Self-disclosure may be viewed through the framework of the role-taking processes by which we come to know ourselves and to be known to others. Because individuals ground utterances contextually, in anticipation of another's responses and according to the prescriptions of the situation itself, self-disclosure is more likely to be flexibly scripted than spontaneous. The definition of a situation is emergent and negotiable; consequently, self-descriptive statements are emergent and negotiable as identity claims within a framework of the shared understanding of the relationship that exists between the dyadic partners. Given a particular context with its attendant cues, the self-disclosure of an interactant can be tracked by examining (1) the level of abstraction of a self-descriptive statement; and (2) the impact of that statement as an identity claim that can be determined by examining the conversation for cues to the relational claim that the interactants make upon each other. By examining the identity claim within the emerging meaning of a conversation we can track in an exploratory fashion the relational claim that is being proffered, accepted, or rejected. This interactive view of disclosing behavior provides a theoretical framework for further research consistent with some fundamental tenets of interpersonal communication. (JL)