Introduction: Discourse Processes Evolving

Many of us now routinely engage in new modes of discourse that would have been unimaginable in even the relatively recent past: texting on sophisticated mobile devices with emoji and audio attachments— maybe even dictating the text message rather than typing it. Traditional spoken and written forms of discourse—the kinds that discourse process researchers have been focusing on for years—have not yet disappeared, and are not going anywhere soon, even among the most enthusiastic adopters of new modes and technologies for interaction. So we are in a time of intense transition, in which daily discourse continues to be transformed by the introduction of new communication options, some of which will take hold and spread, and some that will fade away. All this makes it an exciting time for researchers interested in understanding the mental and interactive processes underlying discourse empirically—for seasoned researchers and for those entering the multidisciplinary study of discourse processes.