Deborah Schiffrin is Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown
University. Her major publications include Discourse Markers
(1987), Approaches to Discourse (Blackwell 1994), and
Language, Text and Interaction (forthcoming).
Deborah Tannen is a University Professor and Professor of
Linguistics at Georgetown University. Her books include Talking
Voices (1989), Conversational Style (1984), You Just
Don’t Understand (1990), Gender and Discourse (1994),
The Argument Culture (1999), and, most recently, I Only
Say This Because I Love You (2001).Heidi E. Hamilton is
Associate Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She is
the author of Conversations with an Alzheimer’s
Patient (1994), and Discourse Analysis Across
Disciplines (forthcoming), and editor of Language and
Communication in Old Age (1999).