Dawn Song Research Articles

"Sing to Me Now": Contemporary American Poetry and Song

"Sing to Me Now":Contemporary American Poetry and Song Jahan Ramazani (bio) The old question of the relation of poetry to song may seem an unlikely framework within which to explore new American poems, published in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The primal unity between song and lyric poetry (the Greek lyrikos meaning "singing to the lyre") is often said to have been fractured long ago by written texts and then exploded by print culture. In Giorgio Agamben's history of European lyric, "the poetic text's definitive break with song (that is, with the element Dante called melos)" came about around the twelfth century, when a poem became "essentially graphic" (32, 33). James William Johnson dates this "crucial metamorphosis" later, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when "the poet ceased to 'compose' his or her poem for musical presentation but instead 'wrote' it for a collection of readers"; now suited "to a visual as well as an auditory medium," the lyric "found itself bereft of the very element which had been the foundation of its lyricism—music" (714). Whether the "story of the separation between song and speech" is set in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, or another period, it is haunted by the possibility of a split even at the point of origin, according to Jacques Derrida: "Degeneration as separation, severing of voice and song, has always already begun" (199). Despite efforts by Ezra Pound and other modernists to heal this primordial breach, recuperating a poetics in which "the arts of verse and music were most closely knit together" and poets "compose verse to some sort of a tune" (Literary Essays 91; Selected Prose 37), the gap [End Page 716] between poetry and song, understood as verse set to music, arguably yawned wider in modernism and its aftermath. Contemporary American poetry's largely free-verse techniques have relegated most song forms to the margins, while most songs have clung to regular forms. But to dismiss song as having no critical purchase on contemporary poetry leaves a host of questions unaddressed. If poetry and song have irrevocably parted ways, why do many contemporary poems—both "experimental" and "mainstream"—call themselves "songs" in their titles and texts? How do we explain contemporary poems' abundant quotations of song lyrics from rock, pop, blues, rap, jazz, opera, folk, and other music? How do we understand the survival of at least some song structures in contemporary poems? What is the influence on poetry of the rise of technologies for the mass distribution and circulation of recorded song in digital form? Though we might think of the intergeneric and intermedial crossing between poetry and song as more relevant to medieval carols, Renaissance madrigals, and Romantic ballads, we learn something about contemporary poetry by teasing out its self-understanding in relation to song, both its interfusions with song and its implicit self-definitions by contrast with it. Among contemporary writers whose work exemplifies poetry's fruitful and fraught intersections with song in the 2000s are American poets seldom thought of as having much in common with one another, including Rae Armantrout, Michael Palmer, Tracie Morris, Frank Bidart, Jorie Graham, Kevin Young, Patricia Smith, Terrance Hayes, Cathy Park Hong, and Paul Muldoon (explored after a glance back at James Merrill, as well as a brief look at Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, C. K. Williams, Alberto Ríos, D. A. Powell, and others).1 [End Page 717] The frequent use of "song" in the titles of contemporary poems, where it often means something like "poem suggestive of the sound, spontaneity, and simplicity of song," never entirely eclipses the figurative leap from one kind to another. Like his early poem entitled "Song" in Field Guide (1973), Robert Hass's "Three Dawn Songs in Summer" in Time and Materials (2007), though lacking the formal properties typical of song, elicits song's associations with emotion, brevity, and impulse. In the second of the "dawn songs," summer light is described as "very young and wholly unsupervised. / No one has made it sit down to breakfast. / It's the first one up, the first one out"—a personification that partly justifies the title by linking the light's delightful...

Wild bird feeding delays start of dawn singing in the great tit

Supplementary feeding of wild birds during winter is one of the most popular wildlife management activities, and is likely to have profound influence on the behavioural ecology of a species. At garden bird feeders, birds are now often fed well into the breeding season. Providing food within an established songbird territory, however, is likely to influence the territorial behaviour of the resident male. We used song performance during the dawn chorus in early spring to study behavioural changes in food-supplemented great tits, Parus major. After 2 weeks of continuous food supply within their territory, supplemented males started dawn singing later than control males, and thus postponed their regular dawn chorus before sunrise. This effect was maintained 2 weeks after food supplementation had ended. However, we did not find an effect of long-term feeding on song output. Our results were largely unexpected because formal models and field studies on short-term food supplementation suggested an earlier start of dawn singing or a higher dawn song output. Because we did not observe great tits visiting the feeders before sunrise or food supplementation increasing the numbers of conspecific intruders, the reasons for the delay in the start of dawn singing remain unclear; possible explanations include the presence of predators at feeding stations and the quality of the supplementary food itself. Delaying dawn singing could potentially affect the reproductive success of supplemented males, for example if females base extrapair mating decisions on dawn song performance of their mates.

Artificial Night Lighting Affects Dawn Song, Extra-Pair Siring Success, and Lay Date in Songbirds

Associated with a continued global increase in urbanization, anthropogenic light pollution is an important problem. However, our understanding of the ecological consequences of light pollution is limited. We investigated effects of artificial night lighting on dawn song in five common forest-breeding songbirds. In four species, males near street lights started singing significantly earlier at dawn than males elsewhere in the forest, and this effect was stronger in naturally earlier-singing species. We compared reproductive behavior of blue tits breeding in edge territories with and without street lights to that of blue tits breeding in central territories over a 7 year period. Under the influence of street lights, females started egg laying on average 1.5 days earlier. Males occupying edge territories with street lights were twice as successful in obtaining extra-pair mates than their close neighbors or than males occupying central forest territories. Artificial night lighting affected both age classes but had a stronger effect on yearling males. Our findings indicate that light pollution has substantial effects on the timing of reproductive behavior and on individual mating patterns. It may have important evolutionary consequences by changing the information embedded in previously reliable quality-indicator traits.

A distinct reed bunting dawn song and its relation to extrapair paternity

Elaborate birdsong is thought to have evolved under sexual selection. Extrapair mating can enforce sexual selection and thus the selection of song traits. We investigated song rate and song diversity, two song traits previously shown to be under sexual selection, in relation to paternity success in the reed bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus, a species with high levels of extrapair paternity. We focused our investigations on songs sung during the dawn chorus because singing at dawn is likely to be an honest signal and there is increasing evidence that females engage in extrapair copulations early in the morning. We classified a previously denoted continuous song, which is mainly sung during the dawn chorus, as a new song type in this species. Males with high song rate and high song diversity were more likely to gain extrapair paternity. These two song traits were also positively related to the number of extrapair offspring sired. However, most of the variance in extrapair paternity success was explained by age. Old males sired significantly more extrapair young than young males. Possibly, the new song type plays an important role in the female choice of extrapair mates. Reed bunting females may prefer males that sing at high rates and with high diversity because this indicates high phenotypic and genetic quality. Alternatively, these song parameters may be linked to other sexually selected traits or be important in the intersexual competition for extrapair fertilizations.

Dawn song of the eastern kingbird: an honest signal of male quality?

To be used as honest signals of quality, phenotypic traits must vary markedly within populations and show repeatable differences between individuals. Eastern kingbirds, Tyrannus tyrannus, sing a distinctive dawn song in the predawn darkness, and one hypothesis for its function is that it serves as an honest signal of male quality that females use during choice of within-pair or extrapair mates. Over a 2-year period, we quantified dawn songs of males to measure between- and within-season repeatability of the timing (start and end time) and length of song bouts, and song rate. We also measured morphological characters to measure repeatability and describe individual differences in body size and plumage quality. All song traits varied considerably among males, start time and song rates were repeatable between years, and all song rates were repeatable within both years. All morphological characters were significantly repeatable between years. Moreover, early singing males were larger and had relatively long flight feathers, and males that sang at high rates had relatively long flight feathers. Early singing males were also paired to the earliest breeding females, and in one year, male song rate was positively correlated with their social mate's clutch size. Relatively long flight feathers in other species are typical of older males and individuals of higher body condition, suggesting that, despite being suboscine passerines with relatively simple and innate songs, eastern kingbirds use song performance as an honest signal of male quality that females may use during mate choice.

Dawn song in superb fairy-wrens: a bird that seeks extrapair copulations during the dawn chorus

Functional explanations of the dawn chorus in birds remain elusive. One hypothesis suggests that this acoustic display may play a role in female choice of extrapair males. Most young in cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens, Malurus cyaneus, are sired by extra-group males. Females initiate extra-group copulations exclusively through predawn forays to males singing in the dawn chorus. We measured variation between males in dawn singing at three levels of song production: song components, structured into songs, which make up recitals. We related this variation to independent measures of male quality and social status. Males sing two distinct categories of songs during the dawn chorus: a complex and variable chatter song and a more repeatable trill song. Dominant males with male subordinate helpers produced chatter songs at a greater rate than either dominant males without helpers or subordinates, suggesting a role in the competition between male group members. However, the trill song is implicated in female choice because older males sing songs with a longer trill component and have greater extrapair success, and trade-offs between phrases within the trill component imply constraints on the length of the trill component in entirety that could enforce honesty. The dawn chorus of the superb fairy-wren may thus have a duel role, involving enforcement of dominance among male group members (male–male competition), and signalling attractiveness to mates (female choice).

Dawn song of eastern kingbirds: intrapopulation variability and sociobiological correlates

AbstractWe quantify the singing behaviour of eastern kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) in the 'dawn song' period to describe variation in performance, identify sources of variation, and identify the main recipient(s) of the information conveyed in the display. All males (N = 87) participated in dawn song, but the probability that a male did not sing increased if he was relatively isolated, and it was late in the season. The earliest and longest song bouts were made by males with many neighbours and when population level female fertility was high. High song rates were typical of males in dense nesting assemblages, early in the season and nest cycle, and when social mates were infertile. However, among males with active nests, song rates varied only with neighbour density and either date or population level female fertility. Given the strong inverse correlation between population fertility and date, we suspect that population fertility drove the relationships. The association of start time and song rate with population fertility, continuation of dawn song after territory establishment, and depressed song rate when mates were fertile, are all consistent with the hypothesis that the availability of extra-pair females is the primary factor selecting for male participation in dawn song.

Male Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus choose early-leafing tree species during spring dawn chorus

Capsule Blue Tits sang their dawn song in trees that provided greater concealment. Aims To determine if dawn singing Blue Tits select trees that increase their concealment. Methods We compared the timing of leaf growth initiation in Blue Tit song-post trees to the average timing of leaf growth initiation for other tree species within 25 m of the song-post. Results Most Blue Tits (96%, n = 23) sang from tree species that begin leaf growth earlier than the average tree available within 25 m. If males singing in Hawthorns Crataegus monogyna were excluded, 92% (n = 13) sang from earlier leafing trees. Conclusion Dawn singing Blue Tits select perches that offer greater concealment.

The blue tit's song is an inconsistent signal of male condition

Sexually selected traits are often hypothesized to signal male condition or quality, though empirical evidence is mixed, and a number of alternative models of sexual selection do not require condition dependence. We examined the relationship between various measures of condition and dawn songs in male blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). We detected 6 largely independent measures of variation (i.e., variables) in these songs. None of these variables were related to blue tits' ultraviolet–blue plumage, a demonstrated sexual signal, thus failing to support the redundant signal hypothesis. We found some evidence that the song variables we measured signaled male quality. There were correlations between body size and certain song traits, though neither male age nor male recapture in the subsequent breeding season (apparent local survival) predicted any song variation. We combined our results with published effect sizes comparing blue tit song with male quality variables using meta-analysis and found that a few song measures are correlates of male quality, though as in our field data, neither male age nor survival appeared related to song. Our relatively large sample sizes (>60), combined with our meta-analytical integration of 89 effect sizes, make the results regarding the signaling value of our measured components of blue tit song robust. These results demonstrate that 1) only certain aspects of signal variation may be condition dependent and 2) even when components of a sexual signal appear correlated with condition in some studies, these signal components may be unrelated or inconsistently related to a variety of condition indices.

Experimentally Elevated Plasma Testosterone Levels Do Not Influence Singing Behaviour of Male Blue Tits (Parus caeruleus) During the Early Breeding Season

AbstractSexual selection theory suggests that females might prefer males on the basis of testosterone (T)‐dependent secondary sexual traits such as song. Correlational studies have linked high plasma T‐levels to high diurnal song output. This has been confirmed in experiments where T‐levels were kept high at times when natural T‐levels have decreased. However, surprisingly little is known about the relation between T‐levels during the early breeding season and song. In many passerine birds males sing at a high rate at dawn early in the breeding season, referred to as the dawn chorus. In blue tits (Parus caeruleus), the dawn chorus coincides with the fertile period of the female, whereas diurnal song occurs throughout the breeding season. Previous studies on blue tits showed that characteristics of the dawn chorus correlate with male reproductive success. We experimentally elevated plasma T‐levels in male blue tits during the pre‐fertile and fertile period. Our aim was to test whether increased plasma T‐levels affect dawn song characteristics and increase the amount of diurnal song. Although T‐implants successfully raised circulating T‐levels, we did not find any difference between T‐ and control males in temporal performance measures of dawn song or in diurnal song output. Our results suggest that either there is no direct causal link between song output or quality and individual T‐levels, or experimental manipulations of T‐levels using implants do not permit detection of such effects during the early breeding season. Although we cannot exclude that individual T‐levels are causally linked to other (e.g. structural) song parameters, our results cast doubt on T‐dependence as the mechanisms that enforces honesty on song as a sexually selected trait.

Early birds are sexy: male age, dawn song and extrapair paternity in blue tits, Cyanistes (formerly Parus) caeruleus

Sexual selection theory predicts that signals reflecting the relative quality of individuals should be used in mate choice. Females could base their choice of copulation partners on male secondary sexual traits that honestly signal male age, as predicted by the age-based indicator mechanism. Studies have shown that female blue tits prefer older males and that aspects of dawn song reflect male quality, but it remains unknown whether dawn song characteristics correlate with male age. We compared dawn song characteristics of second-year (SY) and older (ASY) male blue tits (cross-sectional analysis), and tested for age-related changes within individuals (longitudinal analysis) and differential overwinter survival of SY males. We further investigated the relation between dawn song and paternity gain and loss. We found that ASY male blue tits began to sing earlier relative to sunrise than did SY males. This difference in the onset of dawn singing was due to age-related changes in individual performance rather than differential survival of individuals with varying expression of the trait. Males that began to sing earlier at dawn had more mating partners, and were more likely to gain extrapair paternity. Our findings suggest that the onset of dawn song can provide a simple mechanism for females to assess the relative quality of their mate and of neighbouring males. We propose that females use the onset of singing as a cue for their choice of extrapair partners.

Seasonal variation in dawn song characteristics in the common nightingale

Many male temperate zone passerines show a marked peak of singing activity before sunrise. The two main functions of this so-called dawn chorus are mate attraction and territory defence. We examined how seasonal patterns of different dawn song characteristics were related to mating status and to the breeding cycle of females in the common nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos. We investigated two measures of song output: song rate and percentage performance time. We also calculated the proportion of ‘whistle songs’, a song category that is thought to be important in female choice. We predicted that if the main function of dawn singing in nightingales is to attract a social mate, then mated males should change their dawn singing behaviour after pair formation. In contrast, if dawn singing is mainly used in territory defence, we expected no difference in song traits between mated and unmated males throughout the season. We found that song rate and the proportion of whistle songs were low at the beginning of the season and did not predict future mating status. After arrival of females, all measures of dawn song performance remained largely constant throughout the breeding season, and we did not find significant differences in the seasonal variation between mated and unmated males. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that song at dawn is important to defend a territory throughout the breeding season.

Simultaneous treatment with an aromatase inhibitor and an anti-androgen decreases the likelihood of dawn song in free-living male great tits, Parus major

Gonadal steroids, most importantly testosterone (T), are considered to be a major factor in the expression of adult song behavior in temperate-zone songbirds. The action of T within specific brain regions involved in the regulation of song may occur either directly, or through its androgenic or estrogenic metabolites. In the present study, we tested steroid-dependence of great tit dawn song by blocking both known pathways of T action by simultaneous implantation of flutamide, an anti-androgen, and ATD, an aromatase inhibitor. By our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effects of androgen inhibitors on dawn song in free-living birds. Male great tits were implanted during their mate's egg laying stage, being the time of maximal male song activity at dawn. Treatment with ATD and flutamide significantly increased plasma T levels, probably because feedback mechanisms on T secretion were inhibited. The treatment decreased the likelihood of showing dawn song, which is in line with the hypothesis that sex steroids are involved in the endocrine control of song behavior. In males that did show dawn song, we found no evidence for a treatment effect on song quality. Although the implants were present for the larger part of the breeding season, males were able to maintain control of a territory and mate and to complete their brood cycle as successful as control males.

Dawn song of male blue tits as a predictor of competitiveness in midmorning singing interactions

During the dawn chorus, territorial male songbirds vocalise intensively within signalling range of several conspecific males and can therefore be considered members of a busy communication network. The more or less continuous singing over a long period of time under standardised stimulus conditions makes the dawn song a potentially important information source both for simple receivers and for eavesdroppers. Male blue tits (Parus caeruleus) vary in features of their dawn song, e.g. older males sing longer strophes, and females choose males that sing longer strophes as extra-pair partners. However, so far, dawn song in the blue tit has been investigated separately from other singing behaviour of the same males. In this study, we investigate aspects of blue tit male quality, reflected in dawn song characteristics, and their predictive value for how males behave during singing interactions later in the morning. We acted as simple receivers by recording the singing activity of one male at a time at dawn and compared features of its dawn song, such as onset before sunrise, repertoire size, mean bout length, strophe length and percentage performance time to responses of the same male to a territory intrusion simulated by playback of synthesised songs later during the same morning. We assume that an aggressive response towards an intruder will involve a fast approach to the loudspeaker broadcasting strophes of blue tit song, searching for the intruder (flying around), and a high amount of counter singing and overlapping of the intruder’s songs. Aspects of vigour of response to the simulated intrusion could be predicted from all five investigated dawn song parameters as well as male age. This is, to our knowledge, the first indication that a simple receiver could extract reliable information from a male’s dawn singing behaviour about its competitiveness later in the day.

Interactive Communication Between Male and Female Great Tits (Parus Major) During the Dawn Chorus

Abstract Studies of the dawn chorus in birds have focused mainly on the behavior and song output of males and on the function(s) of male song. Less attention has been paid to the females' behavior and to communication between members of a pair. In Great Tits (Parus major), males sing vigorously at dawn in the vicinity of the female's nest hole just before and during egg laying. We studied the female's vocal behavior during the dawn chorus as well as communication between pair members. All females vocally interacted with their mates from inside the nest box. Females produced a sound with a very low sound-pressure level only audible from few meters, which we have named the “quiet call.” This quiet call was unique to females and was only produced from inside the nest box. To our knowledge, our study is the first to show that both members of a pair vocally interact during the dawn chorus. Given that many temperate-zone bird species have similar life histories as the Great Tit, it is very likely that similar interactive behavior occurs in other (song)birds. This interactive behavior may provide a new and manipulable tool for testing hypotheses about the dawn song and can be used as a future bioassay of male vocalizations.

Comparison of Vocal Signals of Three Species of African Finches

African finches of a monophyletic group in the Passeridae nest in colonies with roofed nests thatched of dry grass-stems. Vocal signals are described, with the aid of sonograms, 13 for the white-browed sparrow-weaver (Plocepasser mahali)(Pm), 13 for the grey-capped social weaver (Pseudonigrita arnaudi) (Pa), and 20 for the sociable weaver (Philetairus socius) (Ps). These vocal signals fall into general categories, as is true for most birds, of alarm calls, agonistic behavior, and courtship and mating signals, parent-young relations, and flock contact calls. These three species illustrate the principle of adaptive specialization of vocal signals. Pm differs from the others in having a loud dawn song, a whispered version of this song, and also a loud vocalization frequently given in defense of a group territory within which the birds forage. Pa and Ps differ from Pm in defending only the immediate vicinity of the nest or nest chamber, in foraging in large flocks on neutral ground often well away from the colony nest trees, and have special flock calls. In Pa, the territorial call is used mainly to announce arrival at its nest, and song is rare or absent in this species. Ps, which lives in a large, apartmentstyle communal nest, has the most diversified repertoire, especially of social contact calls. Convergent evolution of vocal signals and social organization with unrelated families gives some idea of the selection pressures in the evolution of these signals.

Seasonal fluctuations in plasma testosterone levels and diurnal song activity in free-living male great tits

The annual course of plasma testosterone (T) and song activity during the day was examined in free-living male great tits ( Parus major) in a single year and in a single population. We provide the first study in this species investigating plasma T during the breeding season among and within breeding stages. As expected for a temperate-zone monogamous species, plasma T levels showed a pronounced peak in March at the start of the breeding season and fast decreasing levels thereafter to moderate levels in the parental phase. Peak plasma T levels coincided with the period of intense territoriality but were not sustained during the egg laying period, suggesting that the annual T peak is more related to territoriality than to mate fertility or dawn song. After basal plasma T levels during summer and autumn, T levels started to increase from December onwards, possibly related to the reappearance of territoriality and pair formation in early winter. Within the feeding stage, males breeding later in the season had lower T levels than males breeding earlier, independent of nestling age, male condition, or the percentage of fertile females in the population. Also, during the nestling stage, T levels increased as nestlings were older, while controlling for time in season, male body condition, and availability of fertile females. The annual T pattern was highly correlated with the annual pattern of day-time song activity in the population. However, a small resurgence in autumn of day-time song activity in the population was not accompanied by a noticeable increase in plasma T in the captured males. Peak plasma T levels did not occur during the egg laying stage when dawn song activity is maximal, suggesting that there is no strong causal relationship between the two.

Self-Enactment of Late Medieval Chivalry: Performance and Self-Representation in Ulrich von Liechtenstein's Frauendienst

It has long been recognized that the world of courtly literature must be measured and evaluated by different criteria than those used for modern literary texts, the alterity of the Middle Ages requiring different lenses than those through which we view our own world (Jauss; Reinhard). Courtly love poetry and epics alike – Minnesang, for example, or Hartmann von Aue's Erec and Iwein – prove to be complex literary fora in which the protagonists act out concrete situations and the audience is invited to join a discussion about the individual positions taken by the heroes or characters (Schweikle). Whether Minnesang reflects the emotions of the singer or is an exclusively formalistic, rhetorical art representative of courtly culture remains a debated issue (Willms 59-88). Yet the poetic statements seem to deny the possibility of love's happy fulfilment, while the ladies, the more the knights woo them, accept or acknowledge all the less the poets' confessions of love (Kaplowitt 167-84). Consequently, some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that the intricate complexities of the entire corpus of Minnesang poetry – the dawn song (tageliet) excepted – might well have been the product of a psychological neurosis among the knightly class, the result of deepseated frustrations of male performers soundly rejected by all their ladies. Ulrich Miller has even identified Minnesang as the literary reflection of an ekklesiogene Kollektivneurose. That term he might have meant tongue-in-cheek, yet he was right in arguing that this phenomenon of courtly love poetry illustrated an element of public mentality or disposition common among all members of the court. Muller identifies these tensions as the result of Aufbruch and Emanzipation with regard to the traditional dogmas of the Christian Church (236), basing his theory on the observation that, while the medieval Church strictly opposed extramarital love and rigidly fought against the sinfulness of sexuality, secular society strove for an outlet of its inner desires and physical needs (see also Kay). As the famous example of Dante's Vita Nuova indicates, however, the primary purpose of courtly love poetry was not the realization of erotic desires.

Geographic Variation in Song of The Bright-Rumped Attila (Tyrannidae: Attila Spadiceus): Implications for Species Status

Abstract Bright-rumped Attilas (Attila spadiceus) have two song forms, one sung primarily at dawn, the other primarily during the rest of the day. Both songs consist of a main phrase and an optional terminal phrase. Our recordings of dawn and day songs in Costa Rica were very similar to those made elsewhere in Central America. However, Central American dawn songs were significantly different than dawn songs from South America, both in terms of quantitative features (temporal and frequency variables) and qualitative characteristics (note shape). Day songs from Central and South America were similar. Song differences suggest that the Bright-rumped Attila may be two species, one in Central America, the other in South America.

Historical Dialogue Analysis (review)

Reviewed by: Historical dialogue analysis ed. by Andreas H. Jucker, Gerd Fritz, Franz Lebsanft Robert McColl Millar Historical dialogue analysis. Ed. by Andreas H. Jucker, Gerd Fritz, and Franz Lebsanft. (Pragmatics & beyond new series 66.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1999. Pp. 478. This collection of essays brings together disparate strands of theoretical and practical work in fields derived from discourse analysis and historical sociolinguistics as well as from the often discrete worlds of German language, French language, and English language scholarship on these matters. The problems—and opportunities—inherent in this combination are discussed with some vigor in the introductory essay by Jucker, Fritz, and Lebsanft. Fifteen essays of varying length dealing with a wide range of topics follow this. All but two of the essays are in English. This variety is productive since it demonstrates the very range of interests and approaches to which the editors refer. This eclecticism also means that there are few occasions where readers (no matter their specialization) will not find something of interest somewhere in the collection. Very briefly, the essays can be described thus. Marcel M. H. Bax discusses the balance between eristic and contractual motive in Dutch medieval romance and early modern drama. What often appear to be ritualistic interactions between knights may well have their roots in actual routines of battle. On the other hand, the ritual procedures employed in drama by the sinnekens, grotesque characters in morality plays, are not such truthful depictions of speech events. Thomas Gloning writes on the language use of religious controversies in the German-speaking world around 1600, demonstrating that there were debate-based patterns which these ‘arguments’ were obliged to follow. Many of these same concerns are also discussed by Johannes Schwitalla in his exposition of the use of dialogue in a particular controversy, again demonstrating the rules and conventions of this type of dialogue. This concept of the ritualized dialogue is continued in Manfred Beetz’s essay on the polite answer in pre-modern German conversation culture. Many of these ideas are also to be found in Hannes Kästner’s essay (in German) on courtly conversation in the early German lyrics, which demonstrates that the Minnesang may be employed to reconstruct what courtly speech between men and women was like and may also have been used as a model for how real-life conversations of this type might be constructed. Thomas Honegger’s essay on the dawn song as a ‘linguistic routine’ of parting has particular resonance—to the eyes of an English speaker—for a reading of Romeo and Juliet. Honegger demonstrates the antiquity of the pattern of exchange and constructs a typology for the interaction. On a more prosaic level, Richard J. Watts discusses the textbooks and phrasebooks produced by and for immigrants—often refugees—to England in the early Modern period. As might be expected, most of the teaching element in these books is contained in dialogues. Contrasting French-English and Spanish-English textbooks. Watts demonstrates that the latter were designed for people who would have to stay indefinitely in England while the former were predicated upon the idea of a relatively speedy return to the homeland. Irma Taavitsainen writes on dialogues in late medieval and early Modern English medical writing, demonstrating that elements of real speech and even satires on the medical profession are included along with the expected influence of earlier scholarly and pedagogic dialogue frameworks. An approach focused on relatively small amounts of text is demonstrated in Franz Lebsanft’s essay on a late medieval French bargain dialogue in Pathelin II. He shows that whilst bargain dialogues at any time period will share many similarities, the passages which he selects illustrate their development in a number of directions. Jonathan Culpeper and Merja Kytö, on the other hand, employ large amounts of material in their discussion of hedges in early Modern English dialogues, demonstrating that English (in particular in its written form) was becoming more oral in style over time. Producing similar conclusions, Anne Herlyn, in her essay on multiple dialogue introducers from a...