Synopses & Reviews
Many scholars of language have accepted a view of grammar as a clearly delineated and internally coherent structure that is best understood as a self-contained system. The contributors to this volume propose a very different way of approaching and understanding grammar: 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 organization of human conduct, particularly social interaction, their essays explore a rich variety of linkages between interaction and grammar.
Review
"Interaction and Grammar is an innovative, informative, interesting, and, in my view, important book....The book is innovative in that the collaboration it reports is among pioneers in articulating work in formal syntax, conversation analysis, and paralinguistics....in investigation of interactional accomplishment. It is informative in illustrating something of the range of autonomously syntactic...prosodic and paralinguistic, pragmatic, and other devices available in different languages/cultures for management of turns....I will read forthcoming studies influenced by this important volume to watch the broader view gain wider acceptance." Allen D. Grimshaw, American Journal of Sociology
Review
"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
Synopsis
These essays explore a rich variety of linkages between interaction and grammar. They take as their starting-point the position that the very integrity of grammar is bound up with its place in the larger schemes of the organization of human conduct, particularly social interaction.
Table of Contents
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.