Benefactors and beneficiaries
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Steven E. Clayman
Abstract
The implementation and ascription of ‘first actions’ has until recently been an understudied area within conversation analysis. Recently, exploratory studies in the domains of epistemics and deontics have led to a revival of interest in this problem. This paper addresses the same issue through the lens of ‘benefactives’ and its relevance to the production of requests and offers. It argues that when persons are confronted with a turn at talk that proposes some future action and its agent, they parse this turn by reference to the distribution of benefits (if any) that will accrue to speaker and recipient. The paper identifies some of the key ingredients in the linguistic construction of benefactive stance: reference to the agent and recipient of the future action, reference to the interests that can be satisfied through the action, and action formulations indexing costs and benefits. It is demonstrated that these features can be mobilized in pursuit of an accepting response. The paper further develops the argument that there will normally be a congruence between the ‘benefactive status’ of the action and the ‘benefactive stance’ taken in and through the design of the utterance that nominates the action. Correspondingly, in the case of incongruency benefactive status trumps benefactive stance in the ascription of the action and the interpretive determination of its social meanings.
Abstract
The implementation and ascription of ‘first actions’ has until recently been an understudied area within conversation analysis. Recently, exploratory studies in the domains of epistemics and deontics have led to a revival of interest in this problem. This paper addresses the same issue through the lens of ‘benefactives’ and its relevance to the production of requests and offers. It argues that when persons are confronted with a turn at talk that proposes some future action and its agent, they parse this turn by reference to the distribution of benefits (if any) that will accrue to speaker and recipient. The paper identifies some of the key ingredients in the linguistic construction of benefactive stance: reference to the agent and recipient of the future action, reference to the interests that can be satisfied through the action, and action formulations indexing costs and benefits. It is demonstrated that these features can be mobilized in pursuit of an accepting response. The paper further develops the argument that there will normally be a congruence between the ‘benefactive status’ of the action and the ‘benefactive stance’ taken in and through the design of the utterance that nominates the action. Correspondingly, in the case of incongruency benefactive status trumps benefactive stance in the ascription of the action and the interpretive determination of its social meanings.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement vii
- Glossary of transcription conventions ix
- Requesting – from speech act to recruitment 1
- Human agency and the infrastructure for requests 35
- Benefactors and beneficiaries 55
- The putative preference for offers over requests 87
- On divisions of labor in request and offer environments 115
- The social and moral work of modal constructions in granting remote requests 145
- Two request forms of four year olds 171
- Orchestrating directive trajectories in communicative projects in family interaction 185
- How to do things with requests 215
- On the grammatical form of requests at the convenience store 243
- Requesting immediate action in the surgical operating room 269
- When do people not use language to make requests? 303
- “Requests” and “offers” in orangutans and human infants 335
- Subject Index 365
- Name Index 369
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement vii
- Glossary of transcription conventions ix
- Requesting – from speech act to recruitment 1
- Human agency and the infrastructure for requests 35
- Benefactors and beneficiaries 55
- The putative preference for offers over requests 87
- On divisions of labor in request and offer environments 115
- The social and moral work of modal constructions in granting remote requests 145
- Two request forms of four year olds 171
- Orchestrating directive trajectories in communicative projects in family interaction 185
- How to do things with requests 215
- On the grammatical form of requests at the convenience store 243
- Requesting immediate action in the surgical operating room 269
- When do people not use language to make requests? 303
- “Requests” and “offers” in orangutans and human infants 335
- Subject Index 365
- Name Index 369
