Imperative turns at talk : the design of directives in action / edited by Marja-Leena Sorjonen, Liisa Raevaara, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen.

Format:

• Book

Contributor:

• Sorjonen, Marja-Leena, editor.
• Raevaara, Liisa, editor.
• Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth, editor.

Series:

• Studies in language and social interaction ; 30.
• Studies in language and social interaction, 1879-3983 ; 30

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Grammar, Comparative and general--Imperative.
• Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.
• Discourse analysis.
• Pragmatics.
• Speech acts (Linguistics).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (443 pages) : color illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2017]

Summary:

In middle-class Anglo-speaking circles imperatives are considered impolite forms that command another to do something; etiquette manuals recommend avoiding them. The papers in this collection de-construct such lay beliefs. Through the empirical examination of everyday and institutional interaction across a range of languages, they show that imperatives are routinely used for constructing turns that further sociality in interactional situations. Moreover, they show that for understanding the use of an imperatively formatted turn, its specific design (whether it contains, e.g., an overt subject, object, modal particles, or diminutives), and its sequential and temporal positioning in verbal and embodied activities are crucial. The fact that the same type of imperative turn is appropriate under the same circumstances across linguistically diverse cultures suggests that there are common aspects of imperative turn design and common pragmatic dimensions of situations warranting their use. The volume provides new insights into the resources and processes involved when social actors try to get another to do something.

Contents:

• Intro
• Imperative Turns at Talk
• Editorial page
• Title page
• LCC data
• Table of contents
• Chapter 1. Imperative turns at talk: An introduction
• 1. Prior research
• 2. Profile of the volume
• 3. Imperative turns: Conceptual issues
• 3.1 Variation in imperative forms
• 3.2 Imperatives in their turns
• 3.3 Pragmatic dimensions of directive situations
• 3.4 Imperative turns, actions, and sequences
• 4. Structure of the volume
• References
• Chapter 2. A cline of visible commitment in the situated design of imperative turns: Evidence from German and Polish
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Data and methods
• 3. The grammar of imperatives in German and Polish
• 4. The cline of visible commitment
• 4.1 Initiating co-participants and responsive imperatives
• 4.2 Engaged recipients and local project imperatives
• 4.3 Available recipients and global project imperatives
• 4.4 Divergent engagements and competitive imperatives
• 5. Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 3. Precision timing and timed embeddedness of imperatives in embodied courses of action: Precision timing and timed embeddedness of imperatives in embodied courses of action: Examples from French
• 2. The phenomenon and data set
• 3. Sequence organization
• 3.1 The basic organization of the sequence
• 3.2 Formats of 1st actions: Imperatives and other multimodal resources
• 3.3 Second position: Responses
• 3.4 Third position: Assessments and repairs
• 4. Indexicality and praxeological context
• 4.1 How to make sense of the indexicality of directives
• 4.2 Embeddedness in the praxeological context
• 5. Temporal trajectories of repeated imperatives: Urgency versus duration
• 5.1 Repetition until proper compliance is achieved: A sense of urgency
• 5.2 Online calibration: Managing duration
• 6. Normativity: Negative imperatives.
• 6.1 Anticipating possible problematic actions
• 6.2 Orientation to an actual inadequate action
• 6.3 From positive to negative imperatives
• 6.4 Blaming
• 7. Conclusions
• Conventions
• Chapter 4. Secondary and deviant uses of the imperative for requesting in Italian
• 2. The imperative form in Italian
• 3. Background: Using the imperative for requesting
• 4. Data and sampling
• 5. Primary use
• 6. Secondary uses
• 7. Deviant uses
• 8. Discussion
• Chapter 5. Three imperative action formats in Danish talk-in-interaction: Three imperative action formats in Danish talk-in-interaction: The case of imperative + modal particles bare and ligeThe case of imperative + modal particles bare and lige
• 2. Danish imperatives in general and in our data
• 3. Analysis of three imperative action formats
• 3.1 Imperative+lige as a format for requesting
• 3.2 Imperative+bare as a format for granting permission
• 3.3 Bare+imperative as a format for giving advice
• 4. Summary and discussion
• Appendix A. Glossing conventions
• Appendix B. Signs in transcripts that deviate from standard CA conventions
• Chapter 6. Requests for here-and-now actions in Russian conversation
• 2. Data
• 3. Russian imperative as a morphological form
• 4. Plain imperatives
• 4.1 Advancing a collaborative activity: bilateral requests
• 4.2 Contiguous and non-contiguous requests
• 5. Modulating imperative requests
• 5.1 Using diminutive morphology
• 5.2 Using pozhaluysta 'please'
• 6. Modulating requests via extended turn designs
• 7. Interrogative request forms
• 8. Conclusion
• Appendix.
• Chapter 7. In the face of resistance: A Finnish practice for insisting on imperatively formatted directives
• 2. The phenomenon
• 3. Research questions
• 4. Finnish declarative and imperative sentence types
• 5. From imperatively formatted directives to subsequent versions: Two trajectories
• 5.1 Straightforward resistance to an imperatively formatted directive
• 5.2 Lack of full commitment to an imperatively formatted directive
• 6. Answers to the research questions
• 7. Discussion
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 8. Imperatives and responsiveness in Finnish conversation
• 1. Introduction: Imperatively formatted turns as responses
• 2. The data, imperatively formatted clauses, and the particle vaa(n)
• 3. Bare imperatives as a response
• 3.1 Responding to a promise to do something
• 3.2 Approving an action inferred from the prior speaker's turn
• 4. Modulated imperatives as a response
• 4.1 Responding to requests for permission
• 4.2 [imp + vaan] as part of an extended response
• 4.3 Invoking responsiveness
• Chapter 9. Negotiating deontic rights in second position: Young adult daughters' imperatively formatted responses to mothers' offers in Estonian
• 2. Imperative as a morphological form in Estonian conversation
• 3. The data
• 4. My-side offers: The sequential environment for imperatively formatted responses
• 5. Imperative response: Cutting the umbilical cord
• 5.1 Interrogative my-side offer sequences
• 5.2 Declarative my-side offer sequence
• 6. Discussion and conclusion
• Special transcription conventions
• Chapter 10. Imperatives in Swedish medical consultations
• 1. Introduction.
• 2. Data and method
• 3. Overview of imperatives in the data
• 4. Non-modulated imperative turns: The physical examination
• 5. Modulated imperative turns: Projected routine actions
• 6. Conclusion
• Chapter 11. Assigning roles and responsibilities: Finnish imperatively formatted directive actions in a mobile instructional settingFinnish imperatively formatted directive actions in a mobile instructional setting
• 2. Data and setting
• 3. Overview of directive turn formats in the data
• 4. From hortatives to imperatives: Reissuing directives and reinforcing the instructional situation
• 5. Imperatives and (implied) division of labor: Taking care of immediate practicalities and moving away from the instructional situation
• Chapter 12. Managing compliance in violin instruction: The case of the Finnish clitic particles -pA and -pAs in imperatives and hortatives
• 1.1 The Finnish clitic particles -pA and -pAs
• 1.2 Music instruction as the research context
• 1.3 Data and method
• 2. Analysis
• 2.1 Non-cliticized imperatives and hortatives
• 2.2 Imperatives and hortatives with -pA
• 2.3 Imperatives and hortatives with -pAs
• 3. Conclusions
• Appendix
• Chapter 13. Adjusting the design of directives to the activity environment: Adjusting the design of directives to the activity environment: Imperatives in Finnish cooking club interaction
• 3. Imperatives - managing recipient's actions that are already under way
• 3.1 Indicating an immediate need for the nominated action
• 3.2 Elaborating on the imperative turn: Managing the temporality of the nominated action
• 3.2 Elaborating on the imperative turn: Managing the temporality of the nominated action.
• 4. Declaratives - initiating new actions
• 4.1 Modal-verb declaratives: initiating a new project
• 4.2 Giving advice with modal-verb declaratives
• 4.3 Simple declaratives: A new step in the ongoing project
• 5. The design of teacher's directives - managing the temporal progress of the ongoing activities and the participation framework
• Chapter 14. Epilogue: Imperatives - The language of immediate action
• Appendix. Transcription conventions
• Temporal and sequential relationships
• Aspects of speech delivery
• Miscellaneous
• Glossing symbols
• Name index
• Subject index.

Notes:

• Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Description based on print version record.