Argues that on-line linguistic choices are made in a matrix of continuous discourse connection. Investigates hypotheses concerning communicative dynamism. Identifies gestures as reflective of the status of utterances. Interprets correlations of gestures and linguistic material as reflective of an underlying unity. (HB)

Studies the construction of coherent narrations of events in a picture storybook by children and adults. Applies a causal network discourse analysis. Analyzes the structure and content of the network representation of the main character. Reveals differences in content and structure of the narratives. (HB)

Describes how interactive hand gestures made during conversation help maintain the conversation as a social system. Relates the methods and results of three experiments designed to test this theory. Finds that interactive gestures maintain involvement with the interlocutor without interrupting the flow of conversation. (HB)

Outlines five competing ideas about how the literal meanings of sentences can be determined. Studies people's intuitive sense of the literal meanings of sentences. Examines through two experiments people's judgments about the literality of sentences containing figurative language. Discusses implications of findings. (HB)

Discusses the problem of "overlap" sometimes experienced by interdisciplinary teams. Analyzes a brief segment of a team conversation in which overlap is discussed. Reveals participants' territoriality in the face of an ideology of interdisciplinary collaboration. (HB)

Outlines a model of the speech act of apologizing that ranges apologies along a continuum from the most situational to the most personal. Analyzes 252 occurrences of apologies in 62 telephone interviews. Shows how most apologies are functions of discourse task management tactics. (HB)

Investigates changes in the internal structure of semantic categories as a result of cultural transition. Examines typicality shifts in semantic categories of Jewish Argentine immigrants in Israel. Presents a model mapping typicality shift patterns onto acculturation patterns. (HB)

Reports findings from a think-aloud protocol study of reading, writing, and persuasive processes in legal discourse during an actual appellate court case. Discusses three aspects of advocates' use of persuasive techniques in written appeal briefs. Focuses on specific persuasive techniques utilized by attorneys. (HB)

Investigates the coherence of nonstandard discourse linguistic sources. Provides examples, such as experimental writing and schizophrenic speech, that establish the necessity of the coherence mechanisms. Emphasizes that, by ignoring nonstandard samples, researchers overlook powerful ways to test theories of discourse. (HB)

Studies the discourse competence of mentally retarded residents of a group home by examining their arguments. Shows how their arguments exhibited useful patterns and gave evidence of being an acceptable and sought after discourse genre. Outlines the features of the residents' argument patterns. (HB)

Presents a new methodology for studying children's and adults' metalinguistic knowledge of the cohesive, discourse-level properties of spoken language. Studies the abilities of subjects to detect and then to explain discourse repairs in narratives. Considers why the discourse-level functions of the markers are not open to reflection. (HB)

Studies whether global, causal inferences are made during comprehension. Provides verbal protocol data in the form of talking aloud during reading. Discusses the data with reference to processing claims and working-memory models. Considers what verbal protocols reveal about processing. (HB)

Reports the findings of a study designed to investigate children's deictic changes, use of speech act verbs, and preference for reporting system in their retold narratives. Claims that a linear age function emerged and that children's mastery of direct and indirect speech extends over many years. (HB)

Analyzes the referential strategies used in narrative discourse by 10 adults and 60 Japanese children aged 3 to 7 years. Determines the factors underlying choice of nominal versus elliptical forms. Discusses results in terms of cognitive, social, and linguistic factors underlying referential choice. (HB)

Studies discourse cohesion from the perspective of a speech/gesture synthesis. Presents cross-cultural evidence showing the joint contribution made by both speech and gesture to the process of creating discourse topics. Proposes a dialectical model of discourse production. (HB)