Stancetaking in motion: stance triangle and double dialogicality

Abstract

Abstract Revealing one’s evaluation towards a shared target of stance will likely set off a chain of reactions among all participants in an interaction. This interactive activity widely recognized as stancetaking has attracted the attention of researchers in a variety of fields of inquiry. This paper intends to enrich this line of research by revealing details of stancetaking as an evolving process. It proposes to do so by recognizing two separate layers relevant for stance progression. The first is the external layer where participants physically exchange utterances in order to negotiate their stances. The second is the internal layer where each participant interacts with his/her own internalized and internalizing knowledge. To demonstrate these points, I will analyze excerpts of English conversations between unacquainted speakers who experienced a common major incident in their daily lives (an earthquake and a false missile alarm incident). I will also use a conversation in Thai to demonstrate how a speaker indexes her changing evaluation toward a third person by alternating different third person pronouns.