Guiding Light in Discourse Studies

This tribute characterises the scholarly life of interactional sociolinguist Deborah Schiffrin (1951–2017), locating her contribution to the 1992 Berkeley Women and Language Conference (‘Gender displays among family, friends, and neighbors: taking the role of another’) within her lifelong exploration of the intricate interrelated workings of language, identity and the world. Debby’s deep understanding of linguistics and sociology undergirded and nurtured nuanced, multidimensional analyses of individual utterances in their connection to systematic patterns within larger communities of practice. Her broad, multifaceted and deep legacy in discourse studies inspires all who seek to examine identity as performed and situated within myriad social worlds and their associated discourses.