Conversations are constructed between the people in them, and are a complex process involving active participation on both the part of the listeners and speakers. Spontaneous communication (both written and spoken) requires that people in conversations continually negotiate on meaning. There are multiple ways to indicate that negotiation is taking place, and I am interested in how people explicitly shape the negotiation process through use of specific linguistic features, such as hedging or using partisan language. In this talk, I’ll highlight two areas of my work exploring the negotiation process in conversations. First, I’ll talk about how hedges (kinda, sorta) and boosters (absolutely, obviously) can be classed together as words of negotiation, with different words denoting different types of negotiation. I will also present work on how these words also interact with authority and other aspects of communication, such as stereotypes about the speakers. Second, I’ll discuss how we can apply our understanding of spontaneous communication to studies of hyperpartisan and alternative-reality communication.

The Rising Star Speakers are a series of talks organized by a graduate student-led committee
which identifies early career scholars (those who are currently in graduate school or in their first
year of their postdoctoral fellowship) who are doing incredibly impressive, cutting-edge research.