The core of the book is a comparative analysis of markers within conversational discourse collected by Dr. Schiffrin during sociolinguistic fieldwork. The study concludes that markers provide contextual coordinates which aid in the production and interpretation of coherent conversation at both local and global levels of organization.

Acknowledgements; Intonation and transcription conventions; 1. Background: what is discourse?; 2. Prelude to analysis: definitions and data; 3. Questions: why analyze discourse markers?; 4. Oh: marker of information management; 5. Well: marker of response; 6. Discourse connectives: and, but, or; 7. So and because: markers of cause and result; 8. Temporal adverbs: now and then; 9. Information and participation: y'know and I mean; 10. Discourse markers: contextual coordinates of talk; Notes; References; Author index; Subject index.