Women Talk
Conversation Between Women Friends
1. Edition October 1996
344 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISBN:
978-0-631-18253-5
John Wiley & Sons
This book challenges the age-old myth that women's talk is trivial and unimportant. Drawing on a corpus of spontaneous conversation between friends, Jennifer Coates demonstrates the richness and complexity of the language used in such talk, focusing on women's use of hedges, questions and repetition.
Acknowledgements vii
Notes on the Transcription of the Conversations x
Transcription Conventions xii
1 'This is on tape you know' 1
The origins of the book
2 'She's just a very very special person to
me' 16
Talk and women's friendship
3 'We never stop talking' 44
Talk and women's friendships
4 'We talk about everything and anything'
68
An overview of the conversations
5 'D'you know what my mother did
recently?' 94
Telling our stories
6 'The feminine shape ... is more melding in
together' 117
The organization of friendly talk
7 'You know so I mean I probably ...'
152
Hedges and hedging
8 'It was dreadful wasn't it?'
174
Women and questions
9 'I just kept drinking and drinking and
drinking' 203
Repetition and textual coherence
10 'Thank god I'm a woman' 232
The construction of differing femininities
11 'Talk's absolutely fundamental'
263
Being a friend
Appendices 287
Notes 297
Bibliography 311
Index 320
Notes on the Transcription of the Conversations x
Transcription Conventions xii
1 'This is on tape you know' 1
The origins of the book
2 'She's just a very very special person to
me' 16
Talk and women's friendship
3 'We never stop talking' 44
Talk and women's friendships
4 'We talk about everything and anything'
68
An overview of the conversations
5 'D'you know what my mother did
recently?' 94
Telling our stories
6 'The feminine shape ... is more melding in
together' 117
The organization of friendly talk
7 'You know so I mean I probably ...'
152
Hedges and hedging
8 'It was dreadful wasn't it?'
174
Women and questions
9 'I just kept drinking and drinking and
drinking' 203
Repetition and textual coherence
10 'Thank god I'm a woman' 232
The construction of differing femininities
11 'Talk's absolutely fundamental'
263
Being a friend
Appendices 287
Notes 297
Bibliography 311
Index 320
"Coates's book is an extraordinary study of the discourse of female
friendships, based on recordings of a large number of
naturally-occurring same-sex conversations among female and (for
comparison) male friends, supplemented by ethnographic interviews
with the same and other women, and analyzed by means of discourse
analysis ... In empirical terms, Coates has provided a detailed
analysis of the linguistic strategies making up this discourse of
solidarity, the collaborative floor." Bent Preisler, University
of Roskilde
"While this text is important reading for specialists in
discourse, it is accessible to lay readers as well, so it is both
an important research text as well as a good tool to use in
introducing students to discourse analysis" Timothy Frazer,
Western Illinois University
"Jennifer Coates celebrates and describes friendships and talk
among women; at the same time, she provides an argument for
feminist ethnographic research methods. She writes a clear,
detailed and rich study based on the transcripts of 20
conversations among women, and on the transcripts of interviews
with 15 women .... Women Talk is likely to become a pivotal
publication.....This book offers a very useful conversation about
women friends' talk." Cheris Kramarae, University of
Illinois
friendships, based on recordings of a large number of
naturally-occurring same-sex conversations among female and (for
comparison) male friends, supplemented by ethnographic interviews
with the same and other women, and analyzed by means of discourse
analysis ... In empirical terms, Coates has provided a detailed
analysis of the linguistic strategies making up this discourse of
solidarity, the collaborative floor." Bent Preisler, University
of Roskilde
"While this text is important reading for specialists in
discourse, it is accessible to lay readers as well, so it is both
an important research text as well as a good tool to use in
introducing students to discourse analysis" Timothy Frazer,
Western Illinois University
"Jennifer Coates celebrates and describes friendships and talk
among women; at the same time, she provides an argument for
feminist ethnographic research methods. She writes a clear,
detailed and rich study based on the transcripts of 20
conversations among women, and on the transcripts of interviews
with 15 women .... Women Talk is likely to become a pivotal
publication.....This book offers a very useful conversation about
women friends' talk." Cheris Kramarae, University of
Illinois
Jennifer Coates isis Professor of English Language and Linguistics at University of Surrey, Roehampton.
