This book is an interdisciplinary exploration of Alto Perené conversation, drawing on insights from such research traditions as conversation analysis, ethnography of communication, interactional linguistics, and pragmatic typology. Each chapter considers a particular set of language functions (e.g. participant roles, turn-taking) and describes the various linguistic resources that speakers use for those functions. The book (organized function-to-form) is thus a complement to the author's grammar of the language (organized form-to-function), published two years earlier. The research is based on extensive ethnographic and documentary research in the community.

The author's approach is both comparative and language- and culture-specific: analyzing specific interactions in detail, generalizing across Alto Perené interactions, and comparing these generalizations with what is known about interactional practices in other groups. Some Alto Perené interactional practices can be attributed to universals of human interaction, while others are language- and culture-specific. Some examples of the latter category follow. First and second person pronominal forms are typically used to code production and reception roles (Erving Goffman), respectively. However, reception roles can be coded with third person pronominal forms in a disaffiliative action that formally excludes the individual from the discussion. Linguistic resources used to maintain social categories include ‘reporting’ for junior members of society and ‘shaming’ for senior members, among others. In terms of turn-taking behaviour, Alto Perené interactants are ‘beginning-oriented’ because of the language's clause structure. Clauses are verb-initial, with the verb containing multiple affixes with information about participants, the action's temporal frame, and the speaker's attitude, among others. This enables interactants to project turn endings early in each turn. The complexity of the verb also has implications for repair. Interactants engage in morphological repair, inserting, replacing, and recycling individual morphemes in the verb. Additional chapters discuss linguistic resources used in second position K+ agreements, as well as organization of specific types of interactions and nonverbal resources used by interactants.

A helpful feature of the book is the many extended examples in each chapter. The author maximizes the print medium by providing multiple aids to the reader in understanding each discourse extract. Multi-line interlinear examples give both extended discourse context and linguistic detail; further, most extracts have a cross-referenced figure showing either a video still from the point of discourse under discussion or an acoustic extract from the audio showing aspects of prosody such as intensity and pitch. The text surrounding the extract thoroughly explains other relevant aspects of the context such as speakers’ interpersonal relationships and the spatiotemporal setting in which the conversation occurred.

The final chapter helpfully summarizes the contributions of the book in terms of universals of interaction and interactional practices unique to the Alto Perené community. As one of the first extensive explorations of interactional practices in a minority language community, this book is a ground-breaking resource for others who wish to broaden our understanding of human interaction beyond the well-studied languages and cultures. Further, the interdisciplinary nature of the book is a model for how maximal understanding can be gained by considering the data from multiple perspectives.