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Deborah Schiffrin

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Deborah Sue Schiffrin (May 30, 1951 – July 20, 2017)[1] was an American linguist who researched areas of discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, producing seminal work on the topic of English discourse markers.[2][3][4]

Born and raised in Philadelphia,[5] she earned a B.A. in sociology from Temple University (1972),[6] an MA in sociology also from Temple University (1975),[7] and her PhD in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania (1982) under the supervision of William Labov.[8] Schiffrin taught at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and at the University of California in Berkeley California.[9]

Throughout her career, Schiffrin wrote four books, edited five books, published over 51 articles and book chapters,[9] and supervised 44 successful Ph.D. dissertations, plus acted as a reader on 35 more.[10] She served on the faculty at Georgetown University from 1982 to 2013 teaching sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and pragmatics, serving as chair of the department from 2003 to 2009.[6] As department chair, Schiffrin designed the department's Masters in Language and Communication program.[6]

Schiffrin served on the editorial board of academic journals including Language in Society, Journal of Pragmatics, Language and Communication, Discourse Processes, Pragmatics, Discourse Studies, and Storyworlds,[11] as well as the John Benjamins Publishing Company's academic book series Pragmatics and Beyond New Series.[12]

From personal words spoken with Alexandra Johnston, Schiffrin stated that the three main influential people of her academic career were, Noam Chomsky, William Labov, and Erving Goffman.[9] Thus, her areas of interest included sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, language interaction, narrative analysis, grammar in interaction, language and identity, and discourse and history.[9] Her expertise however lay within discourse markers.[9]

Discourse markers

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Schiffrin's main area of study was discourse markers.[9] She looked at several different characteristics of discourse markers including: syntactic position, grammatical, stress, phonological reduction, and tone.[13] She conducted her analysis by interviewing primarily Jewish Americans in Philadelphia about their lives.[9] Her interview methods consisted of oral narratives produced by the participants,[9] (for more detail on Shiffrin's work with narrative analysis see the following section below).

Narrative analysis and discourse analysis

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Schiffrin contributed to the understanding of both narrative analysis and discourse analysis by analyzing oral narratives produced by various Jewish Americans living in the Philadelphia area.[9] These oral narratives consisted of naturally occurring stories in everyday interactions, life stories, and oral histories.[9] She analyzed these different types of oral narratives for features of argument, sociolinguistic construction of identity, the retelling (how a single story is retold for different situations and/or purposes), how grammar serves communication, and change over time (how the story is retold over time and/if features of the story are changed).[9]

In the 1990s Schiffrin and a team received a grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the different ways that people indicate what they are communicating, in which Schiffrin served as lead investigator.[9] From this investigative work Schiffrin developed and published her book Approaches to Discourse in 1994.

Approaches to Discourse (1994)

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Approaches to Discourse (1994) exemplifies how discourse analysis uses methods from other disciplines, besides just linguistics, including anthropology, sociology, and philosophy.[9] The book compares and contrasts several different approaches of linguistic analysis in relation to discourse including: speech theory, pragmatics, conversation analysis, ethnography, interactional sociolinguistics, and variation analysis.[9] Within each approach described, Schiffrin includes her own analysis of the narratives used above in order to illustrate the similarities and differences of the various approaches.[9]

Death

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Dr. Schiffrin died on July 20, 2017, aged 66. At the time of her death, she was living in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children.[9] She was survived by her husband, Dr. Louis Scavo, and their children, David and Laura Scavo, of Bethesda, Maryland.[14]

Speeches and addresses

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  • 1981 Some relationships between discourse order and coherence. University of Pennsylvania, Cognitive Science Colloquium.
  • 1982 Some semantic and pragmatic functions of discourse markers. Washington Linguistics Society, Washington D.C.
  • 1984 Pragmatic coordinators of talk. University of Pennsylvania, Linguistics Colloquium.
  • 1985 The empirical basis of discourse pragmatics. Ferguson-Greenberg Lecture Series in Sociolingusitcs and Language Universals. Stanford University.
  • 1985 Framing truth and sincerity in argument. Panel on "Frame Analysis" (organized by Bambi Schieffelin) American Anthropological Association Meetings, Washington D.C.
  • 1985 The work of our words: From meaning to action. "Vital Signs" Series in Semiotics. Johns Medical Institutions.
  • 1987 Sociolinguistic approaches to discourse: Toward a synthesis and expansion. Keynote Address at New Ways of Analyzing Variation XVI.
  • 1990 The proximal/distal temporal axis. Northwestern University, Linguistics Colloquium.
  • 1990 Variation in anaphoric then. Stanford University, Linguistics Colloquium. University of California, Davis, Linguistics Colloquium.
  • 1991 Approaches to topic in discourse. Keynote speaker at 26th Annual Mid-America Linguistics Conference, Oklahoma.
  • 1991 Clause order and discourse structure. University of Delaware, Linguistics.
  • 1992/1991 Everyday descriptions: The structure of lists in discourse. University of California, Berkeley, Cognitive Science Colloquium.
  • 1992 Sociolinguistic studies of narrative. A Quarter century retrospective in honor of William Labov's Social Stratification of English in New York City' Annual Meeting of American Dialect Society Tribute to William Labov, Philadelphia PA.
  • 1992 Deixis and topic in discourse. University of California, Berkeley, Linguistics Colloquium.
  • 1993 The transformation of experience and identity in narrative. University of Colorado, Boulder, Linguistics Colloquium.
  • 1993 Genre and topic. Stanford University, Linguistics Colloquium.
  • 1995 Narrative as self-portrait. Georgetown University Linguistics Society I, Washington D.C.
  • 1996 The interactive construction of space discourse. Discourse, language and conceptual structure II, SUNY Buffalo.
  • 1996 Participation frameworks in argument. Georgetown Linguistics Society II.
  • 1997 Locating 'there' in language, text, and interaction. University of Southern California Linguistics colloquium. Keynote address NWAVE XXVI, Quebec City, Canada.
  • 1998 Identity in a Holocaust survivor's life story Panel on "language and Identity," AAAL, Seattle Washington.
  • 1999 Narrative and memory in Holocaust discourse. Conference on Narrative and Memory, Georgetown University.
  • 2000 The past and future of discourse analysis. "Plenoquium," at NWAVE XXVIII, East Lansing, Michigan.
  • 2000 A Linguistic approach to oral histories. Fellows' Seminar, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  • 2001 Language and history: The Narrative connection. Georgetown University Roundtable on Language and Linguistics.
  • 2003 Redoing Structure to retell a story. Panel on Discourse and Grammar (organized by Deborah Tannan), Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics.
  • 2003 Changing participation frameworks in a retold narrative. Panel on Positioning (Organized by Michael Bamberg) at American Association of Applied Linguistics, Annual Conference, Washington D.C.
  • 2004 Life, language and the pursuit of narrative. LISO, University of California, Santa Barbara.
  • 2005 Saying it again. Goldtrap. Talk in Humanities, Iowa State University.
  • 2007 The "local" and "global" in Holocaust oral histories. Georgetown Linguistic Society: Language and Globalization Panel on Transnational Discourse. Georgetown University.
  • 2007 Old Languages in New Stories, Transcending Boundaries: Jewish Languages, Identities and Cultures, Georgetown University; Society for the Study of Narrative, International Meeting, Washington D.C.

Publications (selected)

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  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1974. Handwork as ceremony: The case of the handshake. Semiotica, 12(3). 189–202 (Reprinted in A. Kendon (Ed.). (1981). Nonverbal Communication, interaction, and gesture. The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1977. Opening Encounters. American Sociological Review. 42(4), 671–691
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1980. Meta-talk: Organizational and evaluative brackets in discourse. Sociological Inquiry 50(3–4), pp. 199–236.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1981. Tense variation in narrative. Language, pp. 45–62.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1984. Jewish argument as sociability. Language in society 13(3), pp. 311–335.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1985a. Conversational coherence: the role of well. Language, pp. 640–667.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1985b. Everyday argument: The organization of diversity in talk. Handbook of discourse analysis 3, pp. 35–46.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1986. Functions of and in discourse. Journal of Pragmatics 10(1), pp. 41–66.
  • Schiffirin, Deborah. 1987. Discourse Markers. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1988. Discourse markers [15][16]
  • Fasold, Ralph and Deborah Schiffrin, eds. 1989. Linguistic Change and Variation, benjamins.com; accessed July 30, 2017.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1990. The management of a co-operative self during argument: The role of opinions and stories. Conflict talk. pp. 241–59. Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press. (Reprinted in J. Corner and J. Hawthorn (Eds.). (1993). Communication studies: A reader. London, England: Edward Arnold.)
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1994. Approaches to discourse. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1996a. Interactional sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics and language teaching 4. pp. 307–28.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1996b. Narrative as self-portrait: Sociolinguistic constructions of identity. Language in society 25(2). 167–203.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 1998. Approaches to discourse. Journal of Pragmatics 3(29). 355–359.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 2001a. Discourse markers: Language, meaning, and context. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis 1. 54–75. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 2001b. Language, experience and history: What "happened" in World War II. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5(3), 323–352.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 2001c. Language and public memorial: "America's concentration camps." Discourse and Society, 12, 505–534.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 2002. Mother and friends in a Holocaust survivor oral history. Language in Society, 31(3), 309–354.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 2006a. In other words: Variation in reference and narrative. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  • Schiffrin, D. 2006. In other words: Variation in reference and narrative, vol 21, Cambridge University Press.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. 2006b. From linguistic reference to social identity. In De Fina, Anna, Deborah Schiffrin & Michael Bamberg. 2006c. Discourse and identity, vol 23. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Bamberg, Michael, Anna De Fina & Deborah Schiffrin. 2007. Selves and identities in narrative and discourse, vol 9. John Benjamins Publishing.
  • Bamberg, Michael, Anna De Fina & Deborah Schiffrin. 2011. Discourse and identity construction. Handbook of identity theory and research, pp. 177–99, Springer Publishing.
  • Tannen, Deborah, Heidi E. Hamilton & Deborah Schiffrin. 2015. The handbook of discourse analysis, John Wiley & Sons.

References

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  1. ^ "Deborah Sue Schiffrin: View Obituary".
  2. ^ Simone Müller, 2005. Discourse Markers in Native and Non-native English Discourse. John Benjamins. p. 29.
  3. ^ Claudia Marcela Chapetón Castro. “The Use and Functions of Discourse Markers in EFL Classroom Interaction” [Los usos y las funciones de los marcadores del discurso en la interacción en el aula de inglés como lengua extranjera] Profile, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp. 57–77 (2009).
  4. ^ Lieven Buysse, 2010. Discourse Markers in the English of Flemish University Students. In, Witzcak-Plisiecka, Iwona (Ed.), Pragmatic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics, Vol. 1: Speech Actions in Theory and Applied Studies. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, p. 461.
  5. ^ Alexandra Johnston, "Deborah Schiffrin", The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, November 5, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c "In Memoriam: Deborah Schiffrin". Linguistic Society of America. Georgetown University Linguistics Department. July 21, 2017.
  7. ^ "Background". faculty.georgetown.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  8. ^ Deborah, Schiffrin (July 30, 1982). "Discourse Markers: Semantic Resource for the Construction of Conversation". Repository.upenn.edu: 1–484. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Johnston, Alexandra (2001). "Schiffrin,Deborah (1951–)". The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics: 5059–5062.
  10. ^ "Deborah Schiffrin CV". Faculty.georgetown.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
  11. ^ Fabula, Équipe de recherche. "Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies". Fabula.org. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  12. ^ "The Dynmaics of Language Use" (PDF). Npu.edu.ua. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
  13. ^ Muller, Simone (2005). Jucker, Andreas (ed.). Discourse Markers in Native and Non-native English Discourse. Vol. 138. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-9027253811.
  14. ^ "In Memoriam: Deborah Schiffrin". Linguistic Society of America. July 21, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  15. ^ Schiffrin, Deborah (1988). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521357180. Retrieved 30 July 2017 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ "Change of Subject: I mean to say..." Blogs.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
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