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This paper studies the linguistic and textual procedures through which adolescent subjects reformulate metaphorical expressions in a conversational context. My purpose is to examine the nature of the resources used in said reformulation, and to specifically analyze the procedures of metadiscursive qualification (Gülich and Kotschi 1995; Ciapuscio 2007a, 2007b) through which speakers comment and/or evaluate metaphorical expressions: the study reviews their presence, distribution and variation in exchanges among adolescent subjects who have been asked to reformulate metaphorical expressions in the context of a face-to-face conversation. My aim is to elucidate the extent to which the type and frequency of metadiscursive qualification accompanying and signaling reformulation processes are correlated with the degree of conventionality of the reformulated metaphorical expressions and, additionally, to contribute to the research on metaphor in a text corpus, especially, to the question regarding the conventional vs. innovative character of metaphors (Hanks 2004, 2006). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of conceptual metaphor theory and from the perspective of conversation analysis, this paper focuses on conceptual metaphors, metaphorical expressions, and the formulation efforts carried out by doctors and patients to communicate different aspects of cardiac crises. The main questions articulated in this study are: How do interactants describe and reconstruct cardiac crises and associated events? What role and relevance do metaphorical procedures have in those conversational tasks? According to the discursive roles, is it possible to identify specificities in the selection of metaphor type, in the chosen procedures and formulation resources, and in the functions metaphors acquire in the exchanges?. The analysis is based on a corpus of conversations among cardiologists and patients that took place in different healthcare services institutions in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of conversational data has been considered of great interest in renewing the criteria of aphasia assessment and aphasia rehabilitation. By assuming this point of departure, the specific objective of the present paper will be to examine conversational interaction as illustrative of preserved metacognitive abilities associated with verbal behavior in people with aphasia. These abilities are supposedly sustained by a domain of intersection between the cognitive basis of verbal behavior and the executive function, i.e. a domain of interrelationship between language and high psychological processes (cf. Hernández Sacristán, Rosell Clari, Serra Alegre and Quiles-Climent, 2012). Differences and commonalities will be shown after examining three aphasic subjects (two fluent and one non-fluent case) in a -basically- free conversational interaction with family members and/or interviewers. The metacognitive dimension of verbal behavior includes abilities such as strategic inhibition of the linguistic use, control of concurrent semiotic procedures (e.g. phonic and kinesic gesturing), co-constructional activity, referred speech, etc. Conversational data provide the natural context for the expression of metacognitive activity associated with language. The abilities under examination have been also considered useful for developing therapeutic programs (cf. Hernández Sacristán and Rosell Clari, 2013). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is it that characterizes adolescents' small talk? Adolescent language is often accused of being sloppy, that is, not only badly articulated or vague, often with cut-off sentences, but also full of slang, taboo and swear words, and not least sprinkled with unnecessary pragmatic markers. As highlighted in the recently collected corpus, Madrid adolescents' small talk has similar characteristics, represented, for instance, by the frequent vagueness marker "y eso," the pragmatic marker "en plan," and the slang intensifier "mazo." It is also characterized by an abundant use of contact-creating expressions, both in the form of contact-checking tags such as "eh" and "no" and, in particular, vocatives such as "tía" and "tronco." But all these devices are used for a purpose. In addition to facilitating and keeping the conversation going, they are used to involve the listeners and create rapport between speaker and listener. In other words, besides the strategic discourse function, they have a strong social and bonding effect. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the use of these strategies leads to a successful outcome of small talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]