Parallelisms and affectivity in the negotiation of optimal social proximity

This paper explores the ways in which speakers exchange information about themselves, and the world around them, in order to create an optimal social space in which interaction and engagement may be successfully accomplished. Success, in turn, the paper argues, depends on speakers making communicative gestures that involve the expression of certain aspects of their inner world: their preferences, attitudes, interests, beliefs, characterizations, points of view, values, assessments, likes, dislikes, and related notions that are rooted in how they feel about the world. Drawing from multi-party conversational data, the paper argues that resonance is one of the most productive outlets for the construction of ordinary evaluative/emotive stances. In fact, it is through the social practice of resonance itself that the amorphous and subtle nature of affect and emotions takes shape. The utterances that are selected for resonance, the subsequent resonant patterns, and the frequency in which the pattern is reproduced in order to secure the intended meaning are also briefly addressed in the paper.