Perspectives on silence Ed. by Deborah Tannen and Muriel Saville- Troike (review)

BOOK NOTICES 731 pragmatic connectives' (179-93); K. Sajavaara , 'Contrastive analysis and impromptu speech' (195-205); W. Hüllen, 'Observations related to impromptu elements in classroom discourse and to the function of such elements in foreign language teaching and learning' (20719 ); K. Dejean Le Féal, 'Why impromptu speech is easy to understand' (221-39); D. Seleskovitch , 'Impromptu speech and oral translation ' (241-53); A. KopczySiski, 'Effects of some characteristics of impromptu speech on conference interpreting' (255-66); B. Orestrom , 'When is it my turn to speak?' (267-76); D. Brazil, 'Impromptuness and intonation' (277-89); C. Thavenius, 'Exophora in English conversation' (291-305); G.Tottie & C. Paradis , 'From function to structure: Some pragmatic determinants of syntactic frequencies in impromptu speech' (307-17); A.-B. Stenstrom, 'Feedback' (319-40); B. Lonnqvist, 'The study of Russian impromptu speech in Soviet linguistics ' (341-53); B. Loman, 'Talsyntax' (355-61); B. Nordberg, 'FUMS' (363-70); and J. Lofstr óm, 'Sprâkdata' (371-76). It must have been an exciting and rewarding symposium. I particularly enjoyed Ostman's paper on pragmatic particles and his view that they imply impromptu speech 'by creating fragmentation and deviance from the Gricean Cooperative principle' (170). Déjean Le Féal's article is also of interest not only to students of speech but also to those teachers who believe that lecturing is a good way to impart knowledge . His advice clearly would be to throw away the text of your old lectures and depend upon no more than sketchy outlines: 'Ifwe accept the hypothesis that the division of speech-flow into short segments, acoustic relief and both accidental and deliberate redundancy all have as their origin the concomitance of the processes of ideation and expression in the impromptu speaker, then we must conclude that it is the presence of all these characteristics at one time (a necessary consequence of their common origin ) that helps the listener to understand the speaker's meaning' (237). Ifthis is hard to digest in written form, it may only serve to reinforce DLF's argument that impromptu speech is actually easier to follow. This is probably not an easy volume to purchase ; it may be rare even in research libraries. But all those who are interested in the study of real-time language will find it rewarding. It would probably have been even more so to attend the symposium. The papers read well but would have been very stimulating to hear—especially if impromptu speech is as effective as the participants would have us believe. [Ronald K. S. Macaulay, Pitzer College.] Perspectives on silence. Ed. by Deborah Tannen and Muriel SavilleTroike . Norwood, NJ: Albex, 1985. Pp. xviii, 251. Cloth $32.50, paper $18.95. Like many academic anthologies, this book falls short ofits promises but manages to present a few interesting and provocative articles. The editors have tried to organize the contributions along two dimensions, moving from the micro to the macro level and also from the familiar to the exotic; but this does not serve to resolve the inconsistencies among the papers. M. SavilleTroike 's conceptual overview (Ch. 1) is redundant , repeating material from the introduction and insisting on distinctions (e.g. non-verbal vs. non-vocal) which most of the articles ignore. The first topical section contains four articles on pausing and hesitation. R. Scollon (Ch. 2) presents some interesting observations on misunderstandings in communication that stem from differing interpretations of silence held by Athabaskans and non-Athabaskans. His criticism of the work of C. L. Crown & S. Feldstein seems well taken—but would have been more effective ifplaced after their contribution (Ch. 3), which summarizes several experimental studies of the mutual determination of silence and vocalization. A. G. Walker's article describes how the hesitancy of witnesses during depositions affects lawyers' impressions oftheir effectiveness and truthfulness. It is based on rich data (W was a court reporter); but the findings would seem to be limited to this specific situation which is, as W notes, 'a social setting of great constraint' (73). W. Chafe's article, based on the responses of twenty women to a standardized sound film (the familiar 'Pear stories'), seems to be more readily generalizable and much more theoretically sophisticated...