Chapter published in:
Fixed Expressions: Building language structure and social actionEdited by Ritva Laury and Tsuyoshi Ono
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 315] 2020
► pp. 99–132
English why don’t you X as a formulaic expression
Sandra A. Thompson | University of California, Santa Barbara
Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen | University of Helsinki
In this chapter we examine a formulaic expression in
English, why don’t you + action verb/predicate (=
WDY). We show that WDY is used in
everyday conversation to carry out the social work of giving advice, as in
why don't you try taking it again? We argue that this
construction is a formulaic expression because it is not understood
compositionally: the WDY format does not ask a question,
but proposes a future action that the speaker is recommending that the
recipient undertake. Our chapter explores the implicativeness of
WDY for subsequent talk, and reveals the intricate
relationship between the grammar of WDY and the social work
that it is used to do.
Keywords: formulaic expression, conversation, giving advice, grammar, reduction, prosody, dynamic, agentive, deontic, account
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