Speech Play - (Anniversary Collection) by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From riddles to proverbs, from jingles to jokes, from mnemonics to pig Latin to dueling with words, speech play is central to social life in all of its forms. These essays describe a variety of speech play genres, formulate the "rules" for play with language, and discuss the relevance of speech play to current issues in linguistic theory, cognitive development, and the ethnography of speaking.

Review Quotes

"Elucidates the concept and the nature of speech play from several vantage points . . . a welcome contribution to the rapidly growing literature on ethnography of speaking."-- "American Anthropologist"