). Parliamentary discourse. In K. Tracy (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of language and social interaction (pp. 1113-1127). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118611463.wbielsi201

• Ilie, C. (2021). Evasive answers vs. aggressive questions. In Questioning and answering practices across contexts and cultures (pp. 35-70). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Jalilifar, A., & Alavi-Nia, M. (2012). We are surprised; wasn’t Iran disgraced there? A functional analysis of hedges and boosters in televised Iranian and American presidential debates. Discourse & Communication, 6(2), 135-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481311434763

• Kantara, A. (2012). Adversarial challenges and responses in Greek political interviews: A case study. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines, 5(2), 171-189.

• Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage Publications.

• Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Sage Publications.

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-13082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018a). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-13082018.pdf

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-14082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018b). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-14082018.pdf

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-15082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018c). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-15082018.pdf

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-16082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018d). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-16082018.pdf

• Piirainen-Marsh, A. (2005). Managing adversarial questioning in broadcast interviews. Journal of Politeness Research, 1(2), 193-217. https://doi.org/10.1515/jplr.2005.1.2.193

• Rasiah, P. (2007). Evasion in Australia’s parliamentary question time: The case of the Iraq war. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Western Australia]. UWA Repository. https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/evasion-in-australias-parliamentary-question-time-the-case-of-the

• Simon-Vandenbergen, A. M. (2008). “Those are only slogans”: A linguistic analysis of argumentation in debates with extremist political speakers. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27(4), 345-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X08322476

• Uni, K. (2015). Utilising Arabic-origin loanwords in teaching Malay as a foreign language. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 23(3), 665-680.

• Wan Jan, W. S. (2020). Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS): Unifier of the ummah? ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. https://doi.org/10.1355/9789814951265

• Yoke, S. K., & Hasan, N. H. (2014). Analogy as a tool for the acquisition of English verb tenses among low proficiency L2 learners. English Language Teaching, 7(4), 46-52. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v7n4p46

• Yoong, D. (2011). Orderly and disorderly practices of personal pronouns during Question Time in the Malaysian House of Representatives. Journal of Modern Languages, 21(1), 33-47.

• Zulli, D., & McKasy, M. (2020). Political equivocation in a less-adversarial campaign context. Communication Research Reports, 37(4), 202-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2020.1811659

• Alfahad, A. (2016). Equivocation in Arabic news interviews. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 35(2), 206-223. http://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X15579126

• Bavelas, J. B., Black, A., Chovil, N., & Mullet, J. (1988). Political equivocation: A situational explanation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 7(2), 137-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X8800700204

• Bull, P. (1994). On identifying questions, replies, and non-replies in political interviews. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 13(2), 115-131. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X94132002

• Bull, P. (2008). “Slipperiness, evasion, and ambiguity” equivocation and facework in noncommittal political discourse. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27(4), 333-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X08322475

• Bull, P., & Fetzer, A. (2006). Who are we and who are you? The strategic use of forms of address in political interviews. Text and Talk, 26(1), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2006.002

• Bull, P., & Fetzer, A. (2010). Face, facework and political discourse. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale, 23(2), 155-185.

• Bull, P., Fetzer, A., & Kádár, D. Z. (2020). Calling Mr Speaker ‘Mr Speaker’: The strategic use of ritual references to the Speaker of the UK House of Commons. Pragmatics, 30(1), 64-87. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19020.bul

• Bull, P., & Mayer, K. (1993). How not to answer questions in political interviews. Political Psychology, 14(4), 651-666. https://doi.org/10.2307/3791379

• Bull, P., & Strawson, W. (2020). Can’t answer? Won’t answer? An analysis of equivocal responses by Theresa May in Prime Minister’s Questions. Parliamentary Affairs, 73(2), 429-449. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsz003

• Carranza, A. V. (2016). Evading and resisting answering: An analysis of Mexican Spanish news interviews. Pragmatics and Society, 7(4), 570-594. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.7.4.03car

• Chovanec, J. (2020). “Those are not my words”: Evasion and metalingual accountability in political scandal talk. Journal of Pragmatics, 158, 66-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.01.003

• Clayman, S. E. (2001). Answers and evasions. Language in Society, 30(3), 403-442. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404501003037

• Clayman, S. E. (2012). Conversation analysis in the news interview context. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 630-656). Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325001.ch31

• Dillon, J. T. (1990). The practice of questioning. Taylor & Francis.

• Feldman, O. (2020). The rhetoric of broadcast talk shows in Japan: The art of equivocation as a political skill. In O. Feldman (Ed.), The rhetoric of political leadership: Logic and emotion in public discourse (pp. 139-155). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789904581.00016

• Feldman, O., & Kinoshita, K. (2017). Expanding factors in threat to face: Assessing the toughness/equivocation connection in Japanese televised political interviews. Language and Dialogue, 7(3), 336-359. https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.7.3.02fel

• Feldman, O., Kinoshita, K., & Bull, P. (2016). ‘Ducking and diving’: How political issues affect equivocation in Japanese political interviews. Japanese Journal of Political Science, 17(2), 141-167. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1468109916000013

• Fetzer, A. (2006). “Minister, we will see how the public judges you”: Media references in political interviews. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(2), 180-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.06.017

• Gnisci, A. (2021). Pragmatic functions of question-answer sequences in Italian legal examinations and TV interviews with politicians. In C. Ilie (Ed.), Questioning and answering practices across contexts and cultures (pp. 115-150). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Gnisci, A., & Bonaiuto, M. (2003). Grilling politicians: Politicians’ answers to questions in television interviews and courtroom examinations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22(4), 385-413. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X03258088

• Goddard, C. (1994). The meaning of Lah: Understanding” emphasis” in Malay (Bahasa Melayu). Oceanic Linguistics, 145-165. https://doi.org/10.2307/3623004

• Goss, B., & Williams, L. (1973). The effects of equivocation on perceived source credibility. Communication Studies, 24(3), 162-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510977309363165

• Guditus, C. L. (2021). You were resisting the whole time! In C. Ilie (Ed.), Questioning and answering practices across contexts and cultures (pp. 151-170). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Hamilton, M. A., & Mineo, P. J. (1998). A framework for understanding equivocation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 17(1), 3-35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X980171001

• Hanafe, N. Z. (2016). Evasion strategies by politicians in news interviews. [Master’s thesis, Universiti Malaya]. Universiti Malaya’s Students’ Repository. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/id/eprint/6812

• Haugh, M. (2016). “Just kidding”: Teasing and claims to non-serious intent. Journal of Pragmatics, 95, 120-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.12.004

• Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(10-11), 1427-1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00072-3

• Hyland, F., & Hyland, K. (2001). Sugaring the pill: Praise and criticism in written feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(3), 185-212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481311434763

• Hyland, K. (1994). Hedging in academic writing and EAF textbooks. English for Specific Purposes, 13(3), 239-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/0889-4906(94)90004-3

• Ilie, C. (2015). Parliamentary discourse. In K. Tracy (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of language and social interaction (pp. 1113-1127). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118611463.wbielsi201

• Ilie, C. (2021). Evasive answers vs. aggressive questions. In Questioning and answering practices across contexts and cultures (pp. 35-70). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Jalilifar, A., & Alavi-Nia, M. (2012). We are surprised; wasn’t Iran disgraced there? A functional analysis of hedges and boosters in televised Iranian and American presidential debates. Discourse & Communication, 6(2), 135-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481311434763

• Kantara, A. (2012). Adversarial challenges and responses in Greek political interviews: A case study. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines, 5(2), 171-189.

• Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage Publications.

• Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Sage Publications.

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-13082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018a). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-13082018.pdf

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-14082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018b). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-14082018.pdf

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-15082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018c). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-15082018.pdf

• Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat (Bil. 20 DR-16082018) [House of Representatives Parliamentary Hansards]. (2018d). Parlimen Malaysia. https://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/hindex/pdf/DR-16082018.pdf

• Piirainen-Marsh, A. (2005). Managing adversarial questioning in broadcast interviews. Journal of Politeness Research, 1(2), 193-217. https://doi.org/10.1515/jplr.2005.1.2.193

• Rasiah, P. (2007). Evasion in Australia’s parliamentary question time: The case of the Iraq war. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Western Australia]. UWA Repository. https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/evasion-in-australias-parliamentary-question-time-the-case-of-the

• Simon-Vandenbergen, A. M. (2008). “Those are only slogans”: A linguistic analysis of argumentation in debates with extremist political speakers. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27(4), 345-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X08322476

• Uni, K. (2015). Utilising Arabic-origin loanwords in teaching Malay as a foreign language. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 23(3), 665-680.

• Wan Jan, W. S. (2020). Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS): Unifier of the ummah? ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. https://doi.org/10.1355/9789814951265

• Yoke, S. K., & Hasan, N. H. (2014). Analogy as a tool for the acquisition of English verb tenses among low proficiency L2 learners. English Language Teaching, 7(4), 46-52. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v7n4p46

• Yoong, D. (2011). Orderly and disorderly practices of personal pronouns during Question Time in the Malaysian House of Representatives. Journal of Modern Languages, 21(1), 33-47.

• Zulli, D., & McKasy, M. (2020). Political equivocation in a less-adversarial campaign context. Communication Research Reports, 37(4), 202-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2020.1811659