(Non)referentiality in Conversation

This chapter tackles the hitherto under-explored question of when and why conversationalists deploy second person generic expressions that feature a general and vague referential scope. I show that the conversational contexts in which they appear are usually characterized most prominently by their relatively complex and/or controversial subject matters, participants’ incongruent stances, and/or opposing positions to be contested. These contexts and their associated interactional demands are argu