Focuses on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (VVM). Evaluates the critical responses of communication scholars and others to the VVM. Suggests directions for research which would attempt to explain the social functions and ideological uses of this extraordinary site. (MS)

Examines the rhetoric of "The Big Book," the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), using fantasy theme analysis. Suggests that the rhetorical vision of AA may be described as Alcoholism as Treatable Illness of Body, Mind, and Soul; a variation of Bormann's rhetorical form "Fetching Good out of Evil." (SR)

Asks whether different kinds of arguments are essentially similar or different. Considers three kinds of argument as potentially the primary argument. Rejects each, concluding that these kinds of argument are fundamentally similar. Focuses on the ideas of publicness, sociality, and cognition, assuming these to be the main possibilities for…

Sets forth a relational perspective on developing friendships. Examines talk in and about children's friendships to test the assumption that conversation constitutes and structures friendships. Found that discourse patterns appeared in particular configurations of expectations (where the model of friendship is forming) and behavior (where the…

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…