Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: Making Bad News Bivalent

ABSTRACT

Research on news deliveries has focused on monovalently good or bad news and their associated interactional trajectories. We examine American English video recordings of geneticists delivering genetic test results to families with children who have disabilities. We find that speakers offering bright sides against a backdrop of bad news work to achieve bivalent equilibrium—a state where speakers can reach agreement that the news is appropriately understood as a mix of bad with good elements. We propose that bivalent equilibrium facilitates affiliation through a two-step process that is distinct from affiliation to a monovalently positive or negative evaluative stance. Data are in American English.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [SES-1256874].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [SES-1256874].