Women Talk

Jennifer Coates isis Professor of English Language and Linguistics at University of Surrey, Roehampton.

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