Identities in Talk


Book Description

`Identity′ attracts some of social science′s liveliest and most passionate debates. Theory abounds on matters as disparate as nationhood, ethnicity, gender politics and culture. However, there is considerably less investigation into how such identity issues appear in the fine grain of everyday life. This book gathers together, in a collection of chapters drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, arguments which show that identities are constructed `live′ in the actual exchange of talk. By closely examining tapes and transcripts of real social interactions from a wide range of situations, the volume explores just how it is that a person can be ascribed to a category and what features about that category are consequential for the interaction.




Everyday Talk


Book Description

This engaging text explores how everyday talk--the ordinary kinds of communicating that people do in schools, workplaces, and among family and friends--expresses who we are and who we want to be. The authors interweave rhetorical and cultural perspectives on the "little stuff" of conversation: what we say and how we say it, the terms used to refer to others, the content and style of stories we tell, and more. Numerous detailed examples show how talk is the vehicle through which people build relationships. Students gain skills for thinking more deeply about their own and others' communicative practices, and for understanding and managing interactional difficulties. New to This Edition *Updated throughout to incorporate the latest discourse analysis research. *Chapter on six specific speech genres (for example, organizational meetings and personal conversation). *Two extended case studies with transcripts and discussion questions. *Coverage of digital communication, texting, and social media. *Additional cross-cultural examples. Pedagogical Features *A preview and summary in every chapter. *Accessible explanations of core concepts. *End-of-book glossary. *Endnotes that identify key authors and suggest further reading.




Talk in Action


Book Description

Talk in Action examines the language, identity, and interaction of social institutions, introducing students to the research methodology of Conversation Analysis. Features a unique focus on real-world applications of CA by examining four institutional domains: calls to emergency numbers, doctor-patient interaction, courtroom trials, and mass communication, Provides a theoretical and methodological overview of the roots of CA, reviewing the main developments and findings of research on talk and social institutions conducted over the past 25 years Showcases the significance of this subject to everyday events, making it ideal for students coming to the field for the first time Written by two leading figures in the field of Conversation Analysis




Identities in Talk


Book Description

`Identity′ attracts some of social science′s liveliest and most passionate debates. Theory abounds on matters as disparate as nationhood, ethnicity, gender politics and culture. However, there is considerably less investigation into how such identity issues appear in the fine grain of everyday life. This book gathers together, in a collection of chapters drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, arguments which show that identities are constructed `live′ in the actual exchange of talk. By closely examining tapes and transcripts of real social interactions from a wide range of situations, the volume explores just how it is that a person can be ascribed to a category and what features about that category are consequential for the interaction.




Identities in Talk


Book Description

`Identity' attracts some of social science's liveliest and most passionate debates. Theory abounds on matters as disparate as nationhood, ethnicity, gender politics and culture. However, there is considerably less investigation into how such identity issues appear in the fine grain of everyday life. This book gathers together, in a collection of chapters drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, arguments which show that identities are constructed `live' in the actual exchange of talk. By closely examining tapes and transcripts of real social interactions from a wide range of situations, the volume explores just how it is that a person can be ascribed to a category and what features about that category are cons




Socializing Identities Through Speech Style


Book Description

Drawing on the perspective of language socialization and a theory of indexicality, this book examines dinnertime talk in a homestay context and explores ways in which learners of Japanese as a foreign language and their Japanese host families socialize their identities through speech style.




Millennials Talking Media


Book Description

"Inconceivable!"; "Long hair don't care"; "You shall not pass!"; "I'll be back." The way we read these lines - whether or not you picture Gandalf standing at the edge of a cliff and hear the deep monotone of the Terminator - makes it clear that media consumption affects our everyday lives,language, and how we identify as part of a group.Millennials Talking Media examines how U.S. millennial friends embed both old media (books, songs, movies, and TV shows) and new media (YouTube videos, videogames, and internet memes) in their everyday talk for particular interactional purposes. Sylvia Sierra presents multiple case studies featuringthe recorded talk of millennial friends to demonstrate how and why these speakers make media references and use them to handle awkward moments and other interactional dilemmas. Sierra's analysis shows how such references contribute to epistemic management and frame shifts in conversation, whichultimately work together to construct a shared sense of millennial identity. Additionally, this book explores the stereotypes embedded in the media that these friends cite and examines their effects in everyday social life.This book shows how the boundaries between screens, online and offline life, language, and identity are porous for millennials. Building on everyday conversation among family and friends and contemporary work in media studies, Sierra weaves together the most current linguistic theories regardingknowledge, framing, and identity to create a book that will be of interest to scholars and students of sociolinguistics, communication, rhetoric, conversation analysis, and media studies - and to boomers, millennials, and Gen Z alike.




Nonbinary


Book Description

What happens when your gender doesn’t fit neatly into the categories of male or female? Even mundane interactions like filling out a form or using a public bathroom can be a struggle when these designations prove inadequate. In this groundbreaking book, thirty authors highlight how our experiences are shaped by a deeply entrenched gender binary. The powerful first-person narratives of this collection show us a world where gender exists along a spectrum, a web, a multidimensional space. Nuanced storytellers break away from mainstream portrayals of gender diversity, cutting across lines of age, race, ethnicity, ability, class, religion, family, and relationships. From Suzi, who wonders whether she’ll ever “feel” like a woman after living fifty years as a man, to Aubri, who grew up in a cash-strapped fundamentalist household, to Sand, who must reconcile the dual roles of trans advocate and therapist, the writers’ conceptions of gender are inextricably intertwined with broader systemic issues. Labeled gender outlaws, gender rebels, genderqueer, or simply human, the voices in Nonbinary illustrate what life could be if we allowed the rigid categories of “man” and “woman” to loosen and bend. They speak to everyone who has questioned gender or has paused to wonder, What does it mean to be a man or a woman—and why do we care so much?




Discourse and Identity


Book Description

The relationship between language, discourse and identity has always been a major area of sociolinguistic investigation. In more recent times, the field has been revolutionized as previous models - which assumed our identities to be based on stable relationships between linguistic and social variables - have been challenged by pioneering new approaches to the topic. This volume brings together a team of leading experts to explore discourse in a range of social contexts. By applying a variety of analytical tools and concepts, the contributors show how we build images of ourselves through language, how society moulds us into different categories, and how we negotiate our membership of those categories. Drawing on numerous interactional settings (the workplace; medical interviews; education), in a variety of genres (narrative; conversation; interviews), and amongst different communities (immigrants; patients; adolescents; teachers), this revealing volume sheds light on how our social practices can help to shape our identities.




Ageing Identities and Women’s Everyday Talk in a Hair Salon


Book Description

The ageing of the world’s populations, particularly in Western developed countries, is a well-documented phenomenon; and despite many positive images of later life, in the media and public discourse later life is frequently depicted as a time of inevitable physical and cognitive decline. Against this background, Heinrichsmeier presents the results of her two-year sociolinguistic study examining how a group of older women of different ages negotiated their way through their own and others’ expectations of ageing and constructed different kinds of older – and other – identities for themselves. Through vivid and nuanced analysis of their chat and practices in a small village hair salon, Heinrichsmeier reveals these women’s subtle and skilful manipulation of stereotypes of ageing and the impact of the evolving talk on their identity constructions. Her study, which provides numerous short extracts of talk in both the hair salon and interview along with more detailed case studies, highlights the importance of such apparently ‘trivial’ sites – for both studying older people’s identity work and as loci for positive identity constructions and well-being in later life. This book will be of particular interest to graduate students and scholars working in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and gerontological studies, as well as those interested in approaches integrating ethnography and language.