Imperative Turns at Talk
The design of directives in action
Editors
| University of Helsinki
| University of Helsinki
| University of Helsinki
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.
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 30] 2017. vi, 435 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
1–24
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Part 1. Structure and use of imperative turns
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27–63
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65–101
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103–137
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139–173
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175–211
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Part 2. Sequences with imperative turns
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215–240
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241–270
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271–295
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Part 3. Sequences with imperative turns in asymmetric situations
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299–324
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325–355
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357–380
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381–410
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411–423
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Transcription conventions
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425–427
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Name index
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429–432
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Subject index
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433
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“Imperatives are one of the three major sentence types, together with interrogatives and declaratives. In this collection of articles, scholars in Interactional Linguistics and Conversation Analysis examine the use of imperative forms as turns-at-talk and social actions in naturally occurring interaction. The studies not only demonstrate an acute attention to linguistic form across a range of languages; they also reveal the subtle structures of social interaction in which imperative turns naturally find their home. This volume is essential reading for all scholars of interaction and grammar and the complex relationship between linguistic form and social action.”
Kobin H. Kendrick, University of York
“This volume powerfully demonstrates how analyzing language in its primary habitat – social interaction – entails a fundamental reconsideration of even the most established categories of grammar. Deconstructing the notion according to which the use of imperatives is basically related to ‘commanding’ and ‘impoliteness’, the studies collected here document the wide range of actions that speakers accomplish by means of imperative constructions in real-life situations. Both original in its approach and profound in its implications, the volume as a whole advances our understanding of the workings of grammar in light of the temporal and multisemiotic unfolding of social interaction.”
Simona Pekarek Doehler, Université de Neuchâtel
“This enjoyable book fully succeeds in its aim of explaining the emergence of grammar from the patterns and regularities within social interaction.”
Yanhua Cheng, Zhejiang University, in Discourse Studies 20(5) 2018
Cited by
Cited by other publications
No author info given
Betz, Emma, Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm & Peter Golato
Bolaños-Carpio, Alexa
Hoey, Elliott M.
Kim, Stephanie Hyeri & Mary Shin Kim
Lindström, Jan, Camilla Lindholm, Inga-Lill Grahn & Martina Huhtamäki
Okada, Misao
Wiercinska, Katarzyna
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 december 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
BIC Subject: CFG – Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
BISAC Subject: LAN009030 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Pragmatics