Gonen Dori-Hacohen
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Communication, Faculty Member
- Communication, Discourse Analysis, Political Communication and Public Opinion, Media, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Conversation Analysis, and 32 moreEthnomethodology, Radio, Broadcast Talk, Pragmatics, Self and Identity, Hebrew Language, Erving Goffman, Discourse Markers, Institutional talk, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Public sphere (Communication), Political communication, Semiotics, New Media, Social Network Analysis, e-research, Link analysis, Social Network Sites, Twitter, Facebook, Political Communication, Women and Culture, Communications, Talk shows, Media Studies, Journalism, Middle East Studies, Online Journalism, Democratic Theory, Deliberative Democracy, Political Communication (Communication), Language and Social Interaction, Israel Studies, Ethnography of Communication, Media and Democracy, Public Sphere, Political Discourse, Politics, and Public Communication. Political Communicationedit
- My research area is in political participation and discourse. I study how ordinary people participate in creating a c... moreMy research area is in political participation and discourse. I study how ordinary people participate in creating a community, via their use of shared language and discourse. I study both radio, TV, and online participation, in Hebrew, English, and collaborate with researchers in other languages (Yiddish, recent work). I am influenced by conversation analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography of communication, and the public sphere, and connect the micro-social interaction order with macro-social political and cultural structures. My research varies from functional linguistic (the study of stance) to masculinity in economic discourse, all rooted in a rigorous empirical analysis of discourse.edit
- Tamar Katriel,, Yael Maschler, Emmanuel Schegloff, John Heritage, Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Menachem Blondheimedit
This chapter explores the Hebrew anaxnu (‘we’) in Israeli political radio phone-in programs. Using the ‘we,’ participants create or refer to seven social groups: the conversation ‘we’; the program ‘we’; the delimited social ‘we’; the... more
This chapter explores the Hebrew anaxnu (‘we’) in Israeli political radio phone-in programs. Using the ‘we,’ participants create or refer to seven social groups: the conversation ‘we’; the program ‘we’; the delimited social ‘we’; the opposing general ‘we’, the open general ‘we’; the humanity ‘we’; and the vocal ‘we’. The functions of ‘we’ differ by participant: hosts use the conversation ‘we’ to manage interactions whereas callers use the general ‘we’ to create a public sphere. Using an extended excerpt, we illustrate a variant of the “fluidity of ‘we’” and its significance to the participants’ identity-displays. The first person plural therefore creates social groups in media interactions, both on the micro and macro societal levels.
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This article discusses interactions on Israeli political radio phone-in programs between Jewish-Israeli hosts, Arab Israeli citizens, and Arab non-citizen Palestinians. The position of most Arab non-Jew callers is complicated by their... more
This article discusses interactions on Israeli political radio phone-in programs between Jewish-Israeli hosts, Arab Israeli citizens, and Arab non-citizen Palestinians. The position of most Arab non-Jew callers is complicated by their status as a non-uniform minority in Israel, and they deemed as "other" by many Jewish-Israelis. These programs serve as a vehicle for Bedouin and Druze callers to complain about their discrimination, and they often receive agreement and support from the interlocutor Jewish-Israeli show hosts. In interactions between Israeli hosts and Palestinians from the territories callers, however, the host and the Palestinian caller each present their respective nationalist views in a manner resembling an intractable conflict. Such mainstream Jewish-Israeli interactions with the "other" reflect the boundaries of the Israeli imagined community. While providing information to the mainstream about "internal minority" others, the interactions usually fail to build bridges with the "adjoining externalized others," who lie outside it.
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Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Israel Studies, Authenticity, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Media and Democracy, and 9 morePublic Sphere, Media Discourse, Political Discourse Analysis, Public sphere (Communication), Political Discourse, Internet and political participation, Online Discourse, Online Political Participation, and Online Authentication
Schegloff described utterances such as “lemme ask you a question ” as pre-questions, pre-pre’s or pre-delicates (Schegloff 1980). This paper provides a discussion of similar utterances in a specific institutional setting- political radio... more
Schegloff described utterances such as “lemme ask you a question ” as pre-questions, pre-pre’s or pre-delicates (Schegloff 1980). This paper provides a discussion of similar utterances in a specific institutional setting- political radio phone-in programs in Israel. The participants use these utterances in ways that are similar to Schegloff's description. Yet, the pre-construction has additional institutional functions for the differing roles of the host and the caller. Hosts use these utterances to manage the interaction during overlaps as a means to secure an exclusive turn of talk following them. Callers use them infrequently at the beginning of their talk as story-prompts. Hosts may challenge this usage and the interactional role reversal. Regular callers can use the pre-constructions similarly to hosts. In this way, the pre-constructions in the Israeli radio phone-in programs are employed as interactional practices that relate and construct the roles in this institutional ...
The existence of a coevolutionary process between avian brood parasites and their hosts predicts a lower intra-clutch variation in egg appearance of host eggs among rejecters as this would favor egg discrimination of parasite eggs by... more
The existence of a coevolutionary process between avian brood parasites and their hosts predicts a lower intra-clutch variation in egg appearance of host eggs among rejecters as this would favor egg discrimination of parasite eggs by hosts once parasitic egg mimicry had evolved. So far empirical tests of this prediction have ignored the fact that different aspects of host egg phenotypes may differ in the relative role of environmental vs. genetic determination, and hence that the role of intra-clutch variation in egg rejection within a population cannot be invariant. Here, we estimated whether the intra-clutch variation in several aspects of host eggshell features is consistently associated to rejection of parasitic foreign eggs across years in a magpie host population parasitized by great spotted cuckoos. We innovatively estimated spottiness by means of the fractal dimension of eggs, which considers the homogeneity of spot pattern complexity in eggshells. Our results show that low ...
"We demonstrated how the Facebook Fan page becomes a public sphere. The creation of this sphere would not be possible without the negotiation of fandom through fan approaches to criticism. The critical fan has various resources... more
"We demonstrated how the Facebook Fan page becomes a public sphere. The creation of this sphere would not be possible without the negotiation of fandom through fan approaches to criticism. The critical fan has various resources for maintaining fan status while criticizing either their fan-object via upward criticism or other fans in peer criticism. We also found criticism to be demonstrative of member resources — for instance, the use of web-speak for downplaying a problematic action or the use of humor or of consensus. When directed towards players or coaches, the joking tone served as a mitigating device, enabling fans to be critical affectionately. The strongest tool we demonstrated for enabling a fan to criticize, especially in upward criticism, is to join in a call for action as part of a reflexive public which has reached a consensus about the changes needed for the team to be successful. In our data, upward criticism lost its joking tone by the end of the season, and this criticism of the management became prevalent on the page. In becoming the dominant mode of addressing the management, this criticism of pleading for change from the ownership became central to the fans." P. 7
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Sociology, Social Psychology, Conversation Analysis, Critical Thinking, and 11 moreJurgen Habermas, Ethnomethodology, Online Fandom, Sports Fans, Public sphere (Communication), Football Fan Behaviour, Online Research Methods, Harold Garfinkel, Leon Festinger, Online Comments, and Online Fan Culture
Abstract This study analyzes phone interactions in Yiddish that are broadcast by telephone to ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities through off-hook services called “hotlines”. Yiddish, a minority language, is the native tongue of most... more
Abstract This study analyzes phone interactions in Yiddish that are broadcast by telephone to ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities through off-hook services called “hotlines”. Yiddish, a minority language, is the native tongue of most hotline speakers and marks their communal affiliation within the ultra-Orthodox world. We explore the instrumentalities of one Yiddish hotline in order to ascertain features that facilitate its role as a membering medium for its community. We show how participants use this medium to index who is – and who is not – a community member via language decisions that reflect language ideologies and maintain community boundaries; interviewees index their membership by linguistically accommodating interviewers; and hosts, on occasion, change language to ostracize an interviewee. We also explore the problematic status of Modern Hebrew for this community.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Languages and Linguistics, Yiddish Language, and 14 moreDiscourse, Language and Ideology, Language and Identity, Linguistics, Ideology and Discourse Analysis, Judaism, Modern Jewish History, Language and Media Discourses, Interviewing, Pergamon, Yiddish Culture and Language, Communication and media Studies, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and Language Communication
Abstract Readers’ comments on op-eds have mostly been analyzed by researchers as cases of disagreement, and in the Israeli context they are further described as aggressive and abusive. These insights have been gained based on the use of... more
Abstract Readers’ comments on op-eds have mostly been analyzed by researchers as cases of disagreement, and in the Israeli context they are further described as aggressive and abusive. These insights have been gained based on the use of offensive vocabulary and un-hedged directness. The present contribution proposes a cross-cultural examination of commenting, comparing responses to opinion editorials in the internet sites of the Washington Post and its ideologically counterpart in Israel, NRG, three op-eds for each language. To do so, we (a) introduce a coding scheme which accounts for commenting, based on a distinction between agreement/disagreement, logos-oriented vs. ethos-oriented (ad-hominem and ad-personam) comments, and literal vs. ironic keying; (b) postulate a scale of threat to negative face; and (c) compare the use of the various commenting strategies in two sets of data, the internet sites of the Washington Post for American English, and the Israeli NRG site for the Hebrew. Findings indicate (1) a higher preference for the more threatening no-logos and ad-personam comments in the NRG data as compared to the WP, (2) similarities between the two sites in the use of irony vs non-irony, with preference for ironic keying in anti-ethos as compared to anti-logos. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of the commenting arena in the public sphere.
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ABSTRACT This study describes the differing overall structural organization of political radio phone-in interactions in Israel and the USA. The American phone-in is highly organized, tightly controlled by the host, who knows and... more
ABSTRACT This study describes the differing overall structural organization of political radio phone-in interactions in Israel and the USA. The American phone-in is highly organized, tightly controlled by the host, who knows and introduces the caller at the opening, and closes the interaction unilaterally. In the Israeli phone-in, the opening resembles the mundane phone call: the call-taker acts as if he responds to a summons, there are greeting sequences, and the caller has the task of self-identification, since hosts do not know with whom they talk. Closings in Israel are negotiated and include pre-closings and closing sequences. Unlike the US structure, the Israeli structure promotes non-hierarchical institutional relations between participants, akin to mundane relations, often taken as relations between equals. The conclusion connects the overall structural organizations with the communication patterns in each society, suggesting phone-ins are one site that resonates and recreates societal norms.
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ABSTRACT This paper presents hegemonic masculinity as it is achieved during interactions between television host Jim Cramer and his callers in the “Lightening Round” segment on the CNBC television show “Mad Money”. Cramer's... more
ABSTRACT This paper presents hegemonic masculinity as it is achieved during interactions between television host Jim Cramer and his callers in the “Lightening Round” segment on the CNBC television show “Mad Money”. Cramer's persona and interactions adhere to a hegemonic masculinity dominant in American culture, and they create a sphere in which it is the only normative identity possible. This hegemonic masculinity is created by the use of specific phrases (e.g. the “booyah” salutation), actions (e.g. compliments to the host), by the insertion of sports as a topic of discussion, and by Cramer's dominant positioning as an expert. After presenting these features we demonstrate how this arena creates problems for the very few female callers participating in it. We therefore conclude that the “Lightening Round” helps to construct and reproduce masculinist authority in this mass-mediated window into the world of finance.
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This article explores the properties of formulations in a corpus of Hebrew radio phone-ins by juxtaposing two theoretical frameworks: conversation analysis (CA) and dialogic syntax. This combination of frameworks is applied towards... more
This article explores the properties of formulations in a corpus of Hebrew radio phone-ins by juxtaposing two theoretical frameworks: conversation analysis (CA) and dialogic syntax. This combination of frameworks is applied towards explaining an anomalous interaction in the collection – a caller’s marked, unexpected rejection of a formulation of gist produced by the radio phone-in’s host. Our analysis shows that whereas previous CA studies of formulations account for many instances throughout the corpus, understanding this particular formulation in CA terms does not explain its drastic rejection by the caller. We therefore turn to an in-depth examination of strategies for lexical and syntactic resonance as a stance-taking device throughout the interaction. In so doing, we not only shed light on the anomalous interaction, but also offer an answer to a provocative question previously put forward by Haddington (2004) concerning which of the two – stances or actions – have more meaningf...
Research Interests: Languages and Linguistics, Hebrew Language, Conversation Analysis, Dialogue, Radio, and 11 moreSyntax, Institutional talk, Linguistics, Formulaic Language, Sequence Analysis, Discourse Studies, Stance, Resonance, Discourse Analysis of Political Talk Shows in Electronic Media, Language Culture and Communication, and Spoken English
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Cognitive Science, Media Studies, Pragmatics, Radio, and 12 moreEthnography of Communication, Linguistics, Satire & Irony, Verbal Irony, Pergamon, Membership, Competencias, Conventionalized verbal irony, Intercultural Communication Competence, Communication and media Studies, Radio Broadcasting, and Language Communication
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This article analyzes the openings in host-caller interactions in three leading U.S. political talk radio (PTR) programs. Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are used to describe how fandom is achieved in these... more
This article analyzes the openings in host-caller interactions in three leading U.S. political talk radio (PTR) programs. Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are used to describe how fandom is achieved in these shows. Callers present themselves as fans in the first possible position in the interaction, using various practices ranging from uttering the word ditto to creating extended discourse structures. The hosts usually perceive these practices as compliments and appreciate them and the callers. PTR is a prime example of a fan-public, since its host harnesses the fans to achieve his political (and commercial) agenda. The hyphen in fan-public deserves attention, because this notion is rooted in infotainment, combining the relationships of the entertainment business, fans, and stars with the realm of politics, which would assume some critical notion and individuality in the decision-making processes.
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Radio has always had the potential to change public life. Ordinary citizens participate in programs in which they call in the radio station and express their opinion. As such, these programs are part of the public sphere, as well as an... more
Radio has always had the potential to change public life. Ordinary citizens participate in programs in which they call in the radio station and express their opinion. As such, these programs are part of the public sphere, as well as an entertainment form. These programs are taken as a service in public station, and as a revenue source in commercial stations. In the commercial stations, the shows promote the one-sided political agenda of their hostsstars. In the public stations, the shows facilitate a balanced discussion among different citizens. All participants in both types of programs use argumentative practices, including the use of rhetoric. Yet, the host is the power-holder in the interactions. The programs and interactions in them also encode other power relations, as these programs may promote conservative, at times racist views. Radio is still a masculine medium, and participants in talk radio adhere to the normative gender order. Main Text: Social Theorists have pointed to...
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Much research within the noncritical perspective on the public sphere has been quantitative. To strengthen the argument for an ideologically disinterested approach to the study of publicity and counterpublicity, we use ethnomethodological... more
Much research within the noncritical perspective on the public sphere has been quantitative. To strengthen the argument for an ideologically disinterested approach to the study of publicity and counterpublicity, we use ethnomethodological discourse analysis to analyze how far-right movements claim counterpublicity, or “do being a counterpublic.” Specifically, we study the U.S. pundit Alex Jones and a prayer meeting of South Korean Evangelical Christians. For each, we considered how they created a shared discourse and attempted to change mainstream discourse while claiming being marginalized and different from the mainstream. Across these two case studies, the strategies for “doing being a counterpublic” are similar, even though they use different organizing symbols—conspiracy in the U.S. versus religion in Korea. These case studies show that the functionalist perspective yields benefits to understanding how publicity and counterpublicity are negotiated among various groups of activi...
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This paper discusses lists, a neglected structure, to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about them in oral interactions. Two such assumptions are: unlike narratives, lists are perceived as centered on the delivery of objective... more
This paper discusses lists, a neglected structure, to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about them in oral interactions. Two such assumptions are: unlike narratives, lists are perceived as centered on the delivery of objective information; and three-part lists are normative. Using Israeli and U.S.A. radio call-in shows data, this paper discusses the “Long List” – a list with more than three parts. These lists deliver their speaker’s meaning in a structure resembling stories: a “lister” delivers the “list” in a “listing” process. Listings may be explicit or implicit and may include evaluative elements. Long Lists might appear in chains, and in the Israeli data Long Lists demonstrate normative features similar to three-part lists in mundane interactions. Connecting them with their context, lists are sometimes used to emphasize media biases. The conclusion connects the Long Lists to their speech event and to poetics.
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This research follows the tradition of Ethnography of Communication to discuss hitlahamut, an Israeli term for a distinctive type of public talk. After presenting the denotive meaning, I define the act and style hitlahamut encodes, using... more
This research follows the tradition of Ethnography of Communication to discuss hitlahamut, an Israeli term for a distinctive type of public talk. After presenting the denotive meaning, I define the act and style hitlahamut encodes, using analysis of the type of talk it describes. The data are taken from phone-in interactions and online op-eds and news. Hitlahamut defines a self-centered emotive, exaggerated style of the confrontational and divisive message, and it encodes hostile relations between the participants. I then connect this term with other Israeli terms for talk and with terms for public talk elsewhere, suggesting that hitlahamut describes unreasonable criticism, enabling participants not to engage with the content of the criticism due to its (perceived) style. In addition, hitlahamut describes populist discourse (from both left and right) due to its combination of aggression and emotive style with divisive language and problematic argumentative content.
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This paper elaborates on one element of the theory of Dialogic Syntax, Du Bois’ main tool for stance-taking, namely creative resonance. The examples are taken from a recording of a car ride which was part of data collected for the... more
This paper elaborates on one element of the theory of Dialogic Syntax, Du Bois’ main tool for stance-taking, namely creative resonance. The examples are taken from a recording of a car ride which was part of data collected for the analysis of Hebrew. The focus in the analysis is on misalignment, when participants use stance acts to distance themselves from each other. The main claim of this paper is that whenever a stance act takes place, the relations between the participants are at stake. I show how creative, and to a lesser extent pre-existing, resonance can be used for creating and enhancing distance in misalignment. The discussion connects resonance and Dialogic Syntax with other frameworks for the study of language and interactions.
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This article analyzes the openings in host-caller interactions in three leading U.S. political talk radio (PTR) programs. Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are used to describe how fandom is achieved in these... more
This article analyzes the openings in host-caller interactions in three leading U.S. political talk radio (PTR) programs. Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are used to describe how fandom is achieved in these shows. Callers present themselves as fans in the first possible position in the interaction, using various practices ranging from uttering the word ditto to creating extended discourse structures. The hosts usually perceive these practices as compliments and appreciate them and the callers. PTR is a prime example of a fan-public, since its host harnesses the fans to achieve his political (and commercial) agenda. The hyphen in fan-public deserves attention, because this notion is rooted in infotainment, combining the relationships of the entertainment business, fans, and stars with the realm of politics, which would assume some critical notion and individuality in the decision-making processes. Fandom has received much attention ever since Jenkins (199...
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We explore employment of the Hebrew construction ('ani) lo yode'a / lo yoda'at (lit ‘[I] not m/f-sg.know’), roughly equivalent to English ‘I don’t know’, by callers and hosts in 80 interactions on Israeli political radio... more
We explore employment of the Hebrew construction ('ani) lo yode'a / lo yoda'at (lit ‘[I] not m/f-sg.know’), roughly equivalent to English ‘I don’t know’, by callers and hosts in 80 interactions on Israeli political radio phone-in programs, as compared with its functions in casual conversation. Five uses were attested in the corpus of radio phone-ins and correlated with the syntactic form of complementation (if available) for each token of the construction: (i) expressing literal lack of knowledge; (ii) expressing epistemic stance of uncertainty / hedging; (iii) gaining cognitive processing time in the midst of self-repair; (iv) expressing affective stance of contempt or criticism; and (v) avoidance strategies. While most of these uses are common to both genres, some are unattested in casual conversation. By exploring the functions of the ('ani) lo yode'a / lo yoda'at construction and their distribution according to institutional role, the study (i) sheds furt...
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Much research within the noncritical perspective on the public sphere has been quantitative. To strengthen the argument for an ideologically disinterested approach to the study of publicity and counterpublicity, we use ethnomethodological... more
Much research within the noncritical perspective on the public sphere has been quantitative. To strengthen the argument for an ideologically disinterested approach to the study of publicity and counterpublicity, we use ethnomethodological discourse analysis to analyze how far-right movements claim counterpublicity, or “do being a counterpublic.” Specifically, we study the U.S. pundit Alex Jones and a prayer meeting of South Korean Evangelical Christians. For each, we considered how they created a shared discourse and attempted to change mainstream discourse while claiming being marginalized and different from the mainstream. Across these two case studies, the strategies for “doing being a counterpublic” are similar, even though they use different organizing symbols— conspiracy in the U.S. versus religion in Korea. These case studies show that the functionalist perspective yields benefits to understanding how publicity and counterpublicity are negotiated among various groups of activist citizens.
Late-night talk shows have become a central venue for political communication in the U.S.A. In these interviews, entertainment and politics are both used and therefore we name them Entertainment-Political Interviews (EPIs). While research... more
Late-night talk shows have become a central venue for political communication in the U.S.A. In these interviews, entertainment and politics are both used and therefore we name them Entertainment-Political Interviews (EPIs). While research on such shows generally assumes that the EPI is a hybrid discourse, crafting entertainment and politics into one coherent discourse, this assumption has not been empirically justified. Using membership categorization analysis (MCA) to study how the participants self-categorize in the EPI, we illustrate how they orient to political and entertainment talk. First, by applying Sacks’ (1972) hearer’s maxim to its fullest extent, entertainment and politics are identified as independently foundational devices for the EPI. Second, only one of these devices is relevant at a time to shape a turn at talk. Third, still, each device is continuously relevant to the participants. Thus, the understanding of the activity is based on the separation of the device of politics and of entertainment. Therefore, we argue, the EPI does not result in a hybrid device with a hybrid form of talk, but rather, participants alternate between politics and entertainment.
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This paper discusses lists, a neglected structure, to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about them in oral interactions. Two such assumptions are: unlike narratives, lists are perceived as centered on the delivery of objective... more
This paper discusses lists, a neglected structure, to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about them in oral interactions. Two such assumptions are: unlike narratives, lists are perceived as centered on the delivery of objective information; and three-part lists are normative. Using Israeli and U.S. radio call-in shows data, this paper discusses the “Long List” – a list with more than three parts. These lists deliver their speaker’s meaning in a structure resembling stories: a “lister” delivers the “list” in a “listing” process. Listings may be explicit or implicit and may include evaluative elements. Long Lists might appear in chains, and in the Israeli data Long Lists demonstrate normative features similar to three-part lists in mundane interactions. Connecting them with their context, lists are sometimes used to emphasize media biases. The conclusion connects the Long Lists to their speech event and to poetics.
Research Interests:
"We demonstrated how the Facebook Fan page becomes a public sphere. The creation of this sphere would not be possible without the negotiation of fandom through fan approaches to criticism. The critical fan has various resources for... more
"We demonstrated how the Facebook Fan page becomes a public sphere. The creation of this sphere would not be possible without the negotiation of fandom through fan approaches to criticism. The critical fan has various resources for maintaining fan status while
criticizing either their fan-object via upward criticism or other fans in peer criticism. We also found criticism to be demonstrative of member resources — for instance, the use of web-speak for downplaying a problematic action or the use of humor or of consensus. When directed towards players or coaches, the joking tone served
as a mitigating device, enabling fans to be critical affectionately. The strongest tool we demonstrated for enabling a fan to criticize, especially in upward criticism, is to join in a call for action as part of a reflexive public which has reached a consensus about the
changes needed for the team to be successful. In our data, upward criticism lost its joking tone by the end of the season, and this criticism of the management became prevalent on the page. In becoming
the dominant mode of addressing the management, this
criticism of pleading for change from the ownership became central to the fans." P. 7
criticizing either their fan-object via upward criticism or other fans in peer criticism. We also found criticism to be demonstrative of member resources — for instance, the use of web-speak for downplaying a problematic action or the use of humor or of consensus. When directed towards players or coaches, the joking tone served
as a mitigating device, enabling fans to be critical affectionately. The strongest tool we demonstrated for enabling a fan to criticize, especially in upward criticism, is to join in a call for action as part of a reflexive public which has reached a consensus about the
changes needed for the team to be successful. In our data, upward criticism lost its joking tone by the end of the season, and this criticism of the management became prevalent on the page. In becoming
the dominant mode of addressing the management, this
criticism of pleading for change from the ownership became central to the fans." P. 7
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Social Psychology, Conversation Analysis, Critical Thinking, Jurgen Habermas, and 10 moreEthnomethodology, Online Fandom, Sports Fans, Public sphere (Communication), Football Fan Behaviour, Online Research Methods, Harold Garfinkel, Leon Festinger, Online Comments, and Online Fan Culture
For the abstract see the article itself. There is a mistake in the current pdf file with regard to excerpt 1. This is the correct version of excerpt 1: 1) Snow in Siberia 1. IR: vus gedenkt ir vegn sibir, ir kent inz zugn.... more
For the abstract see the article itself.
There is a mistake in the current pdf file with regard to excerpt 1. This is the correct version of excerpt 1:
1) Snow in Siberia
1. IR: vus gedenkt ir vegn sibir, ir kent inz zugn.
what do you remember about Siberia can you tell us.
2. a tug in sibir, viazoy es ot oysgezen?
a day in Siberia what did it look like?
3. IE: nu ya, dos iz geven fil shney, shtark, kalt,
so yes, there was a lot of snow, strong, cold,
4. ober me iz geven ongeton in peltsalakh, si geven gut.
but we were wearing furs, it was ok.
5. fregt mir
ask me
6. IR: der shnay ober in rusland iz shener geven?
the snow however in Russia was more beautiful?
7. IE: ya, dortn iz geven a greserer shnay.
Yes there [in Russia] there was more snow.
There is a mistake in the current pdf file with regard to excerpt 1. This is the correct version of excerpt 1:
1) Snow in Siberia
1. IR: vus gedenkt ir vegn sibir, ir kent inz zugn.
what do you remember about Siberia can you tell us.
2. a tug in sibir, viazoy es ot oysgezen?
a day in Siberia what did it look like?
3. IE: nu ya, dos iz geven fil shney, shtark, kalt,
so yes, there was a lot of snow, strong, cold,
4. ober me iz geven ongeton in peltsalakh, si geven gut.
but we were wearing furs, it was ok.
5. fregt mir
ask me
6. IR: der shnay ober in rusland iz shener geven?
the snow however in Russia was more beautiful?
7. IE: ya, dortn iz geven a greserer shnay.
Yes there [in Russia] there was more snow.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Languages and Linguistics, Yiddish Language, Discourse, Language and Ideology, and 9 moreLanguage and Identity, Ideology and Discourse Analysis, Judaism, Modern Jewish History, Language and Media Discourses, Interviewing, Yiddish Culture and Language, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and langauge ideology, Arabic
This paper presents hegemonic masculinity as it is achieved during interactions between television host Jim Cramer and his callers in the “Lightening Round” segment on the CNBC television show “Mad Money”. Cramer's persona and... more
This paper presents hegemonic masculinity as it is achieved during interactions between television host Jim Cramer and his callers in the “Lightening Round” segment on the CNBC television show “Mad Money”. Cramer's persona and interactions adhere to a hegemonic masculinity dominant in American culture, and they create a sphere in which it is the only normative identity possible. This hegemonic masculinity is created by the use of specific phrases (e.g. the “booyah” salutation), actions (e.g. compliments to the host), by the insertion of sports as a topic of discussion, and by Cramer's dominant positioning as an expert. After presenting these features we demonstrate how this arena creates problems for the very few female callers participating in it. We therefore conclude that the “Lightening Round” helps to construct and reproduce masculinist authority in this mass-mediated window into the world of finance.
Research Interests:
"Language and its usage, both in grammar and in evoking prior text, are iconic of the stance of participants and the relations between them." This paper elaborates on one element of the theory of Dialogic Syntax, Du Bois's main tool for... more
"Language and its usage, both in grammar and in evoking prior text, are iconic of the stance of participants and the relations between them."
This paper elaborates on one element of the theory of Dialogic Syntax, Du Bois's main tool for stance-taking, namely creative resonance. The examples are taken from a recording of a car ride which was part of data collected for the analysis of Hebrew. The focus in the analysis is on misalignment, when participants use stance acts to distance themselves from each other. The main claim of this paper is that whenever a stance act takes place, the relations between the participants are at stake. I show how creative, and to a lesser extent pre-existing, resonance can be used for creating and enhancing distance in misalignment. The discussion connects resonance and Dialogic Syntax with other frameworks for the study of language and interactions.
This paper elaborates on one element of the theory of Dialogic Syntax, Du Bois's main tool for stance-taking, namely creative resonance. The examples are taken from a recording of a car ride which was part of data collected for the analysis of Hebrew. The focus in the analysis is on misalignment, when participants use stance acts to distance themselves from each other. The main claim of this paper is that whenever a stance act takes place, the relations between the participants are at stake. I show how creative, and to a lesser extent pre-existing, resonance can be used for creating and enhancing distance in misalignment. The discussion connects resonance and Dialogic Syntax with other frameworks for the study of language and interactions.
Research Interests:
This study describes the differing overall structural organization of political radio phone-in interactions in Israel and the USA. The American phone-in is highly organized, tightly controlled by the host, who knows and introduces the... more
This study describes the differing overall structural organization of political radio phone-in interactions in Israel and the USA. The American phone-in is highly organized, tightly controlled by the host, who knows and introduces the caller at the opening, and closes the interaction unilaterally. In the Israeli phone-in, the opening resembles the mundane phone call: the call-taker acts as if he responds to a summons, there are greeting sequences, and the caller has the task of self-identification, since hosts do not know with whom they talk. Closings in Israel are negotiated and include pre-closings and closing sequences. Unlike the US structure, the Israeli structure promotes non-hierarchical institutional relations between participants, akin to mundane relations, often taken as relations between equals. The conclusion connects the overall structural organizations with the communication patterns in each society, suggesting phone-ins are one site that resonates and recreates societal norms.
Research Interests: Hebrew Language, Israel Studies, Conversation Analysis, Radio, Culture, and 14 moreInstitutional talk, Ethnography of Communication, Conversational Discourse, Conversation Analysis, Talk-in-interaction, Talk shows, Israel, United States Literature and Culture, Talk Radio, Discourse Analysis of Political Talk Shows in Electronic Media, Harold Garfinkel, Cultural Code, Talkback Radio, Tamar Katriel, and Tic Tac Toe
Israeli political talk-show debates are notoriously fierce and overtly confrontational. To understand the structures and origins of this discursive style, we apply a historical pragmatics perspective, comparing debates of current... more
Israeli political talk-show debates are notoriously fierce and overtly confrontational. To
understand the structures and origins of this discursive style, we apply a historical pragmatics
perspective, comparing debates of current political events on a popular talk-show to a classic
and historically cherished form of traditional Jewish argumentation—the oral study of the
premodern Talmud—as performed through paired-study debate (xavruta) in contemporary
Talmudic academies. The institutional environments and deeper social significance of the two
speech events we compared are highly divergent: Political talk shows represent the uneasy
coexistence of real-life conflict and antagonistic game, while xavruta interactions make use of
a superficially adversarial format to maximize mutual comprehension between interlocutors
and ultimately enhance sociability. Yet on the level of performance—in rhetorical strategy
and confrontational style—they have marked similarities. Transcribed recordings of debates
in these two arenas of argument were analyzed and compared, and the analysis yields a series
of marked similarities in discursive attributes between the two. These similarities include: i. a
marked preference for disagreement, ii. high dialogicity of the exchanges in the sense of
nuanced listening and responding, iii. acceptability of occasional disruptions in the dialogicity
of the conversation-flow without its breakdown, and iv. high complexity of logic and structure
in argument and argumentation. Given the direction of the historical timeline, these findings
suggest the possibility of a carry-over of discursive styles from the religious/scholarly milieu to
the public sphere of ideological and political debate. The survival of this unique discursive
style from antiquity to the present, both within and across the scholarly, educational, and public spheres, and across media of communication, would demonstrate the resilience of traditional
cultural patterns in the face of radical technological, political, and ideological change.
understand the structures and origins of this discursive style, we apply a historical pragmatics
perspective, comparing debates of current political events on a popular talk-show to a classic
and historically cherished form of traditional Jewish argumentation—the oral study of the
premodern Talmud—as performed through paired-study debate (xavruta) in contemporary
Talmudic academies. The institutional environments and deeper social significance of the two
speech events we compared are highly divergent: Political talk shows represent the uneasy
coexistence of real-life conflict and antagonistic game, while xavruta interactions make use of
a superficially adversarial format to maximize mutual comprehension between interlocutors
and ultimately enhance sociability. Yet on the level of performance—in rhetorical strategy
and confrontational style—they have marked similarities. Transcribed recordings of debates
in these two arenas of argument were analyzed and compared, and the analysis yields a series
of marked similarities in discursive attributes between the two. These similarities include: i. a
marked preference for disagreement, ii. high dialogicity of the exchanges in the sense of
nuanced listening and responding, iii. acceptability of occasional disruptions in the dialogicity
of the conversation-flow without its breakdown, and iv. high complexity of logic and structure
in argument and argumentation. Given the direction of the historical timeline, these findings
suggest the possibility of a carry-over of discursive styles from the religious/scholarly milieu to
the public sphere of ideological and political debate. The survival of this unique discursive
style from antiquity to the present, both within and across the scholarly, educational, and public spheres, and across media of communication, would demonstrate the resilience of traditional
cultural patterns in the face of radical technological, political, and ideological change.
Research Interests:
Readers’ comments on op-eds have mostly been analyzed by researchers as cases of disagreement, and in the Israeli context they are further described as aggressive and abusive. These insights have been gained based on the use of offensive... more
Readers’ comments on op-eds have mostly been analyzed by researchers as cases of disagreement, and in the Israeli context they are further described as aggressive and abusive. These insights have been gained based on the use of offensive vocabulary and un-hedged directness. The present contribution proposes a cross-cultural examination of commenting, comparing responses to opinion editorials in the internet sites of the Washington Post and its ideologically counterpart in Israel, NRG, three op-eds for each language. To do so, we (a) introduce a coding scheme which accounts for commenting, based on a distinction between agreement/disagreement, logos-oriented vs. ethos-oriented (ad-hominem and ad-personam) comments, and literal vs. ironic keying; (b) postulate a scale of threat to negative face; and (c) compare the use of the various commenting strategies in two sets of data, the internet sites of the Washington Post for American English, and the Israeli NRG site for the Hebrew. Findings indicate (1) a higher preference for the more threatening no-logos and ad-personam comments in the NRG data as compared to the WP, (2) similarities between the two sites in the use of irony vs non-irony, with preference for ironic keying in anti-ethos as compared to anti-logos. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of the commenting arena in the public sphere.
Research Interests:
"Israeli journalistic websites have initiated a feature that became fairly universal: a section at the end of each article that allows readers to respond to the article and to each other. This feature is captured by the metacommunicative... more
"Israeli journalistic websites have initiated a feature that became
fairly universal: a section at the end of each article that allows readers to respond to the article and to each other. This feature is captured by the metacommunicative term ‘tokbek’, derived from the English phrase ‘talk-back’. Although originally viewed as having the potential to promote civil participation, the tokbek soon became associated with pejorative cultural meanings that indicated its failure to do so. Drawing on the Ethnography
of Communication, we provide an interpretative framework for an analysis of this failure. The main function of tokbek is the construction of the commenters’ political identities, mainly as leftists and rightists. This oppositional construction takes the antagonistic form of a ‘bashing ritual’ that communicates
radical pessimism about the possibility of political debate. Because sharing a virtual space does not necessarily facilitate deliberation, democratic culture should be explicitly addressed when discussing technological advancements."
fairly universal: a section at the end of each article that allows readers to respond to the article and to each other. This feature is captured by the metacommunicative term ‘tokbek’, derived from the English phrase ‘talk-back’. Although originally viewed as having the potential to promote civil participation, the tokbek soon became associated with pejorative cultural meanings that indicated its failure to do so. Drawing on the Ethnography
of Communication, we provide an interpretative framework for an analysis of this failure. The main function of tokbek is the construction of the commenters’ political identities, mainly as leftists and rightists. This oppositional construction takes the antagonistic form of a ‘bashing ritual’ that communicates
radical pessimism about the possibility of political debate. Because sharing a virtual space does not necessarily facilitate deliberation, democratic culture should be explicitly addressed when discussing technological advancements."
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Ethnography, Israel Studies, Democratic Theory, Israel/Palestine, and 13 moreCivil Society and the Public Sphere, Deliberative Democracy, Media and Democracy, Online Journalism, Public sphere (Communication), Israel, Online Research Methods, Public Sphere, Civil Society, Deliberation and Journalism Studies, Political Discourse, Online ethnography, Speech codes theory, Ethnography of Communication, online education, Talkback Radio, and Online Political Participation
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Israel Studies, Authenticity, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Media and Democracy, and 13 morePublic Sphere, Media Discourse, Political Discourse Analysis, Public sphere (Communication), Public Sphere, Civil Society, Deliberation and Journalism Studies, Political Discourse, Internet and political participation, Online Discourse, E-Democracy, Internet Politics, E-Participation, Democracy & citizen participation in the public sphere, Social Media, Internet, Democracy and Politics, Online Political Participation, and Online Authentication
This chapter discusses terms for political talk to suggest a distinction between deliberative discussions and non-deliberative political talk. After shortly discussing theories of public discussions, we move to a vibrant communicative... more
This chapter discusses terms for political talk to suggest a distinction between deliberative discussions and non-deliberative political talk. After shortly discussing theories of public discussions, we move to a vibrant communicative arena in Israel – the online commenting arena. This arena achieves a unique cultural status as it received its own term for talk “Tokbek”. First, a description of this scene and the term for talk is presented, based on prior work, to suggest this term for public talk denominate political talk which is non-deliberative and not geared toward social action. Then the chapter connects this term to the Israeli speech economy, especially to the following terms, the sticker, the anti-freier, griping, and kasah. This speech economy shares elements all help in constructing non-deliberative political talk. Since the Israeli speech economy created these terms to construct such political discussions, I suggest that terms for similar type of talk exist, with variations, elsewhere. It is suggested the terms in the Israeli speech economy is similar to the Hungarian hate speech phenomenon and to the Bulgarian oplakvane. These terms all offer emic culturally based terms for non-deliberative political discussions, eliminating what theorists demanded from democratic discussions – deliberations leading to social action.
Research Interests:
Radio call-in shows, mainly political ones, are prevalent in discursive research, dating back to Hutchby’s influential work. This chapter discusses the leading U.S.A. economic self-help radio call-in show, “The Dave Ramsey show” and how... more
Radio call-in shows, mainly political ones, are prevalent in discursive research, dating back to Hutchby’s influential work. This chapter discusses the leading U.S.A. economic self-help radio call-in show, “The Dave Ramsey show” and how ordinariness is used in it. The host, Dave Ramsey, advises callers, and the audience, regarding their economic behavior. This counseling creates a paradox: an expert-millionaire advises ordinary people and fans regarding their economic struggles. The host presents himself as ordinary to solve this paradox. Ramsey constructs his ordinariness using vernacular language, referring to a shared ‘common-sense,’ using mundane stories and relating to the callers as a family. Then, the chapter discusses two interactions with “non-ordinary” callers, a poor and a rich caller, to show the uses of the ordinariness practices in them. The conclusion connects the ordinariness of the host to his neoconservative ideology, to point to the notion of ordinary success he tries to deliver
Research Interests:
This article discusses interactions on Israeli political radio phone-in programs between Jewish-Israeli hosts, Arab Israeli citizens, and Arab non-citizen Palestinians. The position of most Arab non-Jew callers is complicated by their... more
This article discusses interactions on Israeli political radio phone-in programs between Jewish-Israeli hosts, Arab Israeli citizens, and Arab non-citizen Palestinians. The position of most Arab non-Jew callers is complicated by their status as a non-uniform minority in Israel, and they deemed as "other" by many Jewish-Israelis. These programs serve as a vehicle for Bedouin and Druze callers to complain about their discrimination, and they often receive agreement and support from the interlocutor Jewish-Israeli show hosts. In interactions between Israeli hosts and Palestinians from the territories callers, however, the host and the Palestinian caller each present their respective nationalist views in a manner resembling an intractable conflict. Such mainstream Jewish-Israeli interactions with the "other" reflect the boundaries of the Israeli imagined community. While providing information to the mainstream about "internal minority" others, the interactions usually fail to build bridges with the "adjoining externalized others," who lie outside it.
Research Interests:
The aim of this paper is to theoretically associate the question of “membering” in call-in radio shows with the diverse responses of callers to these shows to hosts’ ironic utterances. Assuming that reactions to irony depend in part on... more
The aim of this paper is to theoretically associate the question of “membering” in call-in
radio shows with the diverse responses of callers to these shows to hosts’ ironic utterances.
Assuming that reactions to irony depend in part on the speaker’s communicative
competence, we suggest that they might be indicative of the speaker’s communicative
competence in a specific speech community, such as that of radio call-in program. The
indirectness of irony requires that speech be understood and interpreted in a way that is
shared by the community. These elements are central to the definition of a speech community:
“sharing rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech” (Hymes, 1974:54), and
thus require an in-depth familiarity with this community’s goals and agreements, modes
of participation, and practices of speech.
radio shows with the diverse responses of callers to these shows to hosts’ ironic utterances.
Assuming that reactions to irony depend in part on the speaker’s communicative
competence, we suggest that they might be indicative of the speaker’s communicative
competence in a specific speech community, such as that of radio call-in program. The
indirectness of irony requires that speech be understood and interpreted in a way that is
shared by the community. These elements are central to the definition of a speech community:
“sharing rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech” (Hymes, 1974:54), and
thus require an in-depth familiarity with this community’s goals and agreements, modes
of participation, and practices of speech.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Phone-in radio programs are part of the public sphere and thus require open access, rationality, and practicality. Simultaneously, they are a media product, which requires entertaining content.We demonstrate these demands through the... more
Phone-in radio programs are part of the public sphere and thus require open access, rationality,
and practicality. Simultaneously, they are a media product, which requires entertaining
content.We demonstrate these demands through the analysis of interactional irony
in Israeli political radio phone-ins. From an emic perspective, callers see irony as detrimental
to the discussions, yet hosts and regular callers use it to make entertaining interactions.
Irony is a critical tool that points to violations of norms: the normof a clear 2-sided interaction;
norms akin to theHabermasian public sphere; and at the content level, irony is used to
reject racist positions. Being indirect, irony can be used to create an entertaining yet critical
discussion in the public sphere.
and practicality. Simultaneously, they are a media product, which requires entertaining
content.We demonstrate these demands through the analysis of interactional irony
in Israeli political radio phone-ins. From an emic perspective, callers see irony as detrimental
to the discussions, yet hosts and regular callers use it to make entertaining interactions.
Irony is a critical tool that points to violations of norms: the normof a clear 2-sided interaction;
norms akin to theHabermasian public sphere; and at the content level, irony is used to
reject racist positions. Being indirect, irony can be used to create an entertaining yet critical
discussion in the public sphere.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Media Studies, Radio, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Deliberative Democracy, and 10 moreMedia and Democracy, Public Sphere, Antisemitism/Racisms, Political Discourse Analysis, Language and Media Discourses, Verbal Irony, Broadcast Talk, Irony, Public Sphere and Public Space, and Discourse Analysis of Political Talk Shows in Electronic Media
This paper typifes the different interactions on Israeli public stations political radio phone-in programmes. Based on general features of the interaction and of the host perceptions, six different types of interaction were found. The... more
This paper typifes the different interactions on Israeli public stations political radio phone-in programmes. Based on general features of the interaction and of the host perceptions, six different types of interaction were found. The different types can be distinguished by two aspects, whether the interaction is based on agreement or disagreement and whether the participants engage each other in the interaction. The most prominent type o inter-action is a two-sided disagreement interaction, in which hosts and callers argue about issues and problems. A similar type is that o the neutral interaction, in which hosts try to avoid expressing their opinions. Other types of interactions also occur in the programmes, yet hosts oten remark on their occurrence. These remarks serve to explain the interaction to the audience, to justify the hosts’ behavior, and to reprimand or compliment the caller. These remarks also suggest that hosts see these types as non-normative interactions, when compared to the two-sided disagreement and neutral interactions. The normative categories go hand in hand with the demands o a public sphere,showing that political radio phone-in programmes in Israel contribute to the public sphere and to its democratic lie.
Research Interests:
This article describes and discusses the production process of the leading Israeli radio phone-in programme. Phone-ins are considered an arena for public participation as part of the public sphere. The researcher used ethnography and... more
This article describes and discusses the production process of the leading Israeli radio phone-in programme. Phone-ins are considered an arena for public participation as part of the public sphere. The researcher used ethnography and interviews
to study the production process. The production team screens the participants – thus gatekeeping processes are in effect. The different agents in the production process use two main considerations to inform gatekeeping: medium-related considerations and public sphere considerations. These considerations are evident throughout the production process and in the broadcast itself. The gatekeeping process leads to limited access to public participation. The two considerations which inform the gatekeeping practices on radio are also useful when examining public participation in other media.
to study the production process. The production team screens the participants – thus gatekeeping processes are in effect. The different agents in the production process use two main considerations to inform gatekeeping: medium-related considerations and public sphere considerations. These considerations are evident throughout the production process and in the broadcast itself. The gatekeeping process leads to limited access to public participation. The two considerations which inform the gatekeeping practices on radio are also useful when examining public participation in other media.
Research Interests:
Caller types in political talk radio programs in Israel and the United States. The different caller types are: anonymous, regular, returning, first-time and the unmarked standard caller. The regular callers in Israel use recognitionals to... more
Caller types in political talk radio programs in Israel and the United States. The different caller types are: anonymous, regular, returning, first-time and the unmarked standard caller. The regular callers in Israel use recognitionals to be identified by the host. The returning callers in both countries state their return at the beginning of their talk. The first-time caller also starts his interaction by stating this identity, and some of them say they are regular listeners, to mitigate their novice identity.These types are relevant throughout the interactions: the interactions with regulars and returning callers are harsher or freer than other interactions, whereas interactions with first time callers are gentler. These types resemble similar types from non media environments, such as the barroom. The various caller membership types contribute to the construction of a community around the programs.
Research Interests:
This article analyzes the openings in host-caller interactions in three leading U.S. political talk radio (PTR) programs. Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are used to describe how fandom is achieved in these... more
This article analyzes the openings in host-caller interactions in three leading U.S. political talk radio (PTR) programs. Conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis are used to describe how fandom is achieved in these shows. Callers present themselves as fans in the first possible position in the interaction, using various practices ranging from uttering the word ditto to creating extended discourse structures. The hosts usually perceive these practices as compliments and appreciate them and the callers. PTR is a prime example of a fan-public, since its host harnesses the fans to achieve his political (and commercial) agenda. The hyphen in fan-public deserves attention, because this notion is rooted in infotainment, combining the relationships of the entertainment business, fans, and stars with the realm of politics, which would assume some critical notion and individuality in the decision-making processes.
Research Interests: Conversation Analysis, Political communication, Public Sphere, Fandom, Radio Journalism, and 13 moreRadio Research, Conversation Analysis, Talk-in-interaction, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Celebrity journalism, infotainment, citizen journalism, Politicians, Talk Radio, Discourse Analysis of Political Talk Shows in Electronic Media, Broadcasting Filming/Radio and TV Production, Rush Limbaugh, Talkback Radio, Political Talk, Fandom Studies, and Media Fandom
Although generally considered to be highly influential, the discourse structure and practices of political talk radio have not yet been the subject of significant research. This paper examines one discursive practice, the use of irony,... more
Although generally considered to be highly influential, the discourse structure and practices of political talk radio have not yet been the subject of significant research. This paper examines one discursive practice, the use of irony, and how it functions in dialogues excerpted from an Israeli radio talk-back programme. By employing a fine-grained, turn-by-turn analysis of 17 interactions, we discuss ironic utterances by the host that target either the caller or a third party. In both cases, the host uses irony to control the programme, maintain his superiority, demonstrate his agenda and display his public persona. His utterances echo the callers’ explicit utterances as well as their assumed position; he also echoes their style, assigns them stereotypical views and pretends to agree with them. Since politeness is secondary at best in the context of political talk radio, irony here realizes its critical, confrontational and aggressive potential, and is hence used to “salt the wound” rather than “sugar the pill”. Thus, we demonstrate how the use of irony, as one discourse practice, perfectly fits the specific context of political talk-back radio in Israel.
Research Interests:
This chapter explores the Hebrew anaxnu (‘we’) in Israeli political radio phone-in programs. Using the ‘we,’ participants create or refer to seven social groups: the conversation ‘we’; the program ‘we’; the delimited social ‘we’; the... more
This chapter explores the Hebrew anaxnu (‘we’) in Israeli political radio phone-in programs. Using the ‘we,’ participants create or refer to seven social groups: the conversation ‘we’; the program ‘we’; the delimited social ‘we’; the opposing general ‘we’, the open general ‘we’; the humanity ‘we’; and the vocal ‘we’. The functions of ‘we’ differ by participant: hosts use the conversation ‘we’
to manage interactions whereas callers use the general ‘we’ to create a public sphere. Using an extended excerpt, we illustrate a variant of the “fluidity of ‘we’” and its significance to the participants’ identity-displays. The first person plural
therefore creates social groups in media interactions, both on the micro and macro societal levels.
to manage interactions whereas callers use the general ‘we’ to create a public sphere. Using an extended excerpt, we illustrate a variant of the “fluidity of ‘we’” and its significance to the participants’ identity-displays. The first person plural
therefore creates social groups in media interactions, both on the micro and macro societal levels.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
"This article explores the properties of formulations in a corpus of Hebrew radio phone-ins by juxtaposing two theoretical frameworks: conversation analysis (CA) and dialogic syntax. This combination of frameworks is applied towards... more
"This article explores the properties of formulations in a corpus of Hebrew radio phone-ins by juxtaposing two theoretical frameworks: conversation analysis (CA) and dialogic syntax.
This combination of frameworks is applied towards explaining an anomalous interaction in the collection – a caller’s marked, unexpected rejection of a formulation of gist produced by the radio
phone-in’s host. Our analysis shows that whereas previous CA studies of formulations account for many instances throughout the corpus, understanding this particular formulation in CA terms does
not explain its drastic rejection by the caller. We therefore turn to an in-depth examination of strategies for lexical and syntactic resonance as a stance-taking device throughout the interaction.
In so doing, we not only shed light on the anomalous interaction, but also offer an answer to a provocative question previously put forward by Haddington (2004) concerning which of the two
– stances or actions – have more meaningful consequences for the description of the organization of interaction. In the particular interaction analyzed here, stances play the more significant role.
We propose that the intersubjective stance-taking of participants may be viewed as a meta-action employed among participants as they move across actions, sequences, and activities in talk."
This combination of frameworks is applied towards explaining an anomalous interaction in the collection – a caller’s marked, unexpected rejection of a formulation of gist produced by the radio
phone-in’s host. Our analysis shows that whereas previous CA studies of formulations account for many instances throughout the corpus, understanding this particular formulation in CA terms does
not explain its drastic rejection by the caller. We therefore turn to an in-depth examination of strategies for lexical and syntactic resonance as a stance-taking device throughout the interaction.
In so doing, we not only shed light on the anomalous interaction, but also offer an answer to a provocative question previously put forward by Haddington (2004) concerning which of the two
– stances or actions – have more meaningful consequences for the description of the organization of interaction. In the particular interaction analyzed here, stances play the more significant role.
We propose that the intersubjective stance-taking of participants may be viewed as a meta-action employed among participants as they move across actions, sequences, and activities in talk."
Research Interests:
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Course Description and objectives We read articles about Theories and concepts of Communication, and we discuss them. This is an introduction; therefore, it is not inclusive or exhaustive of the depth or breadth of the discipline or its... more
Course Description and objectives We read articles about Theories and concepts of Communication, and we discuss them. This is an introduction; therefore, it is not inclusive or exhaustive of the depth or breadth of the discipline or its interdisciplinarity. We aim to broaden our understanding of the theoretical foundations of research alongside some of the conceptualizations of Communication. As part of introducing the faculty, you will meet faculty in the assignments and when introduced to the so-called departmental areas. For official UMass policies (regarding honesty, conduct, etc.), search and read them online and in the guidebooks. Weekly structure: You must read the assigned reading ahead of the meeting.
Research Interests:
Evolution of the media causes changes in the USA Presidential role. Research studied how the President answers questions in news conferences of traditional political interview, and in the hybrid political interview. We answer the... more
Evolution of the media causes changes in the USA Presidential role. Research studied how the President answers questions in news conferences of traditional political interview, and in the hybrid political interview. We answer the following question: what are the features of President Barak Obama appearances on broadcast late-night television shows? We argue that the President and hosts collaborate on promoting entertainment over politics in these interactions. In his answers, the President appears as a celebrity: personable, authentic, and takes control of the interaction. Hosts prefer entertainment over politics by using hedges, accounts, preparatory elements to show reluctance in political questions, finishing these introductions with non-adversarial questions. Since the American public shies away from politics, politicians, including the President, need to meet it where they can. In entertainment arenas such as television late-night shows, the President is more of an entertainer, yet still delivers important information regarding his personality.
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Research Interests:
מחקר זה מתמקד בטוקבקים התגובות שישראלים כותבים באתרי אינטרנט, ובמונח המתאר זירה תקשורתית זו. לאור ניתוח פרשני של תגובות כאלה בעשר השנים האחרונות המאמר מתחיל בתיאור הפוטנציאל הקרנבלי הקיים בטוקבקים. אלה יכולים לממש את הקרנבל הבכטיניאני,... more
מחקר זה מתמקד בטוקבקים התגובות שישראלים כותבים באתרי אינטרנט, ובמונח המתאר זירה תקשורתית זו. לאור ניתוח פרשני של תגובות כאלה בעשר השנים האחרונות המאמר מתחיל בתיאור הפוטנציאל הקרנבלי הקיים בטוקבקים. אלה יכולים לממש את הקרנבל הבכטיניאני, כשהם מדגישים את הנמוך, הגופני ובייחוד את הפתיחות, השוויוניות וחוסר הכבוד לעמדות כוח. ממדים קרנבליים אלה היו יכולים להפוך את זירת הטוקבק לזירה דמוקרטית מלאה, שלא כמרחב הציבורי הבורגני, אולם מהטוקבקים נעדרים שני אלמנטים חשובים: צחוק משחרר ופעולה חברתית חוץ-לשונית.
חלקו השני של המאמר מתאר את מילת המפתח "טוקבק" בתוך מארג מילות המפתח הישראליות. הטוקבק כמילת מפתח מתאר זירה תקשורתית שבה המשתתפים מציגים זהות פוליטית על ידי הכפשת הצד הפוליטי ההפוך להם, בדרך כלל ללא הבעת דעה או ביסוסה. הטוקבק הוא טקס כסאחיסטי של אנטי-פראיירים שכל עניינם לקטֵר. כך הטוקבק ומארג מילות המפתח הישראלי מאפשרים קיומה של תרבות דמוקרטית מוגבלת, המקיימת שיח פוליטי ער הנעדר פתיחות לשינוי דעה והנעה לפעולה חברתית – אלמנטים חשובים בדמוקרטיה.
חלקו השני של המאמר מתאר את מילת המפתח "טוקבק" בתוך מארג מילות המפתח הישראליות. הטוקבק כמילת מפתח מתאר זירה תקשורתית שבה המשתתפים מציגים זהות פוליטית על ידי הכפשת הצד הפוליטי ההפוך להם, בדרך כלל ללא הבעת דעה או ביסוסה. הטוקבק הוא טקס כסאחיסטי של אנטי-פראיירים שכל עניינם לקטֵר. כך הטוקבק ומארג מילות המפתח הישראלי מאפשרים קיומה של תרבות דמוקרטית מוגבלת, המקיימת שיח פוליטי ער הנעדר פתיחות לשינוי דעה והנעה לפעולה חברתית – אלמנטים חשובים בדמוקרטיה.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
הרדיו ותכניות לשיחות אקטואליה עם מאזינים בו הם מרחב ציבורי. מאמר זה מנתח שיחות מתכניות אלה בהשתתפות ה'אחרים' בחברה הישראלית: פלסטינים שאינם אזרחי המדינה ואזרחים שאינם יהודים. השיח עם המטלפנים האזרחים שאינם יהודים הוא שיח משלב. המטלפנים... more
הרדיו ותכניות לשיחות אקטואליה עם מאזינים בו הם מרחב ציבורי. מאמר זה מנתח שיחות מתכניות אלה בהשתתפות ה'אחרים' בחברה הישראלית: פלסטינים שאינם אזרחי המדינה ואזרחים שאינם יהודים. השיח עם המטלפנים האזרחים שאינם יהודים הוא שיח משלב.
המטלפנים מגדירים ומציגים את עצמם כישראלים, ולכן הם מוחים על אפלייתם. הם משתמשים בתכניות כדי להשתלב במרחב הציבורי, ולכן מקצתם מטלפנים קבועים. המנחים בהסכימם עם המטלפנים יוצרים שיח הקורא לשוויון בין כל האזרחים ומשלב אזרחים אלה בחברה הישראלית.
השיח עם הפלסטינים הוא שיח עוין. השיחה עם המטלפן הפלסטיני פותחת בהסכמה אך נהפכת לעימות. המנחה הישראלי והמטלפן הפלסטיני מציגים בשיחה כל אחד את הצד הלאומי שלו, ולכן המנחה מגדיר אותה 'דו-שיח של חירשים'. השיח המשלב עם האזרחים הישראלים והשיח העוין עם הפלסטינים מדגימים את מעלותיו ומגרעותיו במרחב הציבורי. השיח המשלב מתבסס על תפיסת האזרחות במרחב הציבורי המאפשר השתלבות של כלל האזרחים בחברה. השיח העוין מבהיר שהשתתפות הפלסטינים בתכניות ובמרחב הציבורי הישראלי אינה יכולה לפתור את הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני.
המטלפנים מגדירים ומציגים את עצמם כישראלים, ולכן הם מוחים על אפלייתם. הם משתמשים בתכניות כדי להשתלב במרחב הציבורי, ולכן מקצתם מטלפנים קבועים. המנחים בהסכימם עם המטלפנים יוצרים שיח הקורא לשוויון בין כל האזרחים ומשלב אזרחים אלה בחברה הישראלית.
השיח עם הפלסטינים הוא שיח עוין. השיחה עם המטלפן הפלסטיני פותחת בהסכמה אך נהפכת לעימות. המנחה הישראלי והמטלפן הפלסטיני מציגים בשיחה כל אחד את הצד הלאומי שלו, ולכן המנחה מגדיר אותה 'דו-שיח של חירשים'. השיח המשלב עם האזרחים הישראלים והשיח העוין עם הפלסטינים מדגימים את מעלותיו ומגרעותיו במרחב הציבורי. השיח המשלב מתבסס על תפיסת האזרחות במרחב הציבורי המאפשר השתלבות של כלל האזרחים בחברה. השיח העוין מבהיר שהשתתפות הפלסטינים בתכניות ובמרחב הציבורי הישראלי אינה יכולה לפתור את הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Beginning in the Spring 2020 semester, faculty across the University experienced a significant disruption due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result of the health crisis, all faculty moved their courses online, research facilities... more
Beginning in the Spring 2020 semester, faculty across the University experienced a significant disruption due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result of the health crisis, all faculty moved their courses online, research facilities including labs and libraries were closed and all student evaluation of teaching was suspended. In conjunction with the disruptions experienced on-campus, many faculty were working out of their homes while simultaneously providing childcare due to closures of daycare facilities and K-12 schooling. Research disruptions, shifts in teaching modalities, limited childcare, and remote work persisted into Summer 2020. As such, we invite you to include a Pandemic Impact Statement with your AFR describing the adjustments you have made, how your work in particular has been impacted by the health crisis, and your contributions to the University's transition to remote work."
Research Interests:
This series brings scholars of political comedy together in order to examine the effect of humor and comedy in a political way. The series has three main components. Political Comedy Encounters Neoliberalism aims to look at how comedy... more
This series brings scholars of political comedy together in order to examine the effect of humor and comedy in a political way. The series has three main components. Political Comedy Encounters Neoliberalism aims to look at how comedy disrupts or reinforces dominant ideologies under neoliberalism, including but not limited to: forms of authority, epistemological certainties bred by market centrality, prospects for democratic thought and action, and the implications for civic participation. Political Comedy as Cultural Text examines the relationship between the more bizarre elements of contemporary politics and comedy, including but not limited to countersubversive narratives that challenge or reinforce anti-democratic political authority and market thought, radical social movements that seek to undermine it, and political comedy's relationship to the cultural unconscious. Lastly, the series welcomes proposals for scholarship that tracks the context in which comedy and politics interact. Political Comedy in Context follows the intersection of politics and comedy in viral, mediated, and affective environments.