Biographical note

Deborah Schiffrin is Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. Her major publications include Discourse Markers (1987), Approaches to Discourse (Blackwell 1994), and Language, Text and Interaction (forthcoming). Deborah Tannen is a University Professor and Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. Her books include Talking Voices (1989), Conversational Style (1984), You Just Don't Understand (1990), Gender and Discourse (1994), The Argument Culture (1999), and, most recently, I Only Say This Because I Love You (2001). Heidi E. Hamilton is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She is the author of Conversations with an Alzheimer s Patient (1994), and Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines (forthcoming), and editor of Language and Communication in Old Age (1999).