Inner Dialogues: Typology, Uses and Functions

Abstract

In this paper we analyse “inner dialogues” as linguistic-cognitive mechanisms involved in thought and discourse planning processes: decision making, resolution of moral dilemmas, conversational positioning, prospective and retrospective emulation of discourse, refutation of an idea by emulating a tribunal, self-convincing and self-deception, prediction of future contexts through discourse, etc. Starting from the review of discursive structures (monologues, dialogues, polyphonic discourses and their respective subtypes), we will analyse the facets of speaker, the mental staging, monological and dialogical perspectives and types of intervention in these, with the aim of defining the “inner dialogue” concept. Finally, we will propose a theoretical approach to the most frequent uses and main benefits of the use of inner dialogues.