Includes bibliographies and index.

Preface -- 1. Discourse as Interaction in Society / Teun A. Van Dijk -- 2. Discourse Pragmatics / Shoshana Blum-Kulka -- 3. Conversation Analysis: An Approach to the Study of Social Action as Sense Making Practices / Anita Pomerantz and B.J. Fehr -- 4. Institutional Dialogue / Paul Drew and Marja-Leena Sorjonen -- 5. Gender in Discourse / Candace West, Michelle M. Lazar and Cheris Kramarae -- 6. Discourse, Ethnicity, Culture and Racism / Teun A. van Dijk, Stella Ting-Toomey, Geneva Smitherman and Denise Troutman -- 7. Organizational Discourse / Dennis K. Mumby and Robin P. Clair -- 8. Discourse and Politics / Paul Chilton and Christina Schäffner -- 9. Discourse and Culture / Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka -- 10. Critical Discourse Analysis / Norman Fairclough and Ruth Wodak -- 11. Applied Discourse Analysis / Britt-Luise Gunnarsson -- Appendix: Transcribing Conventions

"How do people engage in, and competently manage discourse and interaction with others? How do members of various groups speak among each other and how do they communicate with people of other groups or cultures? What is the role of discourse in the perpetuation or legitimation of sexism or racism? Whether in informal, everyday conversations or professional dialogues, people do many things while they are speaking or writing. Discourse as Social Interaction focuses on the fundamental functions of text and talk: interactional, social, political and cultural. It illuminates discourses as not merely form and meaning, but also as action, as both shaping and being shaped by culture." (Book Cover)