Discourse strategies By John J. Gumperz, and: Language and social identity Edited by John J. Gumperz (review)

REVIEWS953 -----, and Chris Corne. 1982. Isle de France Creole: Affinities and origins. Ann Arbor: Karoma. Chaudenson, Robert. 1974. Le lexique du parler créole de la Réunion. Paris: Champion . -----. 1979. Le français dans les îles de l'Océan Indien (Mascareignes et Seychelles). Le français hors de France, ed. by Albert Valdman, pp. 543-617. Paris: Champion. Goodman, Morris F. 1964. A comparative study of Creole French dialects. The Hague: Mouton. [Received 18 November 1983.] Discourse strategies. By John J. Gumperz. (Studies in interactional sociolinguistics , 1.) Cambridge: University Press, 1982. Pp. xii, 225. Cloth $29.95, paper $9.95. Language and social identity. Edited by John J. Gumperz. (Studies in interactional sociolinguistics, 2.) Cambridge: University Press, 1982. Pp. xi, 272. Cloth $34.50, paper $12.95. Reviewed by Deborah Schiffrin, Georgetown University* The first of these two collections of essays, DS, results from ten years of Gumperz's field research on verbal communication in Europe, India, and the United States. Although some essays have appeared elsewhere, their collection as the first volume in a new series not only increases their accessibility, but also provides readers with an opportunity to appreciate the cogency of G's arguments and the coherence of his views on language, culture, and society. G develops a sociolinguistic approach to the analysis of verbal communication that aims to account for participants' situated interpretation of communicative intent. This approach is used primarily in analysis of verbal communication in interracial settings (Blacks and Whites in the United States) and interethnic settings (Indians and British in England). The approach is extended in LSI (edited by G as the second volume of the same series) to additional analyses of Indian and British English ('Thematic structure and progression in discourse', by Gumperz, G. Aulakh, and H. Kaltman, 22-56; 'Discovering connections', by A. Mishra, 57-71; and 'Language and disadvantage', by T. C. Jupp, C. Roberts, and J. Cook-Gumperz, 232-56); to Black English ('Negotiating interpretations in interethnic settings', by M. Hansell and C. S. Ajirotutu , 85-94; 'Performance and ethnic style injob interviews', by F. N. Akinnaso and C. S. Ajirotutu 119-44); and to studies of Chinese English ('Inscrutability revisited', by L. W. L. Young, 72-84), Filipino English ('Fact and inference in courtroom testimony', by Gumperz, 163-94), and West Indian English ('Interethnic communication in committee negotiations', by Gumperz and J. Cook-Gumperz, 145-62). Code-switching is examined in 'Negotiations of language choice in Montreal' (by M. S. Heller, 108-18). Gender differences in verbal communication and situated interpretation are also analysed (1A cultural * I thank Deborah Tannen, as well as the students in my Spring 1983 class in Conversational analysis at Georgetown University, for fruitful discussion of both these books. 954LANGUAGE, VOLUME 60, NUMBER 4 (1984) approach to male-female miscommunication', by D. N. Maltz and R. A. Borker, 195-216), as are gender and ethnic differences ('Ethnic style in malefemale conversation', by D. Tannen, 217-31). The interpretive approach is also applied to the use of questions in interaction ('Strategies and counterstrategies in the use of yes-no questions in discourse', by A. Bennett, 95-107). The social reality of the communicative differences that are discussed is convincingly portrayed in all the LSI studies, but most strikingly where the data are derived from settings in which such differences have serious consequences for participants, e.g. job interviews, committee meetings (Akinnaso & Ajirotutu; Gumperz & Cook-Gumperz). The applicability of the approach is demonstrated in the description of courtroom testimonies (by Gumperz) and job training programs (by Jupp et al.) Collected in DS and LSI is a total of 23 articles. Many of the same concepts are drawn upon in different studies, and some of the same methods of analysis are used. Chapters contain cross-references and occasional duplication. For these reasons, I will review the two volumes as part of a single effort—mentioning individual studies as they become relevant to discussion of particular concepts or methods, or as they illustrate particular points. Central to G's work is the concept of contextualization cue, defined as 'any feature of linguistic form that contributes to the signaling of contextual presuppositions' (DS, 131). Cues cut across levels...