Most of the 14 papers in this volume were presented at the 1992 conference on Discourseand the Professions in Sweden. The collection focuses on diverse professional contexts anddiscourses (law, medicine, social work, mediation, teaching, economics, and science) as well aswritten, spoken, and nonverbal communication in European languages. The papers range fromspeech-act analyses of legal documents such as wills, patents, and contracts to the sociopoliticalcritique of the discursive practices surrounding doctors, patients, and the recipients of socialassistance. The volume is held together thematically by each researcher's effort todemonstrate how professional ways of speaking are constantly being enacted, reenacted, andadapted in society.