Interactional Stancetaking In Conflict Talk Between Couples:A Cross-Cultural Perspective

One of the most significant things people do with words is take a stance.When performing the dynamic speech activity of stancetaking in interaction,the interlocutors（1）evaluate and assign value to the object of interest,so as to construct their evaluative stance;（2）position themselves as a stance subject along an affective and/or an epistemic scale,that is,express their feelings or emotions,and/or attitudes towards the information or proposition they provide,so as to construct their affective stance and/or epistemic stance;（3）calibrate alignment or disalignment with each other.Linguistic research on stancetaking has yielded fruitful results in different modes of discourse（written mode and spoken mode）,and in some fields of discourse（e.g.,academic discourse and media discourse）.However,little research concerns the tenor of discourse,in which the speech activity of stancetaking occurs.Therefore,the present study concentrates on interlocutors’ relationship,and examines how stance is constructed between intimate interlocutors.The research objects of the present study are married couples.In addition,considering interlocutors’ stancetaking depends largely on their sociocultural background,the present study also makes a cross-cultural comparison between interlocutors from different cultural backgrounds in their construction and management of stance.From an interactional perspective,the present study regards stance as a fruit of real interaction between interlocutors,and attaches great importance to the communicative and dialogic context of the speech activity of stancetaking.Based on Luo’s（2013）interaction-oriented model,the present study aims to elaborate on how intimate interlocutors cooperatively and dynamically shape and negotiate their stance in interaction.More specifically,the present study investigates how married couples use linguistic and paralinguistic markers to construct their evaluation,affect,and/or epistemology as well as to co-construct their（dis）alignment with each other in the context of conflict talk.Besides,to further figure out the potential impact of sociocultural factors on stancetaking,the present study also makes a comparison between Chinese couples and American couples in their preference for stance markers.The major findings are as follows.First of all,intimate interlocutors inevitably coconstruct their intersubjective（dis）alignment in interaction to indicate whether they take a convergent or divergent stance on the other side’s stance.Besides,concomitant to（dis）alignment,intimate interlocutors also simultaneously construct their evaluation,affect,and/or epistemology,all of which contribute to the speaker’s overall dynamic construction and expression of stance in interaction.Based on these findings,a revised triangle model of interactional stancetaking between intimate interlocutors is proposed.As for the specific linguistic and/or paralinguistic markers interlocutors use to express their stance,it is found that intimate interlocutors usually adopt explicit lexical markers to express their evaluative stance.Chinese couples frequently use verbs,while American couples place a high priority on adjectives.In addition,Chinese couples prefer to use abstract nouns or those common nouns that represent abstract concepts as stance markers,while American couples prefer common nouns which are connected with or contain metaphors.In spite of the differences,the evaluative stance of both Chinese couples and American couples has the function of presupposition to varying degrees,and can prove the dialogicality of stancetaking as a speech activity.Secondly,in regard to affective stance,Chinese couples prefer to perform direct expressive speech acts with explicit lexical markers,while American couples prefer to manifest their negative affect through indirect speech acts.In spite of the differences,both Chinese couples’ and American couples’ construction of affective stance includes three basic functions:（1）reproducing the speaker’s emotional surge and restoring the psychological activities in the past;（2）expressing the speaker’s current emotions or feelings;（3）invoking the hearer’s feelings.Thirdly,an epistemic stance can either be constructed with indicating the speaker’s commitment to the factuality and probability of a proposition,or with providing the source of information.The former is usually marked with the use of modals,among which Chinese couples prefer modal verbs,while American couples prefer modal adverbs.The latter is related to evidentiality and is usually realized by inference.Fourthly,with respect to（dis）alignment,both Chinese couples and American couples prefer to construct their（dis）alignment in an implicit way via rhetorical questions,echo questions,interruption,overlap,and topic shift.Last but not the least,it is found that stancetaking is not only a speech activity,but also a social act,which can mirror interlocutors’social relations and the structure of social organization.More specifically,in dynamic interaction,the speaker not only indicates his/her subjective consciousness,such as communicative purposes and expectations,but also is concerned with the face or image needs of the other side,as well as their relationship in terms of superiority and authority.The present study builds up a close connection between the theoretical exploration and the practical application of stancetaking,and creatively proposes a triangle model which is applicable to the linguistic analysis of the interactional and dynamic（co-）construction of stance between interlocutors in an intimate interpersonal relationship.By breaking through the limitation of previous studies with the focus on the static semantics of stance markers,the present study not only takes into consideration the situational and sociocultural context of discourse in which the speech activity of stancetaking occurs,but also emphasizes the dynamic and interactional nature of stancetaking.