Communicating Beyond Language

Here is a timely and lively appraisal of the concept of communicative repertoires, resources we use to express who we are when in dialogue with others. It describes and illustrates the communicative resources humans deploy daily, but rarely think about - the languages we use, how we dress or gesture, how we greet each other or tell stories, the nicknames we coin, and the mass media references we make - and how these resources combine in infinitely varied performances of identity. The author outlines the implications of a repertoire perspective, and how it can help us find common ground and communicate in increasingly multicultural schools, workplaces, markets, and social spheres. A fresh and exciting work that will resonate with students and scholars in sociolinguistics, intercultural communication, applied linguistics, and education.

Betsy Rymes is Associate Professor of Educational Linguistics at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

1. Communicative Repertoires: An Introduction 2. Multilingualism 3. Routines 4. Names and Nicknames 5. Mass Media and Popular culture 6. Storytelling 7. Performances: Putting It All Together 8. New Words for the New World: The Implications of a Repertoire Perspective