First published in 1974, this collection of classic case studies in the ethnography of speaking had a formative influence on the field. No other volume has so successfully provided a broad, cross-cultural survey of the use, role, and function of language and speech in everyday life. The essays deal with: traditional societies in Native North, Middle, and South America, Africa, and Oceania; English, French, and Yiddish speaking communities in Europe and North America; Afro-American communities in North America and the Caribbean. Now reissued, the collection includes a major new Introduction by the editors that traces the subsequent development of the ethnography of speaking and indicates directions for further research.