I am on the faculty of the Rhetoric Program at Carnegie Mellon University, where I teach courses in discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, style, and research methods. I am currently Editor of the journal Language in Society, and I am working on a project about the enregisterment of dialect in Pittsburgh. I am interested in the connections between discourse and place and in the role of the individual in language and linguistic theory. My previous work has been in these areas: - Discourse structure and function Forms and functions of narrative; women's and men's narrative; functions of repetition in discourse and their implications for linguistic theory; cross-cultural study of rhetorical discourse; current work on the individual voice in linguistic and rhetorical theory, on the rhetorical construction of place and local identity through discourse about local speech in Pittsburgh. - Sociolinguistics. Regional/social variation in discourse structure and strategy; interactional sociolinguistics; ethnography of communication; gender and regional variation in discourse style; methodology in qualitative sociolinguistics; current work on urban North Midland English in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Editor, Language in Society, 2005-present. - Rhetoric, history and theory. Persuasive talk; cross-cultural study of persuasive styles in the U.S. and the Middle East; revised and edited my sister's doctoral thesis on journal-keeping for posthumous publication. You can find links to some of my forthcoming and published work on this site. If you would like a copy of anything that is not available here, whether for copyright reasons or because I haven't uploaded it yet, please don't hesitate to email me. (I cannot provide copies of books, unfortunately.)
Pittsburgh speech
“100% Authentic Pittsburgh”: Sociolinguistic authenticity and the linguistics of particularity, Indexing Authenticity (2013)
As Bucholtz (2003), Coupland (2007, pp. 25-26), and others have pointed out, what counts as...
Dialect Enregisterment in Performance, Journal of sociolinguistics (2011)
In recent work I have been exploring how one set of linguistic forms has become...
Making Pittsburghese: Communication technology, expertise, and the discursive construction of a regional dialect, Language and Communication (2011)
This paper explores how changing technologies for broadcast communication shape the expertise that comes into...
Pittsburghese shirts: Commodification and the enregisterment of an urban dialect, American Speech (2009)
This article considers a type of material artifact that circulates ideas about regional speech in...
Indexicality and Experience: Variation and Identity in Pittsburgh (with Scott F. Kiesling), Journal of Sociolinguistics (2008)
Discourse, place, and dialect
“100% Authentic Pittsburgh”: Sociolinguistic authenticity and the linguistics of particularity, Indexing Authenticity (2013)
As Bucholtz (2003), Coupland (2007, pp. 25-26), and others have pointed out, what counts as...
Dialect Enregisterment in Performance, Journal of sociolinguistics (2011)
In recent work I have been exploring how one set of linguistic forms has become...
Making Pittsburghese: Communication technology, expertise, and the discursive construction of a regional dialect, Language and Communication (2011)
This paper explores how changing technologies for broadcast communication shape the expertise that comes into...
Language and Geographical Space, Language and Space: An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation (2010)
The linguistic individual
Language, culture, and self in language learning, CALR Occasional Papers in Language and Urban Culture (1997)
Method
Dell Hymes and the Ethnography of Communication (with William Marcellino), The Sage Handbook of Sociolinguistics (2010)
New Questions for Chinese Discourse Studies: Language, Space, and Place, Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics (2010)
In the Profession: Choosing the Right Journal for your Manuscript, Journal of English Linguistics (2009)
Some Personal Reflections on Rhetoric and Interdisciplinary, Plenary speech for Rhetoric Society of America Institute, June 26, 2009 (2009)
Indexicality and Experience: Variation and Identity in Pittsburgh (with Scott F. Kiesling), Journal of Sociolinguistics (2008)
Discourse analysis for rhetorical studies
Making Pittsburghese: Communication technology, expertise, and the discursive construction of a regional dialect, Language and Communication (2011)
This paper explores how changing technologies for broadcast communication shape the expertise that comes into...
Reasons for Reason-Giving in a Public-opinion Survey (with Martha S. Cheng), Argumentation (2002)
Arguments with Khomeini: Rhetorical situation and persuasive style in cross-cultural perspective, Text (1986)
Gender and language
Community and Contest: Midwestern Men and Women Creating their Worlds in Conversational Storytelling, Gender and Conversational Interaction (1993)
Gender, politeness, and discourse management in same-sex and cross-sex opinion-poll interviews (with Kathleen M. Ferrara and Judith M. Bean), Journal of Pragmatics (1992)
Public-opinion polling
Reasons for Reason-Giving in a Public-opinion Survey (with Martha S. Cheng), Argumentation (2002)
Workplace reasons for saying you're sorry: Discourse Management and Apology in Telephone Interviews (with Judith Mattson Bean), Discourse processes (1994)
Gender, politeness, and discourse management in same-sex and cross-sex opinion-poll interviews (with Kathleen M. Ferrara and Judith M. Bean), Journal of Pragmatics (1992)
Individual style in an American public opinion survey: Personal performance and the ideology of referentiality, Language in society (1991)
Narrative
Social characteristics and self-expression in narrative, Journal of Narrative and Life History (1997)
Southern speech and self-expression in an African-American woman's story, Language Variety in the South Revisited (1997)
Community and Contest: Midwestern Men and Women Creating their Worlds in Conversational Storytelling, Gender and Conversational Interaction (1993)
Reviews
Review of Eckert and Rickford, Style and sociolinguistic variation, Journal of Sociolinguistics (2003)
Texas women
Uses of Southern-sounding speech by contemporary Texas women, Journal of Sociolinguistics (1999)
Sociolinguistic resources, individual identities, and public speech styles of Texas women, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology (1995)
Arabic discourse
'Orality' and discourse structrure in Modern Standard Arabic, Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics I (1990)
Linguistic Strategies and Cultural Styles for Persuasive Discourse, Language, Communication, and Culture: Current Directions (1989)
Repetition in discourse
Linguistic Strategies and Cultural Styles for Persuasive Discourse, Language, Communication, and Culture: Current Directions (1989)
Persuasion
Making Pittsburghese: Communication technology, expertise, and the discursive construction of a regional dialect, Language and Communication (2011)
This paper explores how changing technologies for broadcast communication shape the expertise that comes into...
Linguistic Strategies and Cultural Styles for Persuasive Discourse, Language, Communication, and Culture: Current Directions (1989)
Arguments with Khomeini: Rhetorical situation and persuasive style in cross-cultural perspective, Text (1986)
Apologizing
Workplace reasons for saying you're sorry: Discourse Management and Apology in Telephone Interviews (with Judith Mattson Bean), Discourse processes (1994)
Rhetoric
Making Pittsburghese: Communication technology, expertise, and the discursive construction of a regional dialect, Language and Communication (2011)
This paper explores how changing technologies for broadcast communication shape the expertise that comes into...
Some Personal Reflections on Rhetoric and Interdisciplinary, Plenary speech for Rhetoric Society of America Institute, June 26, 2009 (2009)
Linguistic Strategies and Cultural Styles for Persuasive Discourse, Language, Communication, and Culture: Current Directions (1989)
Media
“100% Authentic Pittsburgh”: Sociolinguistic authenticity and the linguistics of particularity, Indexing Authenticity (2013)
As Bucholtz (2003), Coupland (2007, pp. 25-26), and others have pointed out, what counts as...
Dialect Enregisterment in Performance, Journal of sociolinguistics (2011)
In recent work I have been exploring how one set of linguistic forms has become...