Can We Talk? How Conversational Style Affects Conversations and Relationships
Single Session Class | Registration opens 8/28/2026 9:00 AM EDT
Wouldn’t this be a better world if we all just said what we mean? We do, but we do so in our own conversational styles-- all the linguistic aspects of how we say what we mean. Conversational styles tend to vary by a whole host of influences, including culture, ethnicity, gender, class, and geographic region. This lecture explains the concept of conversational style, showing how ways of speaking can differ, and how such differences can affect conversations--and relationships--among friends, family, romantic partners, and colleagues at work.
Deborah Tannen
Deborah Tannen is Distinguished University Professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University. Best known among her many books is You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly four years, including eight months as No. 1, and has been translated into 31 languages. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post,?The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and The Harvard Business Review. She has appeared on Oprah, The Colbert Report, 20/20, Good Morning America, PBS NewsHour, Nightline and NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Fresh Air.