Uses conversation analysis to investigate reported speech in talk-in-interaction. Beginning with an examination of direct and indirect reported speech, the article highlights some of the design features of the former, and the sequential environments in which it occurs. (Author/VWL)

Examines the problem posed to ethnographic research on speech communication by the traditional distinction between text and context as figure versus ground, or as hierarchical organization of focal events, or as phenomena within which those events are embedded. An ethnographic perspective on discourse within which text and context form an…

Discusses resonances and basic issues of the four language and social interaction divisions of the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association: Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, Microanalysis, and the Ethnography of Speaking (EM-CA-MA-ES). (Author/VWL)

Examines some characteristics of "Mm," in particular its variants, as a weak acknowledging token, a continuer, and a weak assessment within the Australian context. Findings indicate that the most common "Mm" is best characterized as an acknowledging object used to mark unproblematic receipt of the immediately prior talk and no…

The phenomena of overlapping talk is examined. In numerous types of conversational exchanges, people briefly acknowledge the utterance that overlapped their own and then recycle an overlapped utterance and/or introduce a new topic. Three types of objects are illustrated and discussed: an acknowledgment token, an assessment, and a commentary. (four…

Comembership, an aspect of social identity that involves specific attributes (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender), was investigated in faculty-student advising interviews. Student language indicates that role comembership may increase the complexity of the interaction by increasing the need to mark participant status. (Contains 18 references.) (LB)

Explores the conditional nature of good and bad news while focusing on three topics: (1) the status of information as news according the participants in a conversation; (2) the valence of this information with regard to its perception as good or bad; and (3) the effect of news on individuals. Notes that good news is privileged over bad news in…

This study compared the reactions of observers to discourses that presented "fitting" gestures with those in which the gestures were mismatched to the meaning of their associated phrase. It found that observers reported different meanings according to the gestures used. (nine references) (MDM)

Selected results from an ethnographic study of communication in an American Pacific Northwest church community are presented. The case illustrates patterns in the selection of linguistic options of personal address and that personal address choice is influenced by such factors as context, public/private meanings, and interlocutor beliefs.…

Investigates the consequences of a contemporary natural experiment forced upon a lawyer who suffered a massive stroke and severe aphasia, losing almost completely the ability to speak meaningful language. With the help of therapists, he learned to speak three words. The author investigates how such coconstruction is accomplished. (41 references)…

Focuses on the narrative activity between parents and children to coconstruct both the meaning of a spousal narrative dispute as speech event and what it meant that such an episode had been videotaped. The family members codrafted a revised account of their story realm that seems to minimize chaos and maximize order and emphasize that "father…

Examines the use of gestures by German, Thai, and Tagalog speakers. The study shows how, by careful examination of what recipients are doing at the moment when a speaker produces a gesture, evidence can be derived as to whether the gestural component of the utterance is being attended. (19 references) (MDM)

Attempts to demonstrate how recipient design can structure an interaction. Choices of words and phrases, intonation, and the larger structure of the discourse itself are all made with a greater or lesser awareness of others' reactions. Evidence of how recipient design is at the service of altercasting is found in shared knowledge, agreement, and…

Strategies used to show participants' agreement or disagreement are examined, based on a phone-in radio program in which a male psychologist offers diagnosis and advice to a female caller during a 10-minute conversation. Linguistic devices including repetition, back-channel responses, and hesitation are noted in the context of an asymmetrical…

Examines the lexical and syntactic choices made by men and women in 29 separate hour-long interactions within 29 groups, each consisting of 2 men and 2 women. Data analysis reveals that, although women use intensifiers more than men and men use more hedges, their overall language use does not reflect any difference in social power. (42 references)…