The Language of Conversation

Book excerpt: This accessible satellite textbook in the Routledge Intertext series offers students hands-on practical experience of textual analysis of conversation. Written in a clear, user-friendly style by an experienced teacher, it combines practical activities with texts, accompanied by commentaries and suggestions for further study. It can be used individually or in conjunction with the series core textbook Working With Texts Aimed at A-Level and beginning undergraduate students, The Language of Conversation: * Analyses exactly what happens during conversation and why * Discusses the structure, purpose, and features of conversation * Explores the relationship between speaker and listener * Examines different kinds of conversation, such as chatroom conversations, extracts from chatshows and everyday conversation * Provides a clear introduction to technical terms.