Reviews

Reviews Links & Letters 3, 1996 147 Deborah SCHIFFRIN, Approaches to x + 470 pages. Approaches to Discourse, a book in Blackwell's ((Textbooks in Linguistics)) series, is a comprehensive work which is accessible to readers of al1 levels. At a purely introductory level, it offers clear, well-explained, and well-exemplified discussions of six major approaches to discourse analysis: speech act theory, interactional sociolinguistics, the ethnography of communication, pragmatics, conversation analysis, and variation analysis. At a higher level, it seeks to unify these diverse approaches along a small number of theoretical lines, and it suggests directions for research to take. The book is divided into three main parts, «The Scope of Discourse Analysis)), (Approaches to Discourse Analysis)), and a «Conclusion». The Conclusion is followed by three useful and interesting Appendices, the first of which gives guidelines for collectin~ data for discourse '2 analvsis, the second of which describes diffe'rent conventions which can be used in transcribing the data, and the last of which provides an extensive sample of transcribed data. The book then ends with an exhaustive bibliography and a subject index. Part 1, «The Scope of Discourse Analysis)), consists of two chapters: ((Overview)) and ((Definitions of Discourse)). The Ove~iew simply outlines the structure of the book and states its goals, which are ato describe and compare several approaches to the linguistic analysis of discourse,)) and to ((clarify the scope of discourse analysis in such a way that it can continue to deal with a wide range of problems and phenomena -but in a more svstematic and theoretically coherent wayn (p. 5). ((Definitions of Discoursev launches into an interesting and informative discussion of the formalist versus function- Discourse. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. alist dichotomy in linguistics. Schiffrin juxtaposes the views of the two paradigms, both in general and in matters directly concerning discourse. She discusses how their differences affect definitions of discourse, and, consequently, the objects of study and the methods used in analyses. She feels that the definitions proposed under these paradigms limit the range of questions that can be asked in discourse ;nalysis and that it is still too soon in the development of this field to make such restrictions. In light of this, she offers the following simple definition: ((discourse is utterances)) (p. 39), with utterances considered as «units of language production.. . that are inherendy contextualized)) (p. 41). Thus she successfully finds a way to steer a middle course, combining the focus of formalists on linguistic structures with the functionalists' concern for how language is used in context. This solution may seem facile on the surface, basically taking no firm stand on either paradigm. But throughout the rest of the book, SchBrin shows that this is, in fact, a good strategy, one which closes off no avenues of investigation to those interested in the study of discourse, while at the same time encóuraging the use of combined formalist and functionalist theories and methods to investigate discourse-related issues. Part 11 consists of six chapters, each one describing and illustrating a different approach to discourse analysis: speech act theory (Ch. 3), interactional sociolinguistics (Ch. 4), the ethnography of communication (Ch. 5), pragmatics (Ch. 6), conversation analysis (Ch. 7), and variation analysis (Ch. 8). Each chapter begins with a general introduction to the approach. Schiffrin discusses the origin of the approach, which usually lies outside of linguistics, in fields such as philosophy, sociology, and anthropology, and she 148 Links & Letrers 3, 1996 Reviews shows how this origin influences what research questions are posed under that approach and what methods are employed to answer them. This introduction is then followed by an extensive, detailed analysis of data, in which Schiffrin demonstrates how the particular approach can be applied to the study of a given issue. The issues on which she concentrates are question-answ- er sequences (in Chapters 3:4, and 5) and referring expressions (Chapters 6, 7, and 8). She also discusses other interesting issues, such as: the social significance of speaking for another (Chapter 4); the different functions of auestions in different types of interviews (Chapter 5); the function of «there + BE + ITEM» structures in conversations (Chapter 7); and the differences between lists and narratives in discourse (Chapter 8). Each chapter then ends with a series of exercises students can do for further practice. Some of these exercises are quite useful for reviewing the content of the chauter. while others are more ambitious ' ' in scope and more closely resemble topics for term papers. Over all, however, the exercises are quite good: well-formulated, interesting, and worthwhile. Part 111, the Conclusion, is made up of four chapters. In the first three chapters, Schiffrin demonstrates that, in studving discourse, one cannot analyze one language-related issue in isolation from other complementary issues. In Chapter 9, she shows that each approach discussed in the book concerns itself, of necessity, with both structure and function, regardless of whether the approach is primarily structurally-oriented or functionallyoriented. In Chapter 10, she shows that the approaches need to study both text and context in carrying out analyses, though the definition of «context» varies according to the approach, and these differing definitions play a significant role in determining how analyses are carried out. In Chapter 11, Schiffrin shows how the nature of discourse is intertwined with the process of communication, though the actual model of communication assumed under specific approaches may differ. Finally, in Chapter 12, «Conclusion: Language as Social Interaction,~ Schiffrin addresses the problem of how to develop a theoretical framework which could unify the myriad approaches to discourse. After reviewing the differences among the various approaches, she develops three lines of argument to demonstrate what they have in common. First, she assetts that, although they may be governed by different underlying assumptions, they are al1 united by a shared one: the idea of language as interaction. She supports this claim by showing how, in one way or another, each approach incorporates this idea into its theory and methods. Second, she puts together a list of underlying principles which al1 approaches to discourse seem to share, emphasizing at the same time the descriptive rather than prescriptive nature of this list. Finally, she says that al1 approaches to discourse yield results that can be joined together in a common effort to answer three research questions: how social and linguistic resources differentiate a discourse from a random sequence of sentences; how our understanding of utterances in discourse contribute to our knowledge of language; and how social and linguistic resources are distributed throughout a speech community and across speech communities. Schiffrin ends the book with a cal1 for increasing the interdisciplinary nature of discourse analysis. In effect, she says that discourse analysis should return to its roots. She exhorts researchers to step out of the realm of linguistics and seek inspiration and knowledge of the world in other areas in the study of human thought, psychology, and social behavior, and then apply what they have discovered to a linguistic analysis of discourse. This Reviews Links & Letters 3, 1996 149 rnay seern like a rather weak conclusion, in that one would think that discourse analysts would naturally feel the need to familiarize thernselves with the work being done in these fields, especially the research that touches directly or indirectly on their own interests. However, she rnay feel that the current acadernic system does not foster this interdisciplinarianisrn enough and that she has to explicitly te11 researchers in discourse to be wary of overspecialization and of the tendency not to see the forest for the trees. Over all, however, this book is very good. As a pedagogical tool, it will prove itself invaluable to students in discourse analysis. It also has things to say to seasoned veterans in the field. It ~rovides the reader with a solid, well-inforrned perspective on the process and praxis of discourse analvsis and constitutes another irnportant step on the road to developing a unified, and uni&ing, theory of discourse. Jarnes L. McCullough Departarnent de Filologia Anglesa i de Germanística. Universitat Autbnoma de Barcelona & Facultat d'Hurnanitats Universitat Pornpeu Fabra, Barcelona Alessandro DURANTI and Charles GOODWIN. Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. viii +363 pages. The editors of Rethinking context: Language as an interactive phenomenon, Alessandro Duranti and Charles Goodwin, successfully bring together research traditions on context that include perspectives frorn ethnornethodology, hurnan interaction, the ethnography of speaking, and conversation analysis. In doing so, they achieve the two objectives stated in their excellent introduction, narnely to serve as a point of encounter for these different perspectives, and to illustrate how the study of context can be approached frorn the fields of Sociology, Anthropology and Linguistics. The authors in this volurne contribute to the study of context with articles both on theory and practice. In order to pide the first time reader, a broad classification of the contributions can be rnade according to: (a) theoretical studies; (b) indexicality; (c) context creating strategies, and (d) case studies. (a) Theoretical studies. The main theoretical contributions are by Gurnperz, Schegloff, Kendon, and the prelirninary introduction by A. Duranti and C. Goodwin. Gumperz applies his contextualization cues to cross-cul- tural conversation, pointing out that rnisunderstanding occurs when participants do not realize that cultures have different strategies for the sarne conversational goal. Schegloff describes how the rneaning of an utterance is achieved by tying it to the previous speaker's turn. In this fashion talk becornes context for further talk, an aspect also analyzed by Schegloff in storytelling and by Baurnan in narratives. Kendon rnakes use of Goffman's attentional tracks' 1. Attentional tracks refer to the different ways in which participants organize their attention. Goffman distinguishes a main story-line track, a directional-line track, which serves to organize the main stoiy-line track (¡.e., a change of alignment), and disatrend tracks which are events that are officially treated as irrelevant to the activity in progress. A more detailed analysis is given in Goffman's Frame Analysis (Goffman 1974).