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.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