Broadly considered, ethnographers of communication are interested in cultural descriptions of patterned uses of language and speech in groups, institutions, communities, or societies (Sherzer, 1977: 44-5). For ethnographers of cammunication, the speech event has been the major methodological unit of analysis (Baugh and Sherzer, 1984). Speech events are activities characterized by rules or norms for the use of speech and language (Hymes, 1972: 56). These activities are recognized by community members as "distinct wholes, separate from other types of discourse" (Gumperz 1972: 17), and may occur within specific temporal and spatial boundaries (Labov and Fanshel, 1977). As part of a larger investigation which examined child language therapy lessons as speech events (Kovarsky, 1989a), an analysis of certain discourse markers illuminated dimensions of adult-centered therapy to be considered in child-oriented intervention approaches.
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