Framing in Discourse

by Deborah Tannen (Editor)

The concept of framing has been pivotal in research on social interaction among anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and linguists. This collection shows how the discourse analysis of frames can be applied to a range of social contexts. Tannen provides a seminal theoretical framework for conceptualizing the relationship between frames and schemas as well as a methodology for the discourse analysis of framing in interaction. Each chapter makes a unique theoretical contribution to frames theory while showing how discourse analysis can elucidate the linguistic means by which framing is accomplished in a particular interactional setting. Applied to such a wide range of contexts as a medical examination, psychotic discourse, gender differences in sermon performance, boys' "sportscasting" their own play, teasing among friends, a comparison of Japanese and American discussion groups, and sociolinguistic interviews, the discourse analysis of framing emerges here as a fruitful
new avenue for interaction analysis.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Deborah Tannen is best known as the author of You Just Don't Understand, which was on The New York Times Best Seller list for nearly four years years, including eight months as No. 1, and has been translated into 29 languages. It was also on best seller lists in Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Holland, and Hong Kong. This is the book that brought gender differences in communication style to the forefront of public awareness. Her book Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work , a New York Times Business Best Seller, does for the workplace what the earlier book did for women and men talking at home. She has also made a training video, Talking 9 to 5. Her book, The Argument Culture, received the Common Ground Book Award. Her book, I Only Say This Because I Love You: Talking to Your Parents, Partner, Sibs, and Kids When You're All Adults, received a Books for a Better Life Award. Her latest book, You're Wearing THAT?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation, was recently published in paperback by Ballantine; it spent ten weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List after its initial publication in 2006.

Deborah Tannen is a frequent guest on television and radio news and information shows. In connection with You're Wearing THAT? she appeared on 20/20, Good Morning America, the Today Show, the Rachael Ray Talk Show, the CBS Early Show, and on NPR's Morning Edition and the Diane Rehm show. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 48 Hours, CBS News, ABC World News Tonight, Oprah, CNN, Larry King, Hardball, Nightline, and NPR are among the major television and radio shows on which Dr. Tannen has appeared in connection with previous books. She has been featured in and written for most major newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today, People, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Tannen has lectured all over the world. Her audiences have included corporations such as Corning, Chevron, Motorola, Rolm (Siemens), McKinsey and Co., and Delta, as well as the Board of Trustees of The Wharton School and a gathering of United States senators and their spouses. Combining the results of years of research and observation with videotaped real-life footage of office interaction, Dr. Tannen gives her audiences a new framework for understanding what happens in conversations both in the workplace and at home.

In addition to her linguistic research and writing, Dr. Tannen has published poetry, short stories, and personal essays. Her first play, "An Act of Devotion," is included in The Best American Short Plays: 1993-1994. It was produced, together with her play "Sisters," by Horizons Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in 1995.

Deborah Tannen is on the linguistics department faculty at Georgetown University, where she is one of only two in the College of Arts and Sciences who hold the distinguished rank of University Professor. She has been McGraw Distinguished Lecturer at Princeton University, and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California, following a term in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. She has published twenty-one books and over 100 articles and is the recipient of five honorary doctorates. Dr. Tannen is a member of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation Board and the Board of Horizons Theatre.

Reviews

[Sydney Edlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my masters program in sociolinguistics and I would say that I have thought about or referenced its contents in my post-school life more than anything else I read in that program. This is partly because I am not employed as a linguist, but mostly because Tannen's writing style is clear and accessible, and her subject matter tends to be more broad and grossly applicable than much of the minutia that sociolinguists study. In particular, her chapter, "What's in a frame?", has really helped me communicate expectations and recognize what's really being said in a work setting (healthcare quality improvement analytics). Understanding that just because someone describes an event to you as habitual may not mean it actually is habitual has a huge impact on how one interprets healthcare troubles talk. The story of the pear tree video is a great way to illustrate that point to anyone, in any industry.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not being a linguist, I found this book to offer many helpful definitions and methodological insights while yet being highly digestible. The analyses are interesting by themselves and they "fit" nicely with my experience of everyday language. I have a sincere professional appreciation of the sympathetic analysis of the pediatric interview's multiple frames. As someone interested in cognition, the frame coherence of the schizophrenic's discourse was fascinating. The remainder of the analyses were enjoyable as well.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Tannen, but this book may beats framing into the ground.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Framing in Discourse was a required reading for one of my linguistics classes this year. I thought the research presented was, for the most part, interesting. This text was about how expectations and the framing of conversation changes an interaction. I really enjoyed the papers on gender and cultural differences in framing within different contexts.

However, I found the book to be repetitive overall. Because this book was a bound collection of multiple authors’ papers, the introduction section was pretty similar between all eight. And while I understand it was set up this way in order to incorporate everyone’s paper, I still found it to be repetitive. Because of this, it got boring. I couldn’t read much of this book in one sitting without my eyes glazing over. I could have done without the excessive definitions and explain actions of what frames are. But, if you are interested in the way people interact with one another and the expectations of events in a variety of different settings, check out this text because it binds a wide variety of framing topics.