LINGUIST List 21.2967 Sun Jul 18 2010 Disc: Refuting the Negative in Conversation/Discourse Editor for this issue: Elyssa Winzeler <elyssalinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Sherri Condon, Refuting the Negative in Conversation/Discourse Message 1: Refuting the Negative in Conversation/Discourse Date: 15-Jul-2010 From: Sherri Condon <scondonmitre.org> Subject: Refuting the Negative in Conversation/Discourse E-mail this message to a friend I am submitting this query for a friend/colleague in child development. He has identified an interesting pattern, and we wonder whether anyone else has identified/researched it. He called it 'refuting the negative' and describes it like this: We ask our young adults to describe, in many ways, their experiences with adoption, with contact with their birth parents, with friends, etc. - and so they have many opportunities to make evaluative statements. Sometimes they make a positive statement by taking a negative and refuting it. For example, when asked how they feel about not having contact with their birth mother, one respondent said 'It doesn't bother me.' They didn't say 'It's fine' -- rather, they took the negative stance and then refuted it. Here are some other examples: How did you come to this decision (not to seek further information about your birth father)? 'Never felt the need. I don't feel empty.' (as if anticipating and negating what she thought would be a response). When asked to tell a story about the family they grew up in... 'My family has always treated me and my brother as their children. I have never felt adopted.' (implying that there is something inherently negative about 'feeling adopted' - but that doesn't describe him). Another: 'Since I was adopted when I was so young, I don't feel like I'm any different from other people.' (as if being adopted is supposed to mean you are different). Please reply to my email: scondonmitre.org. I will submit a summary to the list, if there are responses. Thanks, Sherri Condon Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis Pragmatics Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 18-Jul-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.