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Secrets and Security: Deborah Tannen on the Language of Female Friendship

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 (Illustration: Getty Images)

For her latest book, linguist Deborah Tannen interviewed more than 80 girls and women, aged nine to 97, about their female friendships. Some characterized their friendships with women as the most sustaining things in their lives, or as “essential as air.” Others reported difficulty in trusting and forming bonds with other women. Tannen draws on the interviews to explore how communication animates female friendship, why some friendships endure while others abruptly end, and how social media is shaping today’s relationships. Tannen’s new book is “You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships.”

Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics, Georgetown University; author, “You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships”

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