Imperative Turns at Talk
The design of directives in action
Editors
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
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Chapter 1. Imperative turns at talk: An introductionMarja-Leena Sorjonen, Liisa Raevaara and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen | pp. 1–24
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Part 1. Structure and use of imperative turns
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Chapter 2. A cline of visible commitment in the situated design of imperative turns: Evidence from German and PolishJörg Zinken and Arnulf Deppermann | pp. 27–63
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Chapter 3. Precision timing and timed embeddedness of imperatives in embodied courses of action: Examples from FrenchLorenza Mondada | pp. 65–101
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Chapter 4. Secondary and deviant uses of the imperative for requesting in ItalianGiovanni Rossi | pp. 103–137
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Chapter 5. Three imperative action formats in Danish talk-in-interaction: The case of imperative + modal particles bare and ligeTrine Heinemann and Jakob Steensig | pp. 139–173
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Chapter 6. Requests for here-and-now actions in Russian conversationGalina Bolden | pp. 175–211
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Part 2. Sequences with imperative turns
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Chapter 7. In the face of resistance: A Finnish practice for insisting on imperatively formatted directivesMarja Etelämäki and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen | pp. 215–240
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Chapter 8. Imperatives and responsiveness in Finnish conversationMarja-Leena Sorjonen | pp. 241–270
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Chapter 9. Negotiating deontic rights in second position: Young adult daughters’ imperatively formatted responses to mothers’ offers in EstonianLeelo Keevallik | pp. 271–295
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Part 3. Sequences with imperative turns in asymmetric situations
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Chapter 10. Imperatives in Swedish medical consultationsJan Lindström, Camilla Lindholm, Catrin Norrby, Camilla Wide and Jenny Nilsson | pp. 299–324
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Chapter 11. Assigning roles and responsibilities: Finnish imperatively formatted directive actions in a mobile instructional settingMirka Rauniomaa | pp. 325–355
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Chapter 12. Managing compliance in violin instruction: The case of the Finnish clitic particles -pA and -pAs in imperatives and hortativesMelisa Stevanovic | pp. 357–380
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Chapter 13. Adjusting the design of directives to the activity environment: Imperatives in Finnish cooking club interactionLiisa Raevaara | pp. 381–410
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Chapter 14. Epilogue: Imperatives – The language of immediate actionPeter Auer | pp. 411–424
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Transcription conventions
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Name index
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Subject index | p. 433
“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 25 other publications
Betz, Emma, Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm & Peter Golato
2020. Chapter 1. Mobilizing others. In Mobilizing Others [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 33], ► pp. 1 ff. 
Bolaños-Carpio, Alexa
2020. Chapter 9. When emergencies are not urgent. In Mobilizing Others [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 33], ► pp. 229 ff.
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth & Sandra A. Thompson
2022. Action Ascription and Deonticity in Everyday Advice-Giving Sequences. In Action Ascription in Interaction, ► pp. 183 ff.
Deppermann, Arnulf
2021. Social Actions. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 69 ff.
Deppermann, Arnulf & Alexandra Gubina
Deppermann, Arnulf & Michael Haugh
2022. Action Ascription in Social Interaction. In Action Ascription in Interaction, ► pp. 3 ff.
Heritage, John
2022. The Multiple Accountabilities of Action. In Action Ascription in Interaction, ► pp. 297 ff.
Hoey, Elliott M.
2022. Self-authorizing action: On let me X in English social interaction. Language in Society 51:1 ► pp. 95 ff.
Kim, Mary Shin
2023. Korean imperatives at two different speech levels. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)
Kim, Stephanie Hyeri & Mary Shin Kim
2020. Chapter 2. Requesting here-and-now actions with two imperative formats in Korean interaction. In Mobilizing Others [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 33], ► pp. 19 ff.
Laakso, Minna
2021. Learning to request in interaction. In Intersubjectivity in Action [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 326], ► pp. 349 ff.
Lindström, Jan, Camilla Lindholm, Inga-Lill Grahn & Martina Huhtamäki
2020. Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities. In Emergent Syntax for Conversation [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 32], ► pp. 245 ff.
Montiegel, Kristella
2022. Teachers’ gestures for building listening and spoken language skills. Discourse Processes 59:10 ► pp. 771 ff.
Mushin, Ilana & Simona Pekarek Doehler
Okada, Misao
2018. Imperative Actions in Boxing Sparring Sessions. Research on Language and Social Interaction 51:1 ► pp. 67 ff.
PEKAREK DOEHLER, SIMONA & SØREN W. ESKILDSEN
2022. Emergent L2 Grammars in and for Social Interaction: Introduction to the Special Issue. The Modern Language Journal 106:S1 ► pp. 3 ff.
Raymond, Chase Wesley
Routarinne, Sara & Maria Ahlholm
2021. Developing Requests in Multilingual Classroom Interaction: A Case of Second Language Development in Middle Childhood. Applied Linguistics 42:4 ► pp. 765 ff.
Siitonen, Pauliina, Mirka Rauniomaa & Tiina Keisanen
2021. Language and the Moving Body: Directive Actions With the Finnish kato “look” in Nature-Related Activities. Frontiers in Psychology 12
Urbanik, Paweł
2020. Getting others to share goods in Polish and Norwegian: Material and moral anchors for request conventions. Intercultural Pragmatics 17:2 ► pp. 177 ff.
White, Anne Elizabeth Clark
2020. Authority and camaraderie: The delivery of directives amongst the ice floes. Language in Society 49:2 ► pp. 207 ff.
Wiercinska, Katarzyna
2019. Op zoek naar perceptieverschillen bij directief taalgebruik in het Pools en het Nederlands: een onderzoeksvoorstel. AUC PHILOLOGICA 2018:4 ► pp. 169 ff.
[no author supplied]
2018. Publications Received. Language in Society 47:1 ► pp. 169 ff.
2021. Fundamentals of Sociopragmatics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 13 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 march 2023. 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 & Metadata
BIC Subject: CFG – Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
BISAC Subject: LAN009030 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Pragmatics