Interaction and Grammar

This volume explores a rich variety of linkages between grammar and social interaction.

Elinor Ochs (Edited by), Emanuel A. Schegloff (Edited by), Sandra A. Thompson (Edited by)

9780521558280, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 December 1996

484 pages, 11 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.738 kg

"Interaction and grammar is a superb collection. No one working in the area of language and interaction can afford to ignore it." Language in Society

Many scholars of language have accepted a view of grammar as a clearly delineated and internally coherent structure which is best understood as a self-contained system. The contributors to this volume propose a very different way of approaching and understanding grammar, taking it as part of a broader range of systems which underlie the organisation of social life and emphasising its role in the use of language in everyday interaction and cognition. Taking as their starting-point the position that the very integrity of grammar is bound up with its place in the larger schemes of the organisation of human conduct, particularly with social interaction, their essays explore a rich variety of linkages between interaction and grammar.

Notes on the contributors
1. Introduction Emanuel A. Schegloff, Elinor Ochs and Sandra A. Thompson
2. Turn organization: one intersection of grammar and interaction Emanuel A. Schegloff
3. Interactional units in conversation: syntactic, intonational, and pragmatic resources for the management of turns Cecilia E. Ford and Sandra A. Thompson
4. Resources and repair: a cross-linguistic study of syntax and repair Barbara A. Fox, Makoto Hayashi and Robert Jasperson
5. On the 'semi-permeable' character of grammatical units in conversation: conditional entry into the turn space of another speaker Gene H. Lerner
6. On repeats and responses in Finnish conversations Marja-Leena Sorjonen
7. 'When I come down I'm in the domain state': grammar and graphic representation in the interpretive activity of physicists Elinor Ochs , Patrick Gonzales and Sally Jacoby
8. Transparent vision Charles Goodwin
9. Conversational signifying: grammar and indirectness among African American women Marcyliena Morgan
10. Creating evidence: making sense of written words in Bosavi Bambi B. Schieffelin
Appendix: transcription conventions
Index.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]