• Laura Alba-Juez (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain) “I’ll never call him dad again”: Emotional inferences and embodiment in the Giselle Pélicot sexual assault case in France".

This talk presents a sociopragmatic analysis of the inferences and emotional embodiment that emerge in an interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey with Caroline Darian, daughter of Giselle Pélicot, a survivor of one of the most shocking sexual assault cases in recent history. The case not only deeply affected French society but also resonated worldwide. I examine the inferential processes and frameworks expressed by both interlocutors and invoked in the audience, as well as the invoking mechanisms (Alba-Juez 2025) that shape these responses. The analysis proposes a multimodal, interaction-oriented sociopragmatic approach that foregrounds three key dimensions: evaluation, relationships, and morality (Alba-Juez & Haugh 2025).

As Elder (2024: 1) notes, speakers rarely convey messages entirely explicitly, since, as Levinson (2000: 29) observes, “inference is cheap, articulation is expensive.” This principle is especially evident in this emotionally charged case, where direct reference to the brutality of the events is often avoided for affective reasons. To classify these invoked, indirect meanings, I draw on Alba-Juez’s (2025) taxonomy of invoking mechanisms, Bertucelli Papi’s (2000) categories of the unsaid, Martin & White’s (2005) distinction between inscribed and invoked Attitude, and Don’s (2014) invocation spectrum.

The study is guided by three main research questions: (1) What inferential frameworks are employed in the narration of Pélicot’s case during the interview? (2) What inferences are triggered by the interview’s words, images, gestures, and body language? (3) What emotions are invoked by interviewer and interviewee, and how are these emotions embodied and instilled in the audience? The central hypothesis is that a sociopragmatic perspective can shed light on how evaluation, relationships, and morality are discursively enacted and embodied in this conversation.

The findings show that inferences—particularly subplicit inferences—are crucial to the decoding of emotional meaning. Despite the horrific nature of the events, the inferential substrate not only arouses negative emotions but also fosters empathy and alignment with the victims, both on the part of the interviewer and the audience. Furthermore, the act of sharing traumatic experiences and emotions paradoxically contributes to a transformative process for the victims, enabling positive and empowering decision-making. Ultimately, the discursive dynamics observed here highlight a powerful shift of shame from the victims to the perpetrator.