In Other Words Variation in Reference and Narrative [Hardcover]

Explores the ways that words and meanings are re-used in new contexts for new listeners.This book explores two important tasks of language - presenting 'who' we are talking about (the referent) and 'what happened' to them in a narrative--and how this alters according to emergent forms and meanings. Drawing on examples from word-level repairs within a single turn-at-talk, to life story narratives told years apart, it shows how words, structures and meanings are combined in new ways and re-used in new contexts for new listeners. An invaluable resource for scholars wishing to understand how discourse is shaped and re-shaped over time, place and person.This book explores two important tasks of language - presenting 'who' we are talking about (the referent) and 'what happened' to them in a narrative--and how this alters according to emergent forms and meanings. Drawing on examples from word-level repairs within a single turn-at-talk, to life story narratives told years apart, it shows how words, structures and meanings are combined in new ways and re-used in new contexts for new listeners. An invaluable resource for scholars wishing to understand how discourse is shaped and re-shaped over time, place and person.Deborah Schiffrin looks at two important tasks of language--presenting 'who' we are talking about (the referent) and 'what happened' to them (their actions and attributes) in a narrative--and explores how this presentation alters in relation to emergent forms and meanings. Drawing on examples from both face-to-face talk and public discourse, she analyzes a variety of repairs, reformulations of referents, and retellings of narratives, ranging from word-level repairs within a single turn-at-talk, to life story narratives told years apart.1. Variation; 2. Problematic referrals; 3. Anticipating referrals; 4. Reactive and proactive prototypes; 5. Referring sequences; 6. Reframing experience; 7. Retelling a story; 8. Who did what (again)?; 9. Redoing and replaying.