Course Syllabus
Lecture 1 Conversational Style:
The Power of Language in Your Life
Lecture 2 Linguistic Signals, Devices, and Rituals
Lecture 3 Framing and Reframing:
How Metamessages Frame Meaning
Lecture 4 Power and Solidarity:
The Interplay of Hierarchy and Connection
Lecture 5 Indirectness: The Ways and Whys We
Communicate Meaning Not in So Many Words
Lecture 6 The Rhythms of Talk:
Pacing, Pausing, Silence, and Interruption
Lecture 7 Listenership: Conversation as a Joint Production
Lecture 8 Agonism: Programmed Contentiousness,
Ritualized Opposition
Lecture 9 Gender: Women and Men Talking
Lecture 10 Apologies in Private and Public Contexts
Lecture 11 Talking at Work: Institutional and Interactional Power
Lecture 12 The Classroom: Talking in School
Lecture 13 Politics: Talk in the Public Arena
Lecture 14 What to Do with What You’ve Learned
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The following series of lectures draws on linguistics, or the scientific study of language, to show the many ways in which language has a profound effect upon human relationships. These lectures address the various aspects and implications of what Professor Tannen calls “conversational style.” It also looks at the dynamics of specific situations such as the workplace and classroom where the role of conversational style is of particular importance.
A person’s conversational style includes far more than the words that he or she speaks. Each conversation is composed of contextual cues, unspoken messages, body language, and the rhythms of speech. For the most part, people communicate without a conscious focus on the subtleties of language. Through this course, the complexities of language, and all that language entails, will become more apparent.
A better understanding of language, of how we communicate, and of how our ways of communicating differ based on who we are talking to should lead not only to a better understanding of ourselves and of those with whom we have relationships, but should also lead to improved communication. Our language shapes our lives in numerous, complex ways. These lectures help us to make sense of our language and will help to improve our relationships with friends, spouses, and coworkers.
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Professor
Professor Deborah Tannen
(Georgetown University)
Deborah Tannen holds the distinguished rank of University Professor at Georgetown University, where she has been on the faculty of the linguistics department since 1979. Her book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation was on The New York Times best-seller list for nearly four years...
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Course Forum
Course Final Exam
Social Science