Talking Voices by Deborah Tannen

Talking Voices by Deborah Tannen

Talking Voices is a radical contribution to both linguistic and literary analysis. In this important new book Deborah Tannen shows how conversation provides the source for linguistic strategies that are shaped and elaborated in literary discourse and other spoken and written, public and private genres. She explores the scenic and musical basis of both textual meaning and interpersonal involvement in discourse. Repetition establishes rhythm and meaning by patterns of constants and contrasts. Dialogue and imagery create scenes peopled by characters in relation to each other, doing things that are culturally and personally recognizable and meaningful. Talking Voices provides a framework for understanding how conversation works and for examining how strategies that are pervasive and spontaneous in conversation are intertwined and elaborated in public speaking and other spoken genres and in written literary discourse. It is not only linguists and literary specialists who will find their understanding advanced, but all readers with a serious interest in the social and cultural aspects of communication.

"I..found myself immediately captivated. [Tannen's] central thesis is both 'obvious' and astonishing." Oliver Sacks
"Talking Voices provides a wealth of compelling data..." Studies in Second Language Aquisition
"Tannen should be applauded for pulling together work on the formal and functional patterning of a host of discourse features. She does so, moreover, in a highly readable form that is surprisingly devoid of jargon." Charles L. Briggs, American Anthropologist
"Tannen's goal is to include 'the personal and the particular' in linguistics. She succeeds in calling our attention to this important goal while linking it with issues of fundamental concern in discourse analysis." Stephen Boggs, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
"...a suggestive book from which almost everyone can learn--and some can learn a good deal." Symposium

Deborah Tannen is the acclaimed author of You Just Don't Understand, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly four years including eight months as #1; the ten-week New York Times bestseller You're Wearing THAT?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation; I Only Say This Because I Love You: Talking to Your Parents, Partner, Sibs and Kids When You're All Adults, which won the Books for a Better Life Award; Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work; That's Not What I Meant!; and many other books. A professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, she has written for and been featured in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Time, and Newsweek. She appears frequently on TV and radio, including such shows as 20/20, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Colbert Report, Nightline, Today, Good Morning America, and NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. She is university professor and professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, and has been McGraw Distinguished Lecturer at Princeton University. She lives with her husband in the Washington, D.C., area.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521379007
ISBN 10	0521379008
Title	Talking Voices
Author	Deborah Tannen
Series	Studies In Interactional Sociolinguistics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	1989-11-09
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.