This work is an analysis of small talk in the workplace. The study is intended to fill two main research gaps in the relatively young field of small talk in the workplace studies: On one hand, the lack of quantitative data that would account for the dimensions and the proportions of the elements of small talk interactions; on the other hand, the lack of an organic, systematic, and comprehensive research on a small talk in the workplace corpus in U.S. workplaces. The methodology of this research consisted of both a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of the Small Talk at Work (STW) sub-corpus, culled from the AAC and Non-AAC Workplace Corpus (ANAWC, Pickering & Bruce, 2009). The STW is an only-small talk sub-corpus of 423 interactions and almost 50,000 words. The quantitative analysis is based on a methodological protocol devised ad hoc and accounts for the typologies and frequencies of the characteristics of small talk engaged by workplace community members. The picture resulting from the analysis, the averages, and the frequency peaks, allowed us to formulate an identikit of the prototypical small talk interaction against which any interaction can be compared. The qualitative analysis was run in parallel to the quantitative one, offering a further interpretative key to the frequency analysis and some linguistic and structural patterns in the distinct interactions. Finally, the observation of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device users' access and use of small talk constituted a crosswise variable to the whole analysis whose results contributed to understand the strategies through which AAC device users build and consolidate their membership in their workplace community. The results confirmed some of the data obtained by the analyses of previous studies, but also refuted some standard stereotypes on small talk structure, contents, and functions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]