Individuals with autism without mental retardation (ages 8-18), Asperger syndrome, and nonspecific social problems (controls) engaged in a 10-minute conversation. Compared to controls, the higher functioning autistic group referred less to a previous stretch of the conversation and more to an aspect of the physical environment. The Asperger group…

Locally free reflexives in British English are analyzed as intensified nonnominative pronouns, subject to a contrastiveness requirement and a requirement that the character referred to be more central than other characters in the set. The extent to which discourse prominence marking can mimic locality marking may explain conversions of intensives…

Exhibits the strength and flexibility of science as a rhetorical enterprise via a rhetorical analysis of cold fusion which reveals science under considerable stress. Assumes the continuing viability of classical rhetoric as an explanation for the persuasiveness of texts, while acknowledging the need to reexamine its central concepts. (SR)

Focuses on the way entities are introduced into discourse, how they are referred to again later, and what motivates speakers to choose particular anaphora to manage reference at a given point in a narrative. Compares anaphoric patterns in English and Mandarin narratives. (HB)

Presents a critical-interpretive case study of an organization that illustrates the communicative accomplishment of organizational power. Details how the managing ownership espoused a rhetoric of self-directive management which obscured conflicting political interests and relations of power. Demonstrates the difficulties organizational members…

States that talk in interaction is the prevailing form of instructional activity. Claims that an understanding of the interactional practices of reading and writing is necessary. Examines the practice of speaker turn design. Concludes by showing how this form of organization can be used in diagnosing problems that students encounter in solving…

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)

After reviewing units of discourse analysis generally used by sociolinguists, this article reports on a study conducted in university English-as-a-Second-Language classes in Los Angeles to show differences between interactions in and outside of class and proposes a broader frame of analysis to include both the turn and the exchange systems. (CFM)

Teachers' monologic scripts potentially stifle dialogue and reflect dominant cultural values; students' counterscripts are formed by those who do not conform to "appropriate" participation. A third space where scripts intersect creates potential for authentic interaction and a shift in what counts as knowledge. (SK)

This article is addressed to those for whom information is the key focus for the study of language and its deployment in discourse. The message is that action figures centrally and generically, and that the absence of actions can be as decisive as their occurrence for the deployment of language and the interactional construction of discourse. (47…

Working within the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) framework of Anna Wierzbicka, this study proposes reductive paraphrase explications for a range of first-person pronominal meanings. It is argued that NSM explications are preferable to conventional feature analysis because they are less subject to charges of arbitrariness and obscurity and…

Finds that differential treatment from a supervisor to his or her subordinates influences coworker communication by leading coworkers to talk about the differential treatment itself, and influencing the nature of communication relationships among the coworkers. Indicates that fairness perceptions are often socially constructed by work group…

Examines four interrelated organizational models of charisma and the debate that has accompanied them. Uses the models to analyze the rhetoric of leadership of George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential campaign. (SR)

Analyzes the rhetorical strategies employed by Leonora O'Reilly, a Progressive Era labor reformer. Argues that O'Reilly's use of enactment and empowerment are representative of a "feminine style," and that her rhetoric provides an opportunity to examine the public voice of a working-class female reformer. (SR)

Examines the general strategies of Bill Clinton and George Bush in the 1992 presidential campaign regarding the abortion issue among the complex of family values appeals and in the context of the "culture war." Analyzes the rhetorical power of the dead fetus image shown in campaign advertising. Speculates on the influence of the abortion…