Suprasegmental and verbal features of repeated questions in adult-child interview during the process of secret disclosure

the study seeks to investigate the interview process aimed to solicit from the subject the disclosure of his/her secret in order to find out and objectively measure effective strategies to lead and hold the subject during the process of disclosure. attention is focused on the interviewer’s questions, both in verbal content and in vocal nonverbal characteristics. Data obtained from the analysis of five interviews show the effectiveness of a strategy called “repeated questions”. The repetition of the same question (from the verbal content point of view) brings the interviewer nearer to the subject’s secret; acoustic digitalized analysis, then, put into evidence the role of the suprasegmental dimension in this strategy. Three parameters have been considered in acoustic analysis: frequency, intensity and rhythm. Data shows that vocal nonverbal features convey a variety of meanings connected with cooperation and empathy between the subject and the interviewer, so taking up both semantic and relational function.