This book argues that language use is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners, writers and readers, perform their individual actions in coordination.



This book, first published in 1996, argues that language use is more than the sum of a speaker speaking and a listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners - writers and readers - perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. The author argues strongly that language use embodies both individual and social processes.