Argues that oppositional thinking, if handled in the right way, will serve as a way to avoid the very problems that Jonathan Culler and Paul de Mann are troubled by: "purity, order, and hierarchy." Asserts that binary thinking can serve to encourage difference--indeed, encourage nondominance, nontranscendence, instability, and disorder.…

Using conversational analysis, an argument is made that two dimensions to talk-in-interaction can be distinguished that permit a clearer understanding of fabrication as involving questions of content or substance where the functional end is one of deception. These dimensions of fabrication are explored in a single case study. (19 references) (JL)

This reply to a critique of Thomas's original article disputes Rajagopalan's assertion that theory is so wide it encompasses any structured thought. It refutes criticisms of contradictions and inconsistencies in the original argument against theory. (SK)

Distills a kernel story from separate narrative performances to facilitate comparison between them and to highlight their similarities and differences. Investigates immediate retelling for a newly-arrived listener, relating the same story for different audiences, and group reconstruction of a story already familiar to those present. Proposes…

Examines the impact of listeners on speakers' later memory for events. Shows that attentive listeners facilitate long-term memory, whereas situations with distracted listeners are difficult to distinguish from situations with no listener and with no recounting at all. (SR)

Presents a novel formalism for representing the notion of approximation to the truth, and analyzes the meanings of these expressions in terms of this formalism. Pragmatic looseness of this kind should be distinguished from authentic truth-conditional vagueness. (Author/VWL)

Examines expert legal reports which have the capacity to engage in two different kinds of discursive activities: strategic function, and the tactical function. Analyzes two "psycholegal" reports to show how these two functions work together in a complementary and ideological fashion. (PA)

Identifies Senator Bob Packwood's public response to charges of sexual misconduct as a "rhetorical subterfuge" that exhibits a cluster of terms implicit in Kenneth Burke's principle of perfection. Shows how the principle of perfection allowed for the assemblage and analysis of Packwood's "fragmentary" discourse in accordance…

Offers biographical guidance on several major areas of conversation-analytic work--turn-taking, repair, and word selection--and indicates past or potential points of contact with applied linguistics. Also discusses areas of applied linguistic work. (Author/VWL)

A discursive study of Canadian women who had started businesses identified five themes about women and entrepreneurship: (1) business plans as the "right" way; (2) profit/growth as success measures; (3) women as misplaced in the masculine business frontier; (4) success in business as liberation; and (5) effect on women's…

The purpose of this article is to respond to Reid and Valle's article "The Discursive Practice of LD: Implications for Instruction and Parent?School Relations" in this issue. Our response to the discursive analysis is organized around two major themes: (a) the issue of balance in the scholarship on learning disabilities (LD) and (b) the centrality…

In higher education the supervision of graduate research students is an uncertain practice. When given the opportunity, supervisors and students ask what it means and how it should be done. In this paper, the author interprets the uncertain state of supervision affairs as an effect of many competing and contradictory social discourses that offer…

This paper reports on an investigation into the interactive and discourse styles of a nationally representative sample of primary teachers (n =70) as they work with pupils who experience difficulties in literacy development during whole class and groupbased sections of the literacy hour. Using a computerized observation schedule and discourse…

Maternal depression significantly influences parent-child interactions. While the existence of this impact is well established during playtime, little research has been conducted on the way that maternal depression relates to shared book reading. This is a particularly important activity because it relates to children's language and literacy…

This work examines the relationship between implicit procedural and implicit verbal processes as they occur in natural adult conversation. Theoretical insights and empirical findings are rooted in a move towards integration of Bucci's "Referential Activity" (RA) and "Multiple Code" perspectives and Beebe and Jaffe's…