Everyday Talk: Building and Reflecting Identities

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.

Karen Tracy, PhD, is Professor of Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she teaches courses on how everyday talk builds and reflects identities and on discourse analysis and ethnographic methods. She also conducts special-topics seminars that examine communicative trouble in the justice system, in higher education, and in meetings of governance groups. Dr. Tracy is the author of more than 80 journal articles and book chapters, as well as several books. Currently she is at work on a book examining the discourse in legislative hearings and state supreme courts disputing who can marry. She is past editor of the journal Research on Language and Social Interaction.

Jessica S. Robles, PhD, is a lecturer in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she teaches courses related to language and social interaction, interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and discourse analysis. She has also taught special-topics courses on moral practices and problems in everyday talk. Dr. Robles's research involves the role of moral issues and differences in interactional trouble. Her recent work includes studies of interactional activities practices, such as gifting occasions and how people's talk associates moral categories with others.