Refines the concepts of powerful and powerless speech styles by investigating evaluative reactions to hedges and hesitations in a simulated courtroom context. Indicates that a low level of hedges and hesitations produced the most positive evaluations of authoritativeness and attractiveness. Reveals that these variables affected perceptions of…

Examines "delayed completion," a procedure speakers use to finish an incomplete turn after an intervening utterance by another speaker. Describes delayed completion as a device for resolving overlap. Examines relationship to interruption and to sequences of actions in conversation. (MS)

Argues for a revised perspective on presidential crisis rhetoric informed by an understanding of differing exigencies and functions. Uses speeches by Ronald Reagan to examine two types of crisis rhetoric. Concludes that crisis rhetoric can not be viewed as a homogeneous type of discourse. (MM)

Investigates the influence of communicative competence on the quality of roommate relationships. Indicates that communicative adaptability is a causal factor in roommate satisfaction. (SR)

Traces the rhetorical relationship between the ritual path taken by each rhetor and the types of messages they leave behind at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington D.C., especially in the rhetoric "as addressed" to an audience. Reveals the interplay of ritual choice and message. (MS)

Reports on two studies which explore the communication strategies that people employ to terminate relationships. Concludes that two variables--relationship closeness and perceived cause of the relationship demise--affect the disengager's use of termination strategies. For both variables, the critical difference appears to be in the use of…

Reviews four traditional communication postulates--namely, that communication is interactive, involves encoding, involves the exchange of symbols, and has a fidelity dimension. Finds each to be a contradiction of the popular axiom which states that one cannot not communicate. (MG)

Presents a sequential model describing routine telephone openings. Tests a model against tape recorded and transcribed data in naturally occurring telephone openings. Finds a distinct minority of telephone openings proceed precisely as the model might predict, but that routines do provide templates against which emergent usages are marked. (MS)

Investigates several linguistic components (verbal immediacy, uncertainty, pronoun use, and article use) as indicators of interaction involvement. Finds that highly involved communicators use more immediate language, speak with greater certainty, and use more relational pronoun references than their less involved counterparts. (MM)

Describes a meta-analysis comparing the persuasiveness of one-sided and two-sided messages. Demonstrates that a two-sided message with refutation is more persuasive than a one-sided message, whereas a one-sided message is more persuasive than a two-sided message without refutation. (SR)

Surveys relevant literature, including Kohut, Rochlin, Kernberg, and others. Offers a theoretical formulation on the rhetorical implications of unhealthy narcissism, particularly misjudgments of audience and occasion and misshaped messages. (MS)

Presents friendly advice to potential authors and researchers on basic conceptual and operational mistakes commonly made in the most recent 100 manuscripts reviewed by the author. (MS)

Contends that the contradictory research on conversational interruptions may be traced not only to definitional inconsistencies, but to the empirically tenuous concept of "interruption." Asserts that "onset" and "resolution" are more rigorous and describable procedures. (MS)

Analyzes a segment of conversation in which one participant repairs the broken-off utterance of another. Finds that utterance design and sequential placement play key roles in this accomplishment. Argues that context is an ongoing achievement of such practices of utterance design and sequential placement. (MS)

Uses "turning point" analysis to examine participants' accounts of change in the individual-organizational relationship. Compares results from this analysis with conceptualizations of socialization and identification. (MM)