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Article published In:
Spanish in Context
Vol. 19:3 (2022) ► pp.481–507

Ritualized disbelief in Mexican Spanish talk-in-interaction

| University of Guadalajara

The present investigation is a conversation-analytic study that examines a particular type of informing sequence where the new information is received with a turn displaying ritualized disbelief. In this paper, I analyze a range of ritualized disbelief and news-confirmation turn designs in Mexican Spanish talk: I describe the trajectory that different ritualized disbeliefs have, the composition of the disbelief they display, and how news-producers deal with ritualized disbelief turns. I argue that a speaker’s knowledge about the matter at hand relates to the type of disbelief expressed in his or her disbelieving turn; that is, the social actions involved in this type of sequences show a relationship between turn design, epistemics and disbelief.

Keywords: ritualized disbelief, epistemics, conversation analysis, Mexican Spanish
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ritualized disbelief
    • 2.1The epistemics of disbelieving
  • 3.Ritualized disbelief turn designs
    • 3.1Repetitions and reformulations
    • 3.2Change-of-state tokens and their companions
    • 3.3Disbelief phrases and other devices
  • 4.Disbelief recipientship
    • 4.1Ritual orientation
    • 4.2Epistemic positioning
  • 5.Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 15 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.20024.car
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