Faculty & Staff > Faculty Profile > Richard Buttny

Faculty Profile

Richard Buttny Professor PhD., University of Massachusetts 113 Sims Hall Building V (315) 443-5137 Email:rbuttny@syr.edu

Courses Taught

Research Interests
My research interests have been in how talk and social interaction work in context to jointly create social realities.  Using this perspective I have studied topics such as: accounts of and accountability for action, therapeutic talk, racial discourse, reported speech, the rhetoric of violence, and risk communication during public hearings.

Expertise
Language and social interaction, & intercultural communication.

Publications

Books:
Buttny, R. (2004). Talking Problems: Studies on Discursive Construction. Albany: State
University of New York Press.  http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=60831

Buttny, R. (1993). Social accountability in communication. London: Sage Publications.
(Winner of the Outstanding Scholarship Award from the Language & Social Interaction Division of the National Communication Association, 2007
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book202414&

Note: Some of these articles or book chapters can be downloaded as a pdf file. Click on the links to download.

Public Participation and Environmental Risk Studies

Buttny, R., & Cohen, J.R. (2007). Drawing on the words of others at public hearings:
Zoning, Wal-Mart, and the threat to the aquifer. Language in Society, 36/5. pdf

Buttny, R. (in process). Wal-Mart’s presentation to the community on their draft
environmental impact statement:  Display of expertise and a rhetoric of
communication doc

Buttny, R. (in process). Citizen participation, metadiscourse, and accountability: A public
hearing on a zoning change for Wal-Mart doc

Accounts and Accountability Studies

Buttny, R., & Ellis, D.G. (2007). Accounts of violence from Arabs and Israelis on
ABC-TV’s panel discussion from Jerusalem. Discourse & Society, 18, 139-161. pdf

Buttny, R., & Morris, G.H. (2001). Accounting. In W.P.Robinson & H.Giles (Eds.),
The new handbook on language and social psychology (pp.285-302). New York:
John Wiley & Sons. pdf

Buttny, R. (1993). Accounts and the accountability of social action. In B.Dervin &         U.Hariharan (Eds.), Progress in communication sciences, Volume 11 (pp.45-74).          Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publications.

Buttny, R. (1987). Sequence and practical reasoning in accounts episodes.
Communication Quarterly, 35, 67-83. pdf

Buttny, R. (1987). Legitimation techniques for intermarriage:  Accounts of motives for    intermarriage from U.S. servicemen and Philippine women. Communication Quarterly, 35, 125-143. pdf

Buttny, R. (1985). Accounts as a reconstruction of an event's context. Communication   Monographs, 52, 57-77. pdf

Therapy/Counseling Studies

Buttny, R., & Kellogg Rath, S. (2007). Discursive practices in talking problems during
a school-family meeting. In A. Hepburn & S. Wiggins (Eds.), Discursive research
in practice: New approaches to psychology and interaction (pp. 247-262).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pdf

Buttny, R. (2001). Therapeutic humor in retelling the clients’ tellings. Text, 21, 303-326. pdf

Buttny, R. (1996). Clients' and therapist's joint construction of the clients' problems.       Research on Language and Social Interaction, 29, 125-153. pdf

Buttny, R., & Jensen, A.D. (1995). Telling problems in an initial family therapy session: The hierarchical organization of problem-talk.  In G.H.Morris & R.J.Chenial
(Eds.), The talk of the clinic: Explorations in the analysis of medical and
therapeutic discourse (pp.19-47).  Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Publications.

Buttny, R., & Cohen, J.R. (1991). The uses of goals in therapy. In K.Tracy (Ed.),         Understanding face-to-face interaction: Issues linking goals and discourse (pp.63-77). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Publications.

Buttny, R. (1990). Blame-accounts sequences in therapy: The  negotiation of relational   meanings. Semiotica, 78, 219-247.

Talking Race Studies

Buttny, R. (2003). Multiple voices in talking race: Pakeha reported speech
in the discursive constructions of the racial other. In H. Van den Berg,
M. Wetherell, & H. Houtkoop (Eds.), Analysing race talk: Multidisciplinary perspectives on the research interview (pp.103-118). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Buttny, R., & Williams, P.L. (2000). Demanding respect: The uses of reported speech in discursive constructions of interracial contact. Discourse & Society, 11, 109-133. pdf

Buttny, R. (1999). Discursive constructions of racial boundaries and self-segregation on campus. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 18, 247-268.

Buttny, R. (1997). Reported speech in talking race on campus. Human CommunicationResearch, 23, 475-504. pdf

Johnson, F.L., & Buttny, R. (1982). White listener's response to "sounding black" and   "sounding white": The effects of message content on judgments and language.     Communication Monographs, 49, 33-49. pdf

Miscellaneous

Lannamann, J.W., & Buttny, R. (forthcoming). The UMass rebellion: Studying the
coordinated management of meaning and constructing a rules theory. In W.
Leeds-Hurwitz (Ed.), Social history of language and social interaction research: People, places, ideas. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Buttny, R., & Jensen, A.J. (2002). Hot-stove league talk. In G.Gumpert & S.Drucker   (Eds.), Take me out to the ball game: Communicating baseball (pp.71-93).
Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Buttny, R. (1998). Putting prior talk into context: Reported speech and the reporting      context. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31, 45-58. pdf

Buttny, R., & Isbell, T.L (1991). The problem of communicating one's understanding of Zen: A microanalysis of teacher-student interviews in a North American Zen      monastery. Human Studies, 14, 287-309.

Buttny, R. (1986). The ascription of meaning:  A Wittgensteinian perspective. QuarterlyJournal of Speech, 72, 261-273. pdf

Buttny, R., & Campbell, J.L. (1990). Discourse direction and power: Diverging strategies during a welfare interview. In S.Thomas & W.A. Evans (Eds.), Culture and            communication, Volume IV: Language, performance, technology, and media (pp.             69-82). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publications.