The social and moral work of modal constructions in granting remote requests
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Jakob Steensig
Abstract
Previous research has established that participants in interaction distinguish between those requests that can be satisfied immediately and those that are to be satisfied at some point in the future. Whereas immediate requests can be granted simply by the recipient carrying out the requested action, the preferred and aligning response to a remote request is a full-clause response with which the recipient commits to carrying out the requested action in the future. This paper investigates the most frequently occurring forms of full-clause, complying responses to remote requests in Danish interactions. We show that those full-clause responses that contain a modal adverb differ in interactionally relevant ways from those full-clause responses that do not contain a modal adverb. Full-clause responses without a modal adverb are treated by participants as indicating that the relevance of carrying out the requested action is a given and as such something that both requester and recipient understand as an appropriate action. Full-clause responses with modal adverbs, by contrast, are employed to indicate that the requested action is not recognizably appropriate to the recipient, but will be carried out specifically because it was requested.
Abstract
Previous research has established that participants in interaction distinguish between those requests that can be satisfied immediately and those that are to be satisfied at some point in the future. Whereas immediate requests can be granted simply by the recipient carrying out the requested action, the preferred and aligning response to a remote request is a full-clause response with which the recipient commits to carrying out the requested action in the future. This paper investigates the most frequently occurring forms of full-clause, complying responses to remote requests in Danish interactions. We show that those full-clause responses that contain a modal adverb differ in interactionally relevant ways from those full-clause responses that do not contain a modal adverb. Full-clause responses without a modal adverb are treated by participants as indicating that the relevance of carrying out the requested action is a given and as such something that both requester and recipient understand as an appropriate action. Full-clause responses with modal adverbs, by contrast, are employed to indicate that the requested action is not recognizably appropriate to the recipient, but will be carried out specifically because it was requested.
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
