"Presents a dialogic perspective on relating, inspired by the dialogism work of the Russian theorist of literature and culture, Makhail Bakhtin...The next iteration of the theory, along with a methodological primer for contrapuntal analysis that guides readers through a sample analysis. Developing a rich palette of dialogic concepts useful in the study of interpersonal communication, the book's central argument is that meaning making emerges from the clash of competing systems of meaning, or discourses. Relationship communication is embedded in culture, history difference, and conceptions of the ideal..."--back cover.