Spoken Discourse and Social Interaction

This comprehensive textbook takes as its subject the study of spoken discourse and addresses the interdisciplinary nature of its subject by providing an introduction to the multiple themes, concepts, methods and research findings within the field. One of the major arguments put forward in Spoken Discourse and Social Interaction is that the spoken language is most profitably viewed as a thoroughly social and situationally dynamic process. Therefore, while focusing specifically on spoken as opposed to written discourse, the book does not limit its treatment of the field to any particular methodological tradition. In fact, an important contribution of this new textbook is its balanced stance with regard to existing (and often competing) methodological and theoretical approaches.