As an epilog to a theme issue on morality in discourse, this article examines the various types of morality in dialog, focusing on premorality and proto-morality, sincere authenticity versus reflective ethics, and the moral voices of modernity. Concludes that morality is an intrinsic feature of any dialog, and it is a multidimensional,…

Describes the author's ongoing research which surveys World Wide Web authors and analyzes their Web productions to explore the strategies and the rhetoric for a personal presence (that of ordinary citizens) on the Web. Finds that individuals on the Web often put on the appearances of organizational status. Calls this use of institutional…

Finds (1) that corporate use of certainty in public business discourse is not affected by organizational profitability status or industry type; (2) a significant difference in the use of certainty exists between corporate oral and written communications; and (3) the use of certainty in corporate public business discourse does not differ…

Focuses on children's developing ability to recognize ironic and sarcastic speech acts. Reviews several theoretical approaches to examining nonliteral language processes, outlined by linguists concerned with adults' use of discourse irony. Reviews research pertaining to children's comprehension of irony and sarcasm. (Author/KB)

Offers a brief overview of the Structure Building Framework, a simple framework for describing the cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in discourse comprehension. Reviews the seminal work on which it is based (the first decade of structure-building research); and recounts the research conducted by the author to test the Structure Building…

Explores alternative actions which can be produced by practices of talking associated with the action of "initiating repair": questioning terms and certain forms of repeats. Shows that initiating repair can be produced by a practice which does not ordinarily produce it. Argues that situated analysis must go hand-in-hand with more formal…

Analyzes different strategies used by speakers/writers and hearers/readers to deal with underspecified coherence relations, phrased in terms of Horn's (1984) Q- and R- principle. Presents data from the psycholinguistic literature on the interpretation of underspecified relations and data from language-acquisition research suggesting that both…

Hypothesizes a resonance process in which concepts and propositions in the discourse resonate in response to related elements in the current sentence, initiating a process that makes available a subset of the information in the representation. Reviews research; presents explicit assumptions about the discourse representation; and describes results…

In a cultural studies course, 36 women studied popular romantic novels within the context of transformative feminist adult education. They identified the constraints of romantic discourse in their own lives and the power structure of romantic relationships, resulting in changed perspectives affecting their personal lives. (SK)

Examines the functions of the three basic response forms in Japanese: "hai,""ee," and "un." Frequently, the distinction between them is described as politeness vs. formality. Shows that the difference among the three forms lies also in their functions. (Author/VWL)

Examines the nature of discourse in which students talk with each other about what they think. Analyzes student-generated inquiry discussions in which students engage in extended student-student interactions without much intervention from the researcher. (Author/CCM)

Examines how interlocutors' beliefs about each other's goals affect conversational references, comparing pairs who were either informed or noninformed about the goal difference, or misinformed that goals were the same. Finds that misinformed and noninformed pairs overlooked clues that may have signaled the goal discrepancy, made conversational…

Compares the communicative effectiveness of spontaneous monologues and dialogues on nonparticipating addressees overhearing talk. Finds that overhearers were more accurate at following instructions in a referential communication task when listening in on dialogues than when listening in on monologues. Suggests greater number of discourse markers…

Discusses Goedel's Theorem (said to mark the loss of certainty in formal logic and the beginning of the postmodern reformulation of the nature of knowledge). Shows Goedel's proof as an eloquent model-changing text that (1) demonstrates the inability of language to represent reality in a way that guarantees unambiguous communication; and (2) uses…

Applies M. Foucault's account of power-discourse and its relationship to its owners to aspects of late 19th/early 20th centuries, when new technologies have multiplied the capacity of power-discourse to intervene in lives. Identifies industrial urban crowd as a target for discourse; considers this conjunction in light of Foucault's theories.…