It is suggested that the conventional coding procedures of experimental social psychology miss critical (identifying, defining, or constitutive) features of conversation analysis' phenomena because the procedures present the analyst with two different sets of entities; i.e., they are incommensurable. (20 references) (LB)

Analysis of the discourse demands across the school year within a recurred event, "Circle Time," is presented to show how three and four year olds learned to be conversationally appropriate partners within a group, how the teacher's interactional patterns shifted as students learned, and how participation in the subevents added differing…

Investigates the strategies preschoolers use in arguments to establish power and dominance. Identifies a broad range of verbal and nonverbal strategies to gain power. Shows that power is collaboratively constructed and negotiated on the basis of the social organization of the moment. (SR)

Forty-six Spanish-speaking children, ages 4-8, were asked to explain what happened in a silent film. Compared to younger children, older children demonstrated increased use of elliptical reference to refer to places in stories, an increase in appropriate phrases, and a decrease in ambiguities and additions. (Author/JDD)

An analysis is presented of the speech act sequence of indirect complaint/commiseration in conversational interactions between Japanese learners of English as a Second Language and their English-speaking peers. Consequences of nonsubstantive, noncommiserative responses are explored in light of missed opportunities for interaction. (46 references)…

Shows some of the connections between the social structure of the law and the everyday writing of marketplace participants. Sets out a legal dispute resolution framework and a classification of the types of liability-prone prose. Suggests a rhetorical model that facilitates an expanded perspective of the business writer. Offers an approach for…

Explores some implications of the redefinition of ethnography as discursive practice, of ethnography as "writing the other." Asserts that a central problem in discourse theory is the relationship between discourse and nondiscursive "reality." Argues ethnography is discursive rather than empiricist. Asserts that conflictual social theories produce…

States that Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address is a recognized rhetorical masterpiece. Accounts for this recognition by examining the text microscopically. Uses the method of close textual analysis that explores the inner workings of the text to discover the complexity of Lincoln's masterwork. (PRA)

Proposes a discourse analysis model of student-computer interaction, which, by viewing the student and the computer as two participants in a dialogue, provides the necessary elements and structures to describe computer-assisted language learning (CALL) discourse, analyze data from student-computer interaction, and compare CALL activities with…

This study seeks to provide an introduction to some linguistic features of adolescent-therapist conversation, focusing on characteristics of adolescent speech that may appear during therapy. These include problems of expressing feelings, therapy talk as schoolroom talk, powerful forms of questioning, adolescent narrative, and lying. (26…

For better comprehension and more communicative production among francophones, students of French should be taught the use and function of detached phrases as they are used in popular spoken French. A specific approach distinguishing between appropriate spoken and written usage is outlined. (20 references) (MSE)

Evaluates the contribution of visuo-gestural modality versus linguistic factors in determining the order of elements in sign language. The results of a study show that Italian Sign Language differs along significant lines from both spoken Italian and pantomime. (22 references) (GLR)

Focuses on the likely sources of variability in discourse structure by comparing the introductions to papers written in a variety of related disciplines by three groups of physical scientists: Anglo-Americans writing in English, Chinese people writing in English, and Chinese people writing in Chinese. (39 references) (GLR)

This study examined the effect of emotional content on the verbal pragmatic aspects of discourse production in right-brain-damaged (RBD), left-brain-damaged (LBD), and normal control adults. In the nonemotional conditions, LBDs were particularly impaired in pragmatics, whereas in the emotional condition, RBDs demonstrated pragmatic deficits.…

Argues that, by identifying physicist Erwin Schrodinger's book "What is Life?" as inspirational community-forming discourse, it is possible to recognize the rhetorical artistry of his negotiation between two audiences. Notes that the book builds common ground, applies productive ambiguity at a key point of collision, and skillfully…