I don't mean extradimensional in a woo-woo sense

Doing non-explanation in discussions of unidentified aerial phenomena

Bibliographic Data

ID7328112
AuthorsChris Mcvittie (0000-0003-0657-7524, Queen Margaret University, corresponding author), Andy Mckinlay
Year2022
Volume88
Pages90-98
Publication date2022-11-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage & Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0271-5309 • E-ISSN: 1873-3395
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.langcom.2022.11.005
OpenAlexW4310808606
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

In everyday talk, speakers commonly provide explanations that "make plain" or "make intelligible" prior talk. Little work, however, has examined talk in which speakers offer no explanation for what is being described. We consider talk about "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAPs) from news media interviews. Interviewees distanced themselves from accountability for explaining UAPs or proposed multiple candidate explanations. Interviewers tabled their own potential explanations. Participants' talk did not "make plain" or "make intelligible" phenomena being discussed. These findings show that explanations are a participants' concern. These interactions allow discussion of topics of broad public interest, thereby "doing news

Accountability · Epistemology · Political science · Sociology · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Speech and dialogue systems

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Open DOIOpen Access