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Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 14:6 (2023) ► pp.807–823

An epistemic interpretation of responses to advice resistance on Chinese phone-ins of family problem counseling

ORCID logo | Shaoguan University

At present, Epistemics is a popular theory in Western conversation analysis, but few scholars investigate the responses to the advice resistance on phone-ins from the perspective of Epistemics. This paper explores the responses to the advice resistance on Chinese phone-ins of family problem counseling from the perspective of Epistemics. It is found that when responding to the caller’s advice resistance, the host often implements two conversation practices, such as maintaining his/her original higher epistemic status or constructing higher epistemic status in another epistemic domain. These practices are consistent with the possibility of the host’s knowledge orientation to strong self-confidence in his/her own professional knowledge but the lack of confidence in the caller’s relevant knowledge. This study can provide enlightenment for the smooth development of advice interaction on phone-ins of family problem counseling and expand the application scope of Epistemics.

Keywords: family problems, phone-ins, responses, advice resistance, Epistemics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The studies concerning Epistemics
  • 3.Advice, resistance to advice and its responses
  • 4.Data
  • 5.Data analysis
    • 5.1Maintaining original higher epistemic status
      • 5.1.1Hypothesizing knowledge
      • 5.1.2Explaining knowledge
    • 5.2Constructing higher epistemic status in another epistemic domain
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Declaration of conflicting interests
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 April 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22032.pen
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