Current LISO Events

 

February 6, 2026
John Heritage (Department of Sociology, UCLA) and Jeffrey Robinson (Department of Communication, Portland State University) 

“On the Perimeter of Preference: Low-Stakes Polar Questions”

 

Abstract:
It is widely believed that positively framed polar questions generally invite affirmative responses, and that this contributes to the activation of preference organization. This paper investigates the limits of such activation with the aim of determining the perimeter of preference. Across American- and British-English corpora of ordinary conversation, we collected all positively framed polar questions that were answered with ‘No’ (i.e., unmitigated disaffirmation) within 300 ms, a timeframe characteristic of preferred answer types. Using Conversation Analysis to inductively examine our core collection of 121 sequences, we identified three properties that characterize what we term ‘low-stakes’ questions: (1) these questions universally implement the action of information seeking (vs. recruitment, etc.); (2) questions are overwhelmingly interrogatives (vs. declaratives, etc.); and (3) questions’ proposed states of affairs are largely about facts in the world (vs. recipient or third-party conduct/actions). Most questions combined these properties, such that a significant number were information-seeking, interrogatively formed questions about facts-in-the-world. We argue that these ‘low stakes’ questions embody low levels of relational risk, which infuses many manifestations of preference organization. We conclude that, in the case of positively framed polar questions, and in a context of low relational risk, question design, per se, does not contribute to preference-organizational features of responses.

February 13, 2026
Hanna Asmaeil (Department of Education, UCSB)

“‘Teacher, are those words how you spell in Arabic?’: Socializing Linguistic and Cultural Awareness through Metalinguistic Conversations in Preschool”

 

Abstract:
This study examines language socialization processes within a preschool hosting a program whereby bilingual graduate and undergraduate university students implement bilingual teaching activities with dual language learners at the preschool. Drawing on language socialization theory and multimodal conversation analysis (Goodwin 2018), the study follows graduate teaching assistants’ (TAs’) activities teaching Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish to 3-5-year-old children in one classroom, a few of whom are heritage speakers of these languages.  The bilingual teaching activities include, read-alouds, teaching cultural protocols of greeting and. requesting, songs, cooking activities, and drawing lessons. A key component of the TAs’ pedagogical practice is metalinguistic conversations, a type of practice described in the translanguaging literature. These are conversations that treat language as object, including discussing how languages are similar and different, and how they are used. The analysis focuses particularly on children’s participation in these activities, including their curiosity and affect as shown through expressions like “Are those words how you spell in Arabic?”; “In Arabic, you write like this (gesturing right to left w/surprise face)?”. The analysis also focuses on how the children’s orientation to Arabic and the other languages is built accumulatively in rounds of noticings, where they tie to the format of one another’s noticings of similarities and differences between oral and written forms of Arabic and English (Kuntay & Senay 2003; M. H. Goodwin 1990). The study illuminates how children are guided to show interest and acceptance of diverse cultures and languages, through participating with the teaching assistants in metalinguistic conversations. The study contributes understanding of how an appreciation of multilingualism and of different languages and cultures can be fostered from an early age.

February 20, 2026
Alvin Chu (Department of Sociology, UCLA)

 

“Going Beyond the Question in 911 Telecommunications: Volunteered Information in the Call-taking Process”

Abstract:
911 calls have long been a focus of conversation analytic research, and the 911 call itself plays a significant role as one of the backbones of modern policing. Today, a majority of police interactions stem from a complaint or report made to a 911 communications center, and much of the call-taking process relies on the legitimacy of the request as a police issue. This project focuses on the work done by the caller and, in particular, the cases in which they volunteer information that goes beyond the question that was asked of them by the 911 call-taker. These instances of going beyond the question are broad in nature but can be characterized as orienting to two means: being a helpful caller or being a deserving caller. Additionally, cases featuring aspects of risk and danger show the blending of helpfulness and deservingness in the greater context of the 911 call.