Linguistic feature variation within disagreements: An empirical investigation

Abstract

This article discusses a quantitative and qualitative investigation into oral disagreements, providing notable contributions to the field of disagreement research. First, it identifies multiple co-occurring linguistic features which index disagreement, and provides descriptive statistics of these features. Second, it identifies different types of disagreements, as well as patterns within these types, noting their varying linguistic configurations. The study thus affords a starting point for research aiming to identify the linguistic makeup of conflict talk or attempting to distinguish between types of disagreements. Two primary types of disagreement are located: backgrounded and foregrounded, which appear to exist on a continuum of increasing explicitness and escalating hostility. Within foregrounded disagreements, three patterns emerge (collegial disagreements, personal challenge disagreements, personal attack disagreements), comprised of different linguistic constellations; these three patterns also appear linked to a continuum of escalating hostility. Descriptive statistics as well as qualitative analysis reflect variation in the frequency of use of linguistic features across the patterns, as well as in the functions for which these features are used. The evidence suggests that disagreements are not a uniform phenomenon.