Figurative Positioning in Hotline Stories

Personal stories and tropes are ubiquitous in problem talk (e.g. therapy, counseling and hotline) which focuses on problem presentation, discussion and candidate solutions. Current studies of radio problem talk between troubled callers and psychologists show that certain tropes constitute the gist of callers’ narrative versions of the problems, and facilitate the negotiation of solutions (Kupferberg & Green, 1998). Adapting Bamberg’s (1997a) broad definition of positioning to institutional hotline talk, the present study further explores to what extent troubled callers position themselves figuratively, and whether figurative positioning is related to the interactional discussion of solutions. Analysis of 26 hotline calls shows that callers positioned themselves figuratively in relation to the volunteer whose help they sought, and that tropes enhanced the interactional discussion of the problem. (Personal stories, Tropes, Figurative positioning, Hotline talk)