Metalanguage in Interaction

Metalanguage in Interaction is about the crystallization of metalanguage employed throughout interaction into the discourse markers which permeate talk. Based on close analysis of naturally-occurring Hebrew conversation, it is a synchronic study of the grammaticization of discourse markers, a phenomenon until now mostly studied from a diachronic perspective. It constitutes the first monograph in the fields of Hebrew interactional linguistics and Hebrew discourse markers. The book first presents what is unique to the present approach to discourse markers and gives them an operational definition. Discourse markers are explored as a system, illuminating their patterning in terms of function, structure, and the moments in interaction at which they are employed. Next, detailed analysis of four Hebrew discourse markers illuminates not only the functions and grammaticization patterns of these markers, but also what they reveal about quintessential aspects of Israeli society, identity, and culture. The conclusion discusses commonalities and differences in the grammaticization patterns of the four markers, and relates the grammaticization of discourse markers from interaction to projectability in discourse.

Beverly A. Lewin, Tel Aviv University, in Functions of Language, Vol. 19:1 (2012):
I think this book will be interesting to anyone involved in determining how language works in 'real life'. In addition to linguists, scholars interested in cross-cultural communication, Israeli culture, and the evolution and uses of discourse markers in any language will find this book enlightening. The major contribution here is the combination of a study of discourse markers as such with a real-time description of their absorption into a new (or newly revived) language in a newly created society. We can see discourse markers in their formative stage and look forward to a future study in, say, 50 years' time.