Written in readable, vivid, non-technical prose, this book, first published in 2007, presents the highly respected scholarly research that forms the foundation for Deborah Tannen's best-selling books about the role of language in human relationships. It provides a clear framework for understanding how ordinary conversation works to create meaning and establish relationships. A significant theoretical and methodological contribution to both linguistic and literary analysis, it uses transcripts of tape-recorded conversation to demonstrate that everyday conversation is made of features that are associated with literary discourse: repetition, dialogue, and details that create imagery. This second edition features a new introduction in which the author shows the relationship between this groundbreaking work and the research that has appeared since its original publication in 1989. In particular, she shows its relevance to the contemporary topic 'intertextuality', and provides a useful summary of research on that topic.

'Pleasant to read and constantly stimulating … an excellent introduction to the kind of analysis T[annen] does so well.'

Ronald K. S. Macaulay Source: Language

' … a very stimulating book, it makes one look with fresh eyes on conversation and what it can tell us about linguistic structures in general.'

N. F. Blake Source: Lore and Language

'Tannen should be applauded for pulling together work on … a host of discourse features. She does so, moreover, in a highly readable form that is surprisingly devoid of jargon.'

Charles L. Briggs Source: American Anthropologist

'Work like Tannen's reminds us how complex conversational interactions are.'

Source: Studies in Second Language Acquisition