YAEL MASCHLER, Metalanguage in interaction: Hebrew discourse markers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2009. Pp. xvi, 258. Hb. $143

In this communicative-discursive study anchored in both detailed linguistic analysis and in-depth sociocultural investigation, Maschler analyzes four carefully chosen discourse markers, shedding light on the essence of "interacting as an Israeli,â[euro] as well as on the structure and flow of interactional discourse in general, on the grammaticization processes, and on the complex relations between language and culture as expressed in casual talk. Maschler's approach is unique in that it is focused on the process of metalanguaging (Becker 1988)--"using language in order to communicate about the process of using languageâ[euro] (1). [...]she understands discourse markers to be linguistic elements employed to refer to the text itself (textual discourse markers), to the interaction among its speakers (interpersonal discourse markers) or to the cognitive processes taking place in their minds during verbalization (cognitive discourse markers). Drawing from the investigation of both bilingual and monolingual conversation, Maschler defines a form as a prototypical discourse marker not only because its semantic properties belong to one of these three realms, but also based on the structural property of occurring at intonation-unit initial position in certain prosodic environments. [...]interacting as an Israeli involves a preference for short, simple, and explicit utterances, but also has recently come to imply being aware of the multiplicity of voices, leading to the adoption of a softer, less emphatic, and self-assured mode of conduct.