Minimal affect uptake in a pre-climax position of conversational “scary” stories

Analyzing pre-climax positions of everyday affect-laden telling activities, this paper shows that particular facial expressions, such as raised eyebrows with an open mouth or jaw-dropping, are the devices which are preferably deployed by story recipients as a minimal uptake to display affiliation, especially in the case of “scary” stories.During the course of conversational storytelling, it is structurally necessary that recipients warrant the teller's speakership. At the same time, a particular affective display—not only in response to what has been said but also to what comes at the climax—appears to become relevant. Immediately prior to the climax, when the teller employs elaborate multimodal cues, the recipient's display of an “anticipatory affect” is made relevant. A particular type of affect signals the anticipation of what kind of climax is approaching. The present paper explores how story recipients accomplish this two-fold task, namely to display alignment with the speaker's role allocation and listenership on the one hand and affiliation on the other. The study argues that a minimal uptake is called for, requiring only a minimal slot in the flow of storytelling and facial expressions that are most likely to fit this slot.

► How do story recipients display alignment and affiliation in mid-telling?
► Pre-climax positions of scary stories in conversation are analyzed.
► A minimal uptake is called for to achieve the twofold task.
► This is done preferably by facial expressions.