Talking American: Cultural Discourses on Donahue

This study explores cultural features in communication and examines language in use by studying the "talk" within a prominent cultural event, the DONAHUE show. First, the study provides a detailed reading of America today, showing the importance of the individual in American society, the prominence of choice, and the role of the self as an antagonist to traditional social roles and the institutions of society more generally. Similarly, the study explores common ways of speaking such as "being honest" about who one is, "sharing" one's thoughts and feelings, and "really communicating" with others. By unraveling how these words give shape to American means and meanings, the study demonstrates how routine communication creates powerful motives in contemporary American life. Second, the study provides a way of seeing and hearing ordinary communication as a resource to develop a cultural perspective on ordinary communicative action.