Effects of sex of speaker and sex of dyad partner on selected linguistic variables were examined in four-minute segments of 20 conversations between previously unacquainted college students. Five male dyads, five female dyads, and ten mixed dyads were studied. Three significant interaction effects were found. Males and females produced about the…

Analyzes argumentation and the ways in which idealized models of argumentation relate to the linguistic behavior of participants in argument as talk. Sequencing patterns of arguments are interactionally accomplished. Speakers produce turns which are related to their purpose in talking and that include speech act complexes appropriate for the…

This article explores a model of lexicalisation based upon the constraints that lexicalisation is an interactive process and that it takes place in two stages. The article examines in depth the time-course of normal lexicalisation, speech error data, and the cognitive neuropsychology of speech production. (16 references) (CK)

Investigates the consequences of a contemporary natural experiment forced upon a lawyer who suffered a massive stroke and severe aphasia, losing almost completely the ability to speak meaningful language. With the help of therapists, he learned to speak three words. The author investigates how such coconstruction is accomplished. (41 references)…

The theory of the coordinated management of meaning (CMM) describes the structural relationship between a conversation as it appears in a verbatim transcript and as it appears in the meaning-system of the participants. The five essential features of CMM theory are: a set of four propositions about the nature of communication and human behavior, a…

The role of the particle "o.k." in service encounter dialogue is discussed. A service encounter is defined as a situation of interaction between a "posted" server and a second party (a customer) who invokes the server's participation as an operator of a "serving post." It is suggested that approval or acceptance is often only part of what is being…

A study of code-switching, the use of two or more linguistic varieties in the same interaction. Code-switching as interpreted in this study is a meta-interactional cue which is activated to signal a change in direction of the interaction. Such a response to the interaction process is considered significant. (AMH)

This article concerns some undergraduate students and their academic counselors in a university in California, where a student usually takes the initiative in contacting a counselor. The author sketches his approach to the problem of identity in institutional settings and then addresses several aspects of the problem. (43 references) (Author/CK)

Spoken communication between residents (n=10; ages 12-21) and staff members in an institution for people with mental retardation was examined. Findings suggest that staff members and residents differed in their use of topics, with staff members talking primarily about instructional and behavior management topics and residents focusing mostly on…

Sociolinguists have recently demonstrated the value of directives in indicating the relationship between status and linguistic form. The purpose of the instrument developed for this study was to quantify the coerciveness of directives on the basis of the theoretical approaches in the literature to objectify the comparison of directive forms.…

Explores perspectives and methodologies that sociolinguistics brings to ethnographic research in schools. The article identifies the methodological contributions arising from linguistics that interactional sociolinguistics and microethnograpy share, such as the use of naturally occurring language data, the consultation of native intuition, and…

This paper considers a distinction frequently used in sociolinguistics and ethnography of speaking to describe speech events: their formality or informality. Three principle meanings of "formality" found in the literature concern whether the formality relates to properties of a communicative code, properties of the social setting in…

This study investigated the linguistic characteristics of speech addressed to the child and the features of the verbal environment critical for learning language. The study focused on the prosodic and paralinguistic features of adult speech to the young child. Adult speech directed to children was compared to other kinds of systematic speech…

Focuses on arguments among White American children in a small town in New England, Black American children of migrant harvesters, and rural Hindi-speaking Fiji Indian children. Findings suggest that, while repetition, inversion, and escalation are common to all three cultures, there is considerable variation as to how they are used. (EJS)

Describes a pattern of verbal disputing frequently engaged in by children in Hawaii who have some Polynesian ancestry. This pattern, which is characterized by the forceful use of "not!" as an outright contradiction of one speaker by another, is traced from early childhood into adolescence in the context of relationships in which it develops. (EJS)