Although there are many studies on linguistic variation as it relates to both "traditional" and "new" media such as film, TV, newspapers, and online behavior, little has been written about spoken performance in overt but face-to-face conversations. This book bridges that gap, and focuses on an "in between" zone between casual face-to-face conversations and the type of heavily scripted language of most traditional spoken media. The book draws upon a substantial amount of empirical data in its investigation of the role played by performance texts in creating, maintaining and challenging...

Although there are many studies on linguistic variation as it relates to both "traditional" and "new" media such as film, TV, newspapers, and online behavior, little has been written about spoken performance in overt but face-to-face conversations. This book bridges that gap, and focuses on an "in between" zone between casual face-to-face conversations and the type of heavily scripted language of most traditional spoken media. The book draws upon a substantial amount of empirical data in its investigation of the role played by performance texts in creating, maintaining and challenging...