Dr. Ritchie teaches and conducts research on the use of language in social interaction. His primary research focus is metaphor use, story-telling, story-metaphors, and humor in naturally-occurring discourse, with emphasis on urban communities and cultural institutions.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Cognitive Influences on Communication
Metaphor Use
Storytelling
CLASSES TAUGHT
Comm 336: Metaphors in Communication
Comm 346: Humor, Irony, and Laughter in Communication
Comm 436: Communication & Cognition
Comm 438: Every Talk: Structure and Process
Comm 440: Metaphor, Play and Humor
HIGHLIGHTED WORKS
Ritchie, L. D. (2022). Feeling, Thinking and Talking: How the Embodied Brain Shapes Everyday Communication. Cambridge University Press.
Ritchie, L. D.. (2022). “Decoding information”: The abuse of personification and machine metaphor. In S. Wuppuluri and A C Grayling, Eds., Words and Worlds, pp. 239-251. Springer Nature.
Ritchie, L. D. (2107). Metaphorical Stories in Discourse. Cambridge University Press.
Ritchie, L. D., Feliciano, A., and Sparks, A. (2018). Rhetorical confinement, contrasting metaphors, and cultural polarities: “Yes we can” meets “carnage in the cities.” Metaphor and the Social World, 8(2), 248-267.