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Abstract: This rhetorical study investigated the employment of interpersonal metadiscourse in applied linguistics articles written in English by Anglo-American and Iranian academic writers. To this end, a representative sample of 60 conclusion sections written by the two groups of writers was selected as the corpus. The two groups of writers were compared in terms of their use of “hedges”, “emphatics”, and “attitude markers” in the extracts. The interpersonal categories were also broken down into subtypes depending on the linguistic items used, and analyzed for distribution in the conclusion sections. The functional–contextual analysis shows similarities and differences in the rhetorical behaviour of these authors in their use of interpersonal metadiscourse. There was a remarkable tendency by both writer groups towards hedging their propositions. Pronounced differences were mainly in the higher use of emphatics and attitude markers by Anglo-American authors. High certainty avoidance and abstinence from attitudinal language was noticeable amongst Iranian experts. The differences are attributed to the degree of rhetorical sensitivity to and awareness of audience, purpose, cultural leanings, and the proclivities of the disciplinary genre. The implications of this study can be helpful in academic writing, EFL writing instruction, and genre analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper deals with the division of pragmatic labor between two types of wh -interrogatives in Marzahn German (MG). Use of the first type, marked by the enclitic particle n ([ n - int ]), is near obligatory for and confined to canonical, i.e., information-seeking question acts. The second type, lacking n ([∅- int ]), has to be employed in non-canonical questions, such as rhetorical ones. This pattern of apparent markedness-reversal challenges the pretense-based approach to exam questions by Plunze and Zimmermann (2006) (Section 2) and plausibilizes an approach to information-seeking questions in terms of social cost in the sense of Levinson (2012) (Section 3.1). Overall empirical evidence, however, favors an account of n -marking as reinforcement of question act defaults in line with Farkas (2022) (Section 3.2). Section 5 offers a formulation of reinforcement in terms of the "table model" of discourse (Farkas 2022), such that the peculiar status of MG [ n - int ] follows from the prohibition of contextually overriding "basic conventional discourse effects". In the course of the above discussion, we will scrutinize different notions of interrogative sentential force (Sections 1, 2, 5), illustrate the form and workings of several types of non-canonical questions (guess, rhetorical, echo etc.), and analyze question use in the light of institutional settings and interpersonal effects (3.3). • Division of pragmatic labor for [± n ]-marked wh -interrogatives in Marzahn German. • Particle n reserved for information-seeking questions. • Reinforcement of question act defaults with advantages over recording social costs. • Ban on contextual overrides as the special conventional discourse effect of n. • Evidence from exam questions against pretense-based approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstrative forms in Cebuano are highly versatile and, as often seen crosslinguistically, can serve discourse deictic, discourse marking, and placeholding functions. Some of the demonstratives have also developed into speaker stance markers. Using data from spontaneous conversations, this paper examines how Cebuano demonstratives, especially the form kanάng , have extended their use from the referential domain to the non-referential (in particular, pragmatic) domain. The demonstrative form kanάng , spoken with a tone of uncertainty, is often used as a repair marker and filler, as a topic marker and mental staging device for upcoming information, as well as a hedge when a speaker is dealing with sensitive or awkward topics. This study also compares kanάng with other stance markers, in particular negation markers and interjectory particles that are likewise recruited in clause-initial position to mark varying stance intensities, with results indicating that kanάng expresses the mildest stance, hence its frequent use as a politeness marking device. • Demonstrative forms in Cebuano are highly versatile. • Cebuano kanang is used as a hedge for dealing with sensitive or awkward topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we look at the role that macrostructures in discourse have to play in the study of swearing. While studied in isolation, such macrostructures have not yet been studied comprehensively and the range of macrostructures studied has been small. By contrast, work on microstructures is much better developed. In response to this, using spoken corpus data from the BNC2014, we take two approaches to studying discourse in this paper. In the first approach, we explore spoken data which has been annotated with a functional discourse coding scheme that shows, across the corpus, the distribution of a set of macrostructures, discourse units, that generally characterise conversation. Our goal is to see how swearing distributes according to discourse unit function and to account for any observations made. Following from that, we explore a single macrostructure of discourse - narrative, including its sub-elements - to see whether swearing interacts with this macrostructure and its component parts. We conclude by arguing that discourse is an important dimension along which the use of swearing may vary, that such variation is likely to relate to emotion, and that the different perspectives on macrostructure taken in the paper are complementary. • The need for swearing research to shift to consider macrostructure as well as microstructure. • Functional views of discourse and swearing. • Discourse unit and narrative annotation of conversational data. • Nesting of macrostructures in discourse. • Swearing, emotion and macrostructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Placed at the intersection of semantics and pragmatics, the concept of semantic prosody has been associated with various notions including evaluative meaning, attitudinal meaning and connotations, and there is no agreement among researchers as to its definition and operationalization. In this critical-reflection theoretical paper, we provide an overview of collocational and discoursal approaches to semantic prosody, which we treat as distinct and, at the same time, complementary. Furthermore, we suggest that the semantic prosody can be conceptualised as an interaction between a source and a target term, where the target term has a descriptive semantic content, and it receives its evaluative meaning from the source term, which can be either only evaluative (thin) or both evaluative and descriptive (thick). Next, we propose that the source of semantic prosody can be accounted for in terms of value judgments. In particular, a value judgment that a speaker ascribes to the factual content of a term is always relative to a certain kind of standard. Thus, our proposal supports the view that the speaker's stance, manifested in value judgments that they ascribe to terms, can be considered as a source of semantic prosody. • We propose a new theoretical reading of semantic prosody grounded in the philosophy of language. • We argue that semantic prosody arises as a result of interaction between thin and thick terms. • We argue that the semantics of expressions that have semantic prosody can be understood in terms of value judgments. • We argue that value judgements ascribed by speakers to expressions are relative to a culturally-marked kind of standard. • Our proposal supports both the collocational and discoursal views of semantic prosody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the information structural properties of so-called premise (also factual) conditionals, conditional sentences whose antecedent repeats previously evoked content. We argue that, semantically, premise conditionals are hypothetical conditionals, with two pragmatic properties: their antecedent is echoic and thematic. We show that some of the differences identified in the literature between hypothetical and premise conditionals follow from the informational status of the antecedent. While the antecedent of a premise conditional is thematic, the antecedent of a hypothetical conditional can also be rhematic. Rhematic conditionals happen to be compatible with all the characteristics that stand out as incompatible with premise conditionals. Additionally, we argue that echoicity is a definitional property of the premise reading of indicative conditionals. • Premise (also called factual) conditionals are not a syntactic/semantic object on their own. • They are just a possible interpretation of an indicative conditional given the right discourse conditions. • We define them as thematic and echoic; the antecedent need not be Common Ground. • Thematicity explains previously observed characteristics of premise conditionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a theory of interpreting argument types as an integral part of a systematic and comprehensive 'hermeneutics of persuasive discourse'. It first explains how such a hermeneutics can be developed based on pragmatic insights about the use of language for persuasive purposes expressed in the philosophy of argument. Then, after having provided an overview of the main hermeneutical stages involved in interpreting persuasive discourse, the paper focuses on the stage of argument type identification. It formulates a 'hermeneutics of argument type' in terms of the Periodic Table of Arguments (PTA), an argument categorization framework systematizing existing accounts of arguments in the broad sense of the term (topoi , loci , argument schemes, fallacies, means of persuasion). For each of the three parameters within this framework, 'argument form', 'argument substance', and 'argument lever', the paper describes how to determine their value by analyzing several examples of natural arguments. • Offers detailed pragmatic insights about the use of language for argumentative or persuasive purposes. • Provides a general overview of the hermeneutical stages involved in interpreting argumentative or persuasive discourse. • Contains an explanation of the Periodic Table of Arguments (PTA) and its application to analyzing argumentation in the wild. • Provides clear guidelines for annotating corpora of argumentative or persuasive discourse. • Can be used to design empirical cognitive psychological research into how people process persuasive messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show how topoi warrant inferences for interpreting and producing dialogue contributions, particularly in the case of enthymemes where the conclusion does not logically follow from the premises. We situate our theory of topoi in the context of pragmatic theory by relating it to other theories of inference and coherence. Through detailed analysis of a single dialogue, we show how dialogue participants can incrementally entertain and resolve mismatching interpretations of an enthymematic utterance. We discuss how the notions of topoi and enthymemes can add to a generalisable model of coherence in dialogue. • We argue that topoi are relevant to the production and interpretation of utterances in interaction. • Whether or not arguments in discourse are seen as valid depends on the topoi one is willing to accept. • Misunderstandings in dialogue may be related to a mismatch of topoi between speakers. • We present a model of how agents can entertain and resolve mismatching utterance interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conjectural questions are questions that do not expect an answer, but only express the speaker's curiosity about the issue. This paper proposes an analysis of conjectural wh -questions in Cuzco Quechua and argues that the conjectural = chá makes the same kind of contribution in interrogatives as it does in declaratives. First, it adds the condition that the evidence holder's (the speaker in declaratives, the addressee in interrogatives) reasoning bears on the issue under discussion. Second, while canonical assertions and questions expect that the addressee will commit to either the proposition expressed by a declarative or to one of the possible answers denoted by an interrogative, their conjectural counterparts do not have this expectation. The proposed analysis of the conjectural is couched within an extended version of the commitment-based discourse framework of Farkas and Bruce (2010). It differs from previous analyses of conjectural questions in analyzing the conjectural condition as a speaker commitment about the current context rather than a constraint on possible responses by the addressee. • The Cuzco Quechua conjectural encodes that the evidence holder is able support the at-issue proposition by reasoning. • The evidence holder is the speaker in declaratives and the addressee in interrogatives. • Interrogatives with the conjectural are interpreted as conjectural questions, they do not expect an answer. • These claims and observations can be captured in Farkas and Bruce's (2010) discourse framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate over the semantics of demonstratives is in a stalemate between those positions attributing some referential significance to a speaker's referential intentions and those not doing so. The latter approach is supported by cases driving the non-intentional intuition in which the speakers mistakenly point at objects other than the ones they intend to refer to. The intentionalists, such as Martin Montminy, reply that once we think of potential extensions of such cases in which the speaker explains to the hearer what her referential intention was, it is the intentionalist intuition that prevails. In this paper, I develop a semantics for demonstratives whose task is to accommodate both of these seemingly contradictory intuitions within the general non-intentionalist framework. The proposed idea is that the reference of a use of a demonstrative can change over time, as the discourse develops. This idea is handled formally by the addition of a parameter of the index of evaluation that represents the referentially relevant aspects of the state of the discourse. Also, I provide reasons for preferring my view over two rival positions: one by Palle Leth, and one that I adjust to the demands of the semantics of demonstratives from the theory that Kai von Fintel and Anthony Gillies offer for epistemic modals, and from Laura Delgado's polyreferentialism for proper names. • The reference of uses of demonstratives might change as the discourse develops. • There is a way to incorporate intentionalist and conventionalist intuitions about demonstrative reference into one view. • A view able to do so is preferable over the no-reference and polyreferentialist views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of studies describe the many different functions of polyfunctional discourse markers like well in different contexts and from different theoretical perspectives. In the current paper, we propose to systematize the many different uses identified based on their position with respect to the discourse units they are associated with. Not only can previous findings on well be integrated into a single coherent representation of its uses and functions, but the positions with respect to the discourse units can also be associated with specific functions, thus shedding light on how the polyfunctionality of well is brought about. • This paper explains and relates the polyfunctionality of the English DM well. • Functions are correlated with their position in different discourse units. • Previous findings on well, integrated into a single representation of positions∗DUs. • Discourse positions correlate with pragmatic functions: modal, textual, interactive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the analysis of topic shifters from a contrastive perspective, using a pragmatic approach based on conversational logic, theories of relevance and coherence/cohesion studies. Discourse markers and topic shifters in French have been widely investigated, and provided a description of the core values and a typology of uses; a comparative perspective is expected to highlight new semantic values, a better understanding of their pragmatic role and even to establish new typologies. As far as Romanian is concerned, the research on topic shifters is still incipient, and the parallel corpora used so far have provided only a small number of equivalents (de asemenea, de altfel, de altminteri, ȋn plus, pe de altă parte). Moreover, the study of the Romanian correspondents of French topic shifters has shown that the same marker often combines two functions, depending on the discursive strategies developed and on the context, which makes its semantic interpretation even more difficult. A systematic investigation aiming at an exhaustive inventory of these markers is therefore motivated, requiring a thorough analysis of different types of corpora (written and oral), involving various discourse types. In order to identify a wider range of topic shifters in Romanian, besides bilingual corpora provided by the Linguee and Reverso online dictionaries, I consulted a number of modern and contemporary translations from French into Romanian, seeking to assign each unit a specific value or sub-type of topic shifting, such as sharing the same argumentative orientation or the introduction of a new perspective on the topic in question, etc. • The paper identifies a series of linguistic forms (originally manner adverbs or space adverbs) that can function as topic shifters in contemporary Romanian. • The analysis of the Romanian equivalents of the two French Topic shifters (par ailleurs and d'ailleurs) shows an important difference in the way the two languages encode topic shifting. • While d'ailleurs is mostly translated in Romanian as de altfel "moreover", which has the same argumentative function, par ailleurs is translated by a wider range of markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the presence of personification in the speech of participants in two academic seminars that were carried out in an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) course at a Swedish university with a multicultural group of students (17 people from 15 different countries) that focused on business and marketing topics. We analyse if the purposeful humanization of companies is present in university discourse interaction by examining these EMI participants' personification of companies and brands in the two selected seminars. Our data were analysed from a principally qualitative perspective in a small-scale case study that shows the multiple ways personification permeates EMI students' language to treat companies as human-like entities, both for specific brands as well as for the concept of businesses in general. This was especially noteworthy in verbs of cognition in discussions on businesses and marketing. The presence of personification in the figurative uses of EMI students points to some of the pragmatic success of these EMI students in referencing well-established marketing strategies that attribute human-like characteristics and relationships to businesses and brands. It also reflects a natural tendency to employ personification and see a person behind a corporate entity. Unlike other figurative uses that have shown to be challenging for L2 speakers, these EMI students use personification in business English, a frequent device in their discourse community, naturally and appropriately, showing how they are part of that specific discourse community. • EMI participants' discourse reveals a good deal of personification, in particular through verbs representing cognition. • Multinational companies and culture are pertinent to the metaphorical domain underlying these personifications, corporations are people. • Successful use of figurative language in their discourse community shows EMI learners as competent members of the discipline. • Personification may be a more basic mental mechanism than metaphor or metonymy with a role in 'disciplinary enculturation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for a conceptual distinction between epistemic modality and discourse strategy, and aims to disentangle both notions by showing how they relate to each other on the basis of corpus data. The meanings of six Galician epistemic adverbs are studied using samples taken from an electronic corpus. 1800 observations were coded for the relevant meaning categories, including epistemic modality, mitigation, strengthening and other strategic and non-strategic uses, such as tendency and dynamic modality. The results reveal a relation between the epistemic value encoded by an adverb and the discourse strategic goals it serves: possibility adverbs feature several strategic uses, but only in a small portion of their occurrences; probability adverbs are almost purely epistemic; and certainty adverbs take on strategic functions most often. Thus, the study shows the viability and descriptive adequacy of distinguishing between modal and strategic uses of epistemic expressions. • Epistemic modality and discourse strategy are conceptually different categories. • Corpus data shows how epistemic modality and discourse strategy are related. • Discourse strategy depends on the epistemic value encoded by adverbs. • Uncertainty adverbs are primarily epistemic. • Certainty adverbs are used strategically most often. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main distinctive features of social interaction in our species is that we use language to coordinate our future activities, and in many cases far ahead. Non-human primates don't do this, as a consequence of which their interactions remain comparatively simple and short-range. This paper offers the first in-depth discussion of this key distinctive feature of human communication. It is argued that its evolution was conditional on two developments: an increase of responsiveness during the communicative exchange and the emergence of normative behaviours in the follow-up. Responsiveness was required to coordinate future interactions, but wasn't enough for coordinating interactions beyond the immediate future, which required normativity, to boot. • Normativity is essential for discourse and cooperation. • First study of normativity in evolutionary pragmatics. • Future coordination is a key explanandum for evolutionary pragmatics. • A detailed account of the early stages of human communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores sellers' addressing behaviours in Chinese e-commerce live streaming discourse by focusing on the impact of gender. Data were drawn from a self-built corpus comprising 120 h of transcribed texts from live streaming on Taobao. By conducting a corpus-based analysis, we compared males' and females' keywords for addressing customers and their performative functions of suggestive selling. The findings show that: (1) both males and females use a small percentage of kinship terms; (2) males' ratio of address pronouns to nouns greatly surpasses females', but their frequency of ' nín ' (deferential you) is much lower than females'; (3) females are more likely to consistently use nouns with the meaning of baby, whereas males prefer utilising diverse friendship terms; and (4) females frequently use a pattern of 'thank/greet + baby' to conduct ritual interactions more often than males. We argue that both males' and females' addressing behaviours function to promote successful selling; however, gender distinctions do exist in terms of their lexical choices and pragmatic uses of addressing words. The current study contributes to both pragmatics and the sociolinguistic study of gender and language. • Provides research data on Chinese addressing behaviors in e-commerce live streaming context. • Explores how sellers manage rapport via address pronouns and nouns for suggestive selling. • Focuses on gender's impact on addressing forms by conducting a corpus-based analysis. • Finds both similarities and differences in males' and females' use of addressing forms. • Contributes to both pragmatics and the sociolinguistic study of gender and language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the functions of negated indicative present forms of the verb vedere 'to see' that refer to the speaker and are followed by an indirect wh-interrogative subordinate clause. The investigation of an Italian written corpus of newspaper articles, reviews and forum posts shows that this construction set forms a discourse routine with a recurrent pragmatic function. It expresses a disagreeing action of rebuttal that includes the reformulation and critical assessment of an interlocutor's preceding utterance and projects arguments sustaining the speaker's standpoint. The routine is highly specialized: its functions are limited to those mentioned, whereas it does not express bare denial, counterarguments, or agreeing actions. The corpus analysis also shows that this specialization is a characteristic of the combination of the examined negated verb forms with indirect wh-interrogative clauses, whereas combinations with other complement types either do not occur at all in the corpus (indirect polar questions and complement clauses introduced by che) or have a broader range of diverse discourse functions (nominal complements with propositional meaning). The routine's lexical and grammatical components (inferential lexical meaning, deixis, negation and its scope, the presupposing properties of indirect wh-interrogatives, mood) all contribute to realize its discourse function. • Negated vedere + indirect wh-interrogative has evidential meaning and marks a disagreeing action. • The construction tends to express a rebuttal justified by explicit arguments given in the co-text. • Its function depends on lexical meaning, deixis, negation, presupposition, and mood. • The indirect wh-interrogative establishes a discourse relation with a preceding statement. • The combination of evidential verbs with negation raises specific problems of scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English vague language (VL), as in general noun phrases, general extenders and general verbs, is central to casual conversation. It can have discourse functions and create an informality and solidarity. The rationale for the study described here was a gap in the literature vis-à-vis language learner metapragmatic awareness of VL in their L1. It was hypothesised that attitudes towards VL vary from language to language. This paper describes a comparative questionnaire study of German, Spanish and Mandarin speakers' attitudes to VL in their languages. Subjects were invited to translate English VL to their languages and to think of other vague forms: German speakers volunteered 'Dingsbums' and 'und so'; Spanish speakers suggested 'cómo se llame' and 'o algo así; Mandarin speakers noted 'na ge dong xi'. Subjects were also asked to describe social variables, domains and functions associated with their VL: German speakers saw VL as creating closeness but many felt that it made addressors sound unreliable and mildly impolite; Spanish speakers mostly saw VL as a way of showing a relaxed, close, comfortable, friendly, but a few saw it as an sign of laziness and impoliteness; Mandarin speakers responded that VL was a marker of friendly informality and solidarity but they mostly associated it with indifference, laziness, impatience, irritation, anger, disappointment, contempt and dishonesty. The paper concludes with suggestions of ways to incorporate tasks on VL into English language teaching classrooms, and to raise language teachers' awareness of English L2 users' beliefs and intercultural differences in terms of VL. • Vague language forms, functions and variation. • Close with family and friends. • Indifference, impoliteness with strangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the salience of discourse referents from both a hearer and a speaker perspective in the context of negative quantifying expressions (e.g. not all, few) in Swedish. In three sentence completion studies we investigated what discourse referent is most salient from each of these perspectives and how salience is affected by the syntactic form/semantic type (entity vs. proposition) of the sentence topic in the continuation. We also investigated what morphosyntactic forms are used to refer back to referents of different information structural status. The studies were specifically set up to allow us to distinguish between the two perspectives on salience, unlike previous studies on English, which have only taken hearer-salience into account. The emerging picture of what discourse referent is most salient for negative quantifying expressions is therefore more complex than what previous studies have shown. • The semantic type of the Sentence Topic affects what discourse entity is most speaker-salient. • Negative quantifiers differ in what discourse salience patterns they give rise to. • The syntactic environment of an anaphoric element affects its resolution in quantified contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French right and far-right have promoted a dehumanized vision of the migrants through their discourse in the last ten years. In this paper, we argue that this is the outcome of a diachronic linguistic process involving migration-related lexicon. A remarkable frequency increase enabled the progressive semantic bleaching of its [+human] trait and finally its functional recategorization as a simple trigger of a non-referential category where migrants and terrorism, but also the European Union and globalization, conflate to generically designate the "other". Combining corpus methods and critical discourse analysis through the quantitative, semantic, and distributional analysis of migration-related lexicon in a corpus of 5689 tweets by Marine Le Pen and other right-wing French politicians, we show the association between migration and several unrelated topics through pragmatic implicature at various stages. We find a robust tendency of migration-related lexicon to occur in lists and parallelisms, whose sematic-pragmatic function is specifically to implicate a relation between the members of a category construed in context. We claim that these structures are the main culprit for the emergence, the spread, and the entrenchment of manipulative categories in public discourse and for their expansion in ad hoc fashion, following the right's political agenda. • The French right used for years implicit strategies to spark hate towards migrants. • A relation between migration, terrorism, EU, globalization, finance was implicated. • Lists containing migr-lexicon are used to construct the category of the "enemy". • Migrants are now represented as dehumanized, while immigration as anthropomorphic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction and contextualization of meaning in conversation is accomplished through various multi-modal resources. This paper focuses on the quoting gesture (QG) as an embodied resource mobilized for the modification of formulations in Israeli Hebrew conversational media talk. Drawing on interactional approaches to language and embodied action, we show that the QG is deployed (i) to demarcate an affiliated formulation as emanating from another speaker while (ii) indexing the current producer's distancing from particular aspects of meaning associated with the formulation. This generic function is particularized in different contextual environments in which the QG, in concert with verbal, vocal, and additional embodied resources, instantiates different forms and degrees of dissonance with respect to a selected formulation. The analysis proceeds from the more common situation in which the QG is synchronically-aligned with its affiliated formulation to pre-positioned and post-positioned instances of the QG, which serve to project a reserved endorsement of a formulation and repair participants' alignment toward a previously produced formulation. The modification proposed by the QG orients both to the actional-rhetorical exigencies of the moment and to more enduring aspects of participants' positioning vis-a-vis co-participants and audiences. Thus, the QG provides a method to calibrate and accommodate different attitudes towards a formulation and to overtly display participants' accountability for their verbal selections. • The QG demarcates a formulation as double-voiced while indexing distancing from it. • The import of the QG is particularized in different contextual environments. • Commonly, the QG is synchronically-aligned with its affiliated formulation. • The QG can be pre-positioned and post-positioned relative to its formulation. • The QG overtly displays participants' accountability for their verbal selections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates denial, a rapport-challenging speech act. It discusses the performance of denial in the review response genre – managerial responses addressing negative online comments made by dissatisfied customers. In this study, the speech act of denial is taken to be instantiated as Deny Problem, one of the moves constituting the review response genre. The moves were identified by qualitatively analysing a total of 2,577 managerial responses produced by hotels of different star-ratings (2-star to 5-star) with the aid of the software Nvivo 12. The Deny Problem move and its proximal discourse environment were analysed further to address three main broad areas of interest: the forms of denial, the functions performed by denial, the targets of denial, and the work, if any, done by the hotel management to mitigate the potential damage to rapport resulting from the performance of the rapport-challenging act. Our analysis suggests that denial, be they used alone or in series, can target the asserted information, the customer's rationality, the hotel's responsibility, and the seriousness of the problem. While discursive effort is usually made to repair the damaged rapport with the customers, rather unexpectedly, instances of further rapport challenge are found in the proximity of the denial. • Denial is a rapport-challenging speech act. • Denial is instantiated as the Deny Problem move in seven different forms in the review response genre. • Targets of denial include the problem complained about, reviewers, and hotel's responsibility. • Denial can occur alone or in series, causing various degree of damage to rapport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper focuses on the changes undergone by news discourse towards its current multisemiotic, digital nature. It is divided into three main sections; in the first one I will focus on how multimodal/multisemiotic developments have been gradually entrenched in news reporting, from 17th-century woodblock engravings in the early news texts to contemporary convergent journalism, with special reference to the increasing interconnection between verbal output and visuals. Secondly, I will illustrate the shift in topics and methodologies undergone by studies on news discourse particularly over the last few years, with attention to (a) news dissemination and consumer perception (b) the new language(s) of news. Finally, I will present and discuss a pilot case study of multimodality in news reporting, focussing on the coverage by The New York Times of the birth and development of the European Union between 1946 and 2009. The study will attempt to bring to the fore the role played by the dynamic interrelationship between image and verbal text in conveying the news stories and, possibly, the underlying perspective of the newspaper itself when informing readers on the steps leading to the shaping of the EU. • News dissemination has been shaped by historical technological innovations. • Multimodal journalism is rooted in the interplay between verbals and visuals. • Studies on news discourse and transmission have shifted in topics and methodologies. • Co-occurring features in the news output trigger semiotic and pragmatic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammar is often considered as an established convention used by all speakers of a language, while variability should be expected if using language is regarded as meaningful sociocultural as well as cognitive behavior. This paper considers the flexible and fluid nature of grammar and the language user's knowledge of grammatical variability by examining natural discourse data of one Japanese speaker/writer in four different communicative contexts and examples of expository writing. The study finds that the pairing of meaning/function with a form has a crucial role in determining the use of a (non-) conventional construction in context, as maintained in Construction Grammar. The conventionality and variability (in time and space) of grammar can be elucidated by postulating a constellation of multiple layers of socioculturally mediated meanings/functions of a form, a "construction-based semiotic constellation (CBSC)." Some meanings/functions may acquire exclusive association with a context and become conventionalized or even normative through sociocultural beliefs and endorsement, while others remain malleable. An ideal model of grammar should reflect the flexibility and conventionality of language use and the user's knowledge. In that spirit, this analysis offers a socioculturally informed illustration of conventionalization and flexibility in grammar. • Grammar of a language is not a rigid set of conventions but malleable depending on the communicative context. • Language users' grammatical knowledge is flexible and fluid based on their experiences. • The conventionality and variability of grammar can be elucidated by postulating a construction-based semiotic constellation. • An ideal model of grammar should reflect the flexibility and conventionality of language use and the user's knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the actions and practices for connected discourse in English conversation. Three university students met weekly for 94 weeks to practice speaking and were video recorded. Each participant made a 10 min presentation about a topic of interest and then the three participants had a conversation. Using ethnomethodological conversation analysis (CA), we examined how participants moved from an orientation to one type of speech exchange system (the monologic presentation) to another (the 'conversation') and specifically, the actions and practices for getting the conversation started. We show how an orientation to an interview type of speech exchange system changes to something more conversation-like over the course of the 94 weeks and how changes in particular actions are concomitant with changes in turn allocation, turn construction, and turn taking practices. The findings provide further evidence for the co-constructed nature of language. Implications for understanding change or learning as a group enterprise are also considered. • Linguistic practices of initiating conversations change over time. • Making connected discourse involves a range of actions and practices. • Evidence suggests that changing language proficiency is best conceptualized as a group process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars from several research traditions have explored the ways in which speakers sometimes employ larger coherent discourse units within a conversational interaction. For most scholars, conversation is normally structured as local sequences of turns; larger discourse units are atypical, used for special culturally-recognized speech genres embedded in the regular flow of conversation. However, Bakhtin (1979/1986) suggests a different possibility: that conversational talk is normally organized in terms of larger discourse units representing different speech genres. The present paper -- at the intersection of the sub-disciplines of conversation analysis, discourse pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and register analysis -- reports on a major corpus-based investigation that empirically explores this theoretical possibility raised by Bakhtin. Based on analysis of 2.3 million words of conversational interactions, taken from the British National Corpus 2014, we show that 1) most conversational talk consists of sequences of coherent discourse units that have identifiable communicative goals, and that 2) such discourse units can be categorized into conversational discourse types that have distinct communicative purposes but do not usually conform to a conventional genre structure. That is, while conversational discourse units rarely realize conventional genre structures like personal narratives or jokes, they can be categorized into discourse types that serve distinctive combinations of communicative purposes. Based on our corpus analysis, we identify and describe 16 conversational discourse types associated with combinations of 9 general communicative purposes. Not surprisingly, discourse types focused on the expression of personal stance, feelings, and evaluations are especially common in conversation. However, the study reveals a second pattern that is more surprising: that discourse types focused on conveying information are as common in conversation as personal stance discourse types. • Provides a comprehensive description of language use in a corpus of conversations. • Shows most conversational talk consists of sequences of coherent discourse units. • Describes the communicative purposes of discourse units in conversation. • Presents a taxonomy of conversational discourse types. • Shows most discourse units represent discourse types rather than speech genres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of evidential adjectives in terms of their distribution and evidential values in three opinion genres (i.e. editorials, opinion columns and comment articles) in English and Spanish journalistic discourse, based on an ad hoc English-Spanish comparable corpus of newspaper opinion texts. The study focuses on two patterns with an evaluative and persuasive function, both of which conceal the role of the writer as conceptualizer (Marín-Arrese, 2013): 'It + copular verb + ADJ + that/wh-/if/to-infinitive clause' (Hunston and Sinclair, 2000) and 'X + copular verb + ADJ' (Gruber, 1993). Corpus examples were analyzed according to (1) Tense, Aspect and Mood (TAM) values of copular verbs; (2) degree modification of evidential adjectives; (3) semantic preference and prosody; and (4) type of evidential justification. Results reveal similarities across languages and genres, with evidential adjectives occurring mainly in present tense indicative clauses where the adjective is not modified and has negative semantic preference and prosody. However, the analysis also unveils distinctive genre-related features in the distribution of evidential adjectives, with editorials showing the highest ratio here. Findings also suggest genre preferences and language-specific differences regarding the type of evidential justification employed (i.e. conceptual-based, perceptual-based or report-based inferences). • Impersonal evidential constructions role as epistemic legitimizing strategies. • Evidentials contribute to the persuasive use of language in opinion discourse. • Genre and language-specific differences in the type and distribution of evidentials. • Editorials show the highest ratio of evidential adjectives in English and Spanish. • Conceptual-based inferences preferred in newspaper opinion discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the functions of the utterance-final particle -ketun in Modern Spoken Korean. In it, I analyze naturally occurring spontaneous conversational data to provide a unified account of utterance-final -ketun 's several apparently disparate functions, arguing that its basic function is to manage the flow of information in discourse. Specifically, I claim that -ketun presents a pragmatic assertion that, in the speaker's view, should be or should have been a pragmatic presupposition, as if it were a pragmatic presupposition. The data analyzed in this study suggest that -ketun is a useful device by which speakers can ease the disorderly flow of information in spontaneous conversations, in particular to repair or avoid potential hitches in the order of presentation. This basic information-management function can be extended to highlight or manage mismatches between the speaker's and the hearer's states of knowledge, as part of either politeness strategies or impoliteness strategies. Collectively, the usages of -ketun discussed in this paper suggest that it is a highly intersubjective marker, in that it reflects the speaker's attention to the hearer's state of knowledge and changes in that state of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an investigation of instances of lexical replacement repair, in which a speaker replaces one lexical choice with another, sampled from Dutch spontaneous interaction. The study is driven by the question as to what motivates a speaker to produce a particular instance of self-repair with or without ‘prosodic marking’ — with or without notable prosodic prominence — and the notion that a close consideration of the discourse context in which the repair is embedded, and its function in that context, is paramount in addressing this question. The study explores the empirical grounds for two proposals regarding the function of prosodic marking: one in which marking is a response to the speaker's embarrassment or unease at the error or infelicity, and one in which marking is done for the listener's benefit, to highlight particularly important information. This paper describes three discourse contexts in which prosodic marking is notably common, and argues that both proposals find some support in these contexts. The analysis suggests that speakers’ decisions for or against prosodic marking are based at least on considerations of epistemic authority, precision and exaggeration, and discourse coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the connection between Spanish concessive future and evidentiality. More specifically, it is argued that concessive future does not merely represent a contextual variant of conjectural future ( Escandell, 2010 ) but a new use ( Squartini, 2012 ) which is restricted by the activated status of the proposition ( Dryer, 1996 ). Unlike conjectural future, concessive future does not have an inferential purpose; instead, it plays a role within the (counter) argumentation process. It actually develops a déréalisant function ( Ducrot, 1995 ). Therefore, although conjectural use and concessive use share the deictic value of future, they are the projection of this value over different levels of meaning. More generally, this paper shows that future in Spanish may intersect with several semantic and discourse categories, including – but not limited to – evidentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mandarin invitational and offering exchanges, refusals can be either genuine or ostensible. This study explores the pragmalinguistic features that distinguish ostensible refusals from genuine refusals as well as the sociopragmatic constraints for ostensible refusals. Production data were elicited by a 12-scenario roleplay task from 22 native speakers and five native-speaker interlocutors. The resulting 264 conversations represent four discourse patterns identified in the literature (single-cycle acceptance, refusal-before-acceptance, single-cycle refusal, multi-cycle refusal) and are analyzed with reference to the orientation, position, justification, and modification of the initial refusals. Results show that in the particular domain of communication examined (everyday hospitality situations involving a professor or a friend), genuine refusals are often delayed, mitigated, and speaker-oriented with justification referring to specific extrinsic forces. In contrast, ostensible refusals are often immediately projected, unmitigated, and brief; they can be hearer-oriented addressing the initiator's return-for-favor intention or acknowledging the cost of the invitation or offer, or speaker-oriented with justification referring to personal feeling or unspecific reasons. The paper has also found that type of the initiating speech act, motivation for the initiating speech act, and power relation between interlocutors interact to constrain the use of ostensible refusals. • Ostensible refusals in Mandarin are immediate, unmitigated, and brief. • Ostensible refusals are often hearer-oriented. • Ostensible refusals can be speaker-oriented, referring to unspecific reasons. • Genuine refusals in Mandarin are delayed, mitigated, and elaborated. • Genuine refusals are speaker-oriented, referring to specific extrinsic forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to clarify some of the theoretical orientations underlying the linguistic studies on topics of discourse and digressive markers. The notion of discourse topic (DT) introduced by van Dijk in the 1970s has no place in the models developed since the 1980s by Hobbs, Mann and Thompson, Asher and Lascarides and others. These models do without DT, for the reason that the rhetorical relations they advocate were sufficient to explain common sense intuitions on (dis)continuity and (in)coherence of discourse, although, at the same time, van Kuppevelt advocates model based solely on DT relations. With the development of systematic annotations of corpora, studies on discourse markers have increased, including markers of topic shifts. The last part of the paper deals with d'ailleurs and par ailleurs French adverbials, which are commonly used as a marker of digression. The analysis of these two DMs show that they are polyfunctional and involve both rhetorical relationships (addition, justification) that make the link with the previous utterances, and framing relationships indexing the incoming discourse (announcing of a topic shift, or a return to a previous DT). • The article aims clarifying some theoretical orientations of linguistic studies on Discourse Topics and digressive markers. • It argues that topic orientations markers (Fraser) open topic frames that can include under their scope discourse units following the one in which they appear. • The relationships they established are computed after the unit in which they figure had been rhetorically linked to one or more previous statements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper focuses on a side phenomenon of fake news and misinformation, i.e. fake-quotes and the strategy of fake-quoting. • The proposed definition of fake-quoting will take pragmatic approaches to plagiarizing and lying into account. • A framework of fake-quoting will be introduced, acknowledging both the fake-quote creators and fake-quote disseminators. • The framework is applied to tweets posted associated with what has been called the 'dumb Republicans meme'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on a language broker – a younger family member who performs lay interpreting for other family members. This paper examines three real-life interactions between a broker who relays speech from English-speakers to Macedonian-speaking family members. Adopting Goffman's notions of ‘footing’ and ‘participant roles’ that a speaker can assume, this paper examines how a broker engages with the conversational moves of others for him to assume the role of not only animator and author , but also principal . Transcribed speech shows evidence of features that are characteristic of interpreter speech: ‘relayed inter-lingual transfer’ and ‘recipient design’. At the same time, inter-lingual transfer is punctuated cyclically by responses and prompts from others to engage with the broker as a speaker in his own right. This paper shows a broker's positioning to the role of principal and how this is negotiated and re-negotiated in changes of footing in which the broker can assume this role and then relinquish it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In several sign languages, it is observed that sometimes a nominal expression appears twice within the same sentence, once in its regular syntactic position and once sentence-finally as a pronominal pointing sign. This paper investigates how these sentence-final pronouns are used in Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL), which is the natural sign language used by the Deaf community in Hong Kong. Previous studies of sentence-final pronouns in sign languages put forward three major accounts: these pronouns serve as focus/emphasis markers, agreement markers, and right dislocations. On the basis of elicited and spontaneous discourse data collected from deaf native signers, this paper argues that sentence-final pronouns in HKSL are right dislocated ‘aboutness’ topics. Given that pronouns in HKSL, as in other sign languages, are directed towards the locations associated with the intended referents, sentence-final pronouns can help secure the attention of the addressee towards the topics in discourse by upholding their visual prominence via spatial indexing. This strategy is most commonly used in conversational interactions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Problem solving (PbS) talk has been associated with disagreement and conflict as interactants oppose each other''s views and express diverse opinions. Although disagreement and conflict have been regarded in earlier work as potentially negative acts more recent work points to the importance of context and local practices instead of a priori categorizations of what the interactants perceive as un/acceptable linguistic behaviour. The paper draws on data from two projects on workplace discourse, one focusing on multinational companies situated in Europe and one on small/medium firms (SMEs). The dataset consists of recordings of meetings, ethnographic observations and interviews. The analysis of the data shows that ‘deviating opinions’ are not only ‘acceptable’ but also unmarked and they form an inherent part of the PbS process. At the same time linguistic behaviour perceived as face threatening or intentionally impolite is typically rare. The paper closes by drawing a theoretical distinction between marked and unmarked disagreement. The latter is perceived as task bound and does not pose a threat to the management of the meeting participants’ complex identities and relationships. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This collection of papers on disagreement adds new theoretical and methodological insights. It brings together interest in opposition in discourse with research on relational issues, traditionally discussed in work on identity construction and im/politeness research. We propose that the following observations in an attempt to systematically approach the understanding of disagreement: a) expressing opposing views is an everyday phenomenon; b) certain practices are prone to contain disagreement so that this speech act is expected rather than the exception; for example, they are in fact a sine qua non in decision making and problem solving talk in either ever day or professional contexts; other practices and contexts are less tolerant of the expression of disagreement; c) disagreeing cannot be seen as an a priori negative act; communities and groups of people have developed different norms over time which influence how disagreement is perceived and enacted; d) as in all language usage, the ways in which disagreement is expressed - and not only its occurrence per se - will have an impact on relational issues (face-aggravating, face-maintaining, face-enhancing); at the same time, expectations about how disagreement is valued in a particular practice will influence what forms participants choose. Against this backdrop, the aim of this special issue is to revisit the existing body of research on disagreement and to probe further in a variety of contexts in five papers and an epilogue to contribute to the debate of the impact of the context/medium on the interaction, the role of im/politeness in disagreements, the notion of ‘appropriateness’ in talk and the theorising of disagreement in general. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes a bidirectional analytic approach to what will be defined and referred to as 'odd structures'. We consider a structure 'odd', if it either (a) violates the structural dimension, i.e. saliently and conventionally expected sequences, or (b) puts forward contradictory information and breaks the topical or situational frame of a conversation, or (c) fulfills both these criteria at the same time. We have two main reasons to analyze odd structures (OS). First, we argue that we need a combination of top-down and bottom-up analysis of discourse segments to systematically dismantle discourse-internal dynamics and principles underlying intercultural interaction. Second, relying on the original Gricean speaker-centered approach, we seek a more thorough understanding of speaker's behavior that results in the production of an odd structure. Our goal is to identify pattern-like consistencies in these structures, and with a special focus on how they are dealt with by speakers, so to see which OS-types do actually cause a breakdown in conversation and which ones do not. • Analyzes intercultural interactions from a new perspective. • Introduces the notion of 'odd structures' in intercultural discourse. • Uses a bidirectional analytic approach. • Focuses on speaker production rather than hearer inference. • Aims to identify pattern-like consistencies in odd structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to a fuller understanding of professional communication by focusing on the intertextuality and interdiscursivity of the request e-mails exchanged among a group of professional English language teachers of a public education institution in Hong Kong. The types of intertextual and interdiscursive elements incorporated in the request e-mail discourse produced by the teachers, and the possible reasons for such incorporation, are discussed in the paper. It is found that the intertextual and interdiscursive elements drawn upon by the teachers in constructing the request e-mail discourse serve four pragmatic functions: (1) distancing themselves from the discourse and thus diverting the possible forthcoming resentment to others; (2) convincing others to comply with the requests they made; (3) emphasizing selectively and strategically the various roles they were playing; and (4) managing rapport with the e-mail recipients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper addresses the use of the so-called double form –essess in Korean, which refers to the doubling of the suffix –ess. In the absence of much research attention on the double form compared to that devoted to the single form, this paper explores how the double form is used by ordinary speakers in contemporary Korean discourse. Language data collected from authentic corpora are analyzed, the manner in which different modes of communication, namely writing and speaking, affect the use of the double form is investigated, and the possible causes for any differences are discussed. The study analysis reveals that the double form is deployed for a wider variety of functions than previous research has assumed, while supporting the discontinuity sense as the overarching meaning of the double form. On the other hand, the two types of discourse show a discrepancy in terms of the distribution of these functions. The most frequently occurring function in written discourse is the double past sense, compared to the discontinued simple past function in the spoken discourse. This discrepancy in the most frequent function in the two corpora is attributed to the different natures of the discourse. The discontinuity sense, which is the essential meaning of the double form, comes from the intensification of the pastness involved in the single form. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on problems of learning and teaching via English as a lingua franca at a German university. An analysis of audio data from a course in engineering will give evidence of how university courses may be severely affected by intercultural and linguistic problems. It will be argued that – although participants from a variety of cultural backgrounds may be reasonably effective in communicating about subject matter in English – problems will arise when a larger variety of communicative functions is involved in instructional discourse, for example negotiating forms of cooperation and resolving conflicts. It is hypothesized that this situation may be detrimental for the implementation of innovative and learner-centered types of teaching arrangements in the international university. Against this background, suggestions will be made for reducing such problems by utilizing adequate training materials for university teachers and students who need to operate in ELF settings. These materials include activities for raising awareness of culture-related differences in the perception of teachers’ and learners’ roles in a university context, as well as a dictionary of phrases, which is organized in pragmatic categories and offers support for realizing relevant communicative functions in university teaching contexts. The paper also addresses some methodological issues, such as the need for interrelated sets of empirical data and problems of identifying ELF characteristics and specifics of intercultural communication in the pragmatic domain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the mechanisms of mediation in an English-medium university seminar course. Mediation refers to a form of speaking for another where a co-participant starts rephrasing another participant''s turn that was addressed to a third party. The paper sets out to investigate mediation in multiparty interaction. It adopts a situated approach and combines analysis of university seminar course interaction with interview data. The findings suggest that mediation occurs frequently in the university course analysed and that the institutional practices of the course influence the practice of mediation: the course teachers take on the role of an intermediary. Mediation seems to have three main functions: (1) It facilitates understanding between participants. By providing alternative ways of expressing the same thing, intermediaries help participants to take part in the discussion. (2) Mediation organises discourse, and it is a way for the teachers to manage interaction. (3) It also has a socialising function in that it can include evaluation of students’ contributions. Mediation is a means to engage participants who otherwise may not be able to participate in the interaction, and thus serves as a useful co-operation strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines extensions in present perfect (PP) usage in a corpus of police media reports published on the web in Australia, following previous work on extensions in the uses of the PP in oral narratives (). The following were examined: proportion of tenses in the corpus, lexical aspect of VPs, co-occurrences of the PP with temporal adverbials, and discourse characteristics. The latter were the main focus of the paper, and patterns in PP usage in relation to rhetorical and information structures were examined in detail. The results show that PP clauses are almost as frequent as simple past clauses; that the PP appears frequently in sequences expressing temporal progression, and that it is often combined with a range of adverbials, including past dates and times. It is also argued that police usage of the PP can be seen to give rise to mirative effects, with consequences at the level of discourse usage. In particular, the PP is favoured for introduction of new/unexpected discourse information, while the SP is used in-between clauses in the PP to continue a sub-segment. I use and extend viewpoint analysis of perfects that have acquired perfective past meanings as well as three two-place relations system for the representation of tenses, and propose that the non-standard PP in Australian English can be represented as having a result stage filling a temporal interval between a past reference time and a present one, the extended-now. I suggest that such an interval is exploited to give rise to various meanings and discourse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides an explanation of the distributional differences in the use of pluperfect in Korean and English in terms of the interplay between discourse properties and crosslinguistic variations in the interpretation of the pluperfect forms. I argue that the English pluperfect is ambiguous between preterit and aspectual meanings, while the Korean pluperfect has only a preterit meaning, requiring the absence of result state at the reference time. In narratives, where the reference time is in the past and the speech time is irrelevant, the pluperfect in both languages induces a flashback effect. In non-narratives, where the reference time coincides with the speech time, the English pluperfect does not show up because its two functions, i.e., signaling an event preceding the reference time and describing a state holding at that time, are served by the simple past and the present perfect, respectively. By contrast, the Korean pluperfect naturally occurs in non-narratives, encoding the discontinuity of the result state at the speech time. This paper discusses further semantic-discourse constraints on the pluperfect and argues that pluperfect, in both preterit and aspectual interpretations, must be related to the context event in terms of topicality. This paper shows that knowledge about the discourse structure influences the semantic interpretation of tense and aspect and proposes a common discourse role of the category pluperfect in both Korean and English. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The research presented in this paper was collected over a one-year period and is drawn from a wider two-year study of student teachers at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates, in a new Bachelor of Education degree, which prepares young Emirati women for English language teaching positions in local government schools. The study theorized the student teachers as comprising an evolving community of practice and this paper draws on data from online discussion forums to explore the discursive construction of interpersonal relations within this community of practice. In particular the paper draws on critical discourse analysis to examine a range of discursive ‘legitimation’ strategies, through which the student teachers co-constructed community and communication. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the study''s implications that may also have resonance in other contexts where systems of knowledge and forms of communication are being discursively co-constructed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper outlines a corpus-assisted investigation into the nature and functions of irony in both spoken interaction and written texts. We begin with a review of some of the principal current debates in irony studies, which have until recently often been conducted with little recourse to authentic examples of use in interactive discourse types. We go on to consider, from an examination of corpus-based real-life data, firstly, how explicit irony operates and then whether there might be a more objective way of identifying and defining episodes of implicit irony than simple reliance on the researcher''s unsupported intuition. Potential sites of implicit irony are then examined in the data to see how and why speakers and writers employ it and how hearers and audiences respond. The data analyses afford strong evidence that the principal mechanism driving all irony is an implied reversal of the evaluative meaning of the utterance (rather than of the propositional/ideational meaning, as argued in many traditional theories of irony). In addition, they reveal how irony in discourse always has a strategic argumentative point. Three corpora were employed, the first of semi-spontaneous interactive spoken discourse (WHB: circa 6 million words of White House press briefings in transcription [1998–2004]), the second of spoken interviews (Ints: 250,000 words of transcribed televised UK political interviews) and the third of written texts (Papers: 100 million words of UK broadsheet texts). Techniques from Corpus Linguistics, principally concordancing, were employed. Most of the corpus interrogation was conducted using the WordSmith Tools suite of programs. Corpora have only rarely been used to investigate participants’ interaction in discourse and this paper is intended as a contribution to the nascent interdisciplinary field of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The subject of this paper is the hearer''s1[1] In this paper, hearer refers to hearer(s)/reader(s) and speaker refers to speaker(s)/writer(s). application to discourse of frames – mental knowledge structures that capture the typical features of a situation – in order to secure coherence. Having established a working definition of frame, the paper will focus on the relation between text, context, world-knowledge and coherence. Different types of frames (linguistic as well as non-linguistic) and their coherence-inducing functions are discussed with reference to authentic examples. It is shown that the hearer''s (re-)constructed coherence of texts is the result of a complex interplay of linguistic (con)text and non-linguistic (frame) knowledge. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although small talk has conventionally been treated as marginal and unimportant compared with core business talk, its value in understanding institutional norms and power relations has been recognized in many workplace contexts. However, in-depth analysis of the dynamics of small talk is still under-researched in clinical contexts. This paper explores where and how small talk is positioned, initiated, and closed between participants in two types of medical practices that co-exist in China: Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine. Analysis of 69 consultations suggests that small talk permeates into the boundaries of talk. The findings also demonstrate a marked clinical difference in relation to the distribution and discourse functions of small talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I raise the question of how the concepts of speaker commitment and speaker involvement can be applied to evidential expressions. I therefore explore the distinction between commitment and non-commitment as a binary opposition (cf. Katriel and Dascal, 1989; Kissine, 2008 ) and show that a choice for a binary opposition leads to a clear differentiation of epistemic and evidential markers. Speaker involvement is different from speaker commitment, in that it is gradable. This notion will be relevant at both a propositional and an interactional level of analysis. At the propositional level, I claim that speaker involvement refers to the speaker’s processing of the evidential qualification when presenting a state of affairs. At the interactional level, speaker involvement will be shown to play a role in the online planning of the flow of discourse. In my corpus analysis of the Spanish evidential adverbials al parecer ‘apparently’ and por lo visto ‘seemingly’, I will argue that the coparticipant’s reply to evidentially qualified propositions is an important methodological tool to examine speaker involvement. Moreover, the monitoring of the evidential dimension in interaction will shed new light on non-commitment (cf. Déchaine et al., 2017 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utterers make commitments, for example when they produce Direct Discourse reports. Do the words chosen to frame a quotation affect those commitments, as has been argued by several authors (e.g. Romaine and Lange, 1991; Buchstaller, 2014 )? In particular, do users of ‘old’ and ‘new’ quotatives (e.g. dire and genre ) make different commitments vis-à-vis the object of their report, the degree of faithfulness of that report, the depiction of additional nonverbal aspects? Within a framework rooted in Clark and Gerrig’s (1990) theory of quotations as demonstrations, and on the basis of diverse data sources, this paper shows that the commitments which are inherent in the act of quotation take precedence over those that result from the choice of a quotative expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]