Chapter published in:
Imperative Turns at Talk: The design of directives in action
Edited by Marja-Leena Sorjonen, Liisa Raevaara and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 30] 2017
► pp. 139–173

Chapter 5
Three imperative action formats in Danish talk-in-interaction

The case of imperative + modal particles bare and lige

In Danish talk-in-interaction, imperative verbs often occur together with modal particles. This paper investigates three such combinations of imperatives and modal particles. We argue that the combinations are best understood as separate social action formats performing different actions in specific interactional contexts, rather than as modifications or modalizations of an imperative. The modal particles (bare and lige) investigated are the ones that occur most frequently with imperatives in our data. Both might on some occasions be translated into ‘just’ in English, but they are not synonymous in Danish. The investigated actions formats are: (1) imperative+lige, which is used to perform a request for an action that is portrayed as being part of a common project, (2) imperative+bare, which is used to grant permission, and (3) bare+imperative, which is used to advise the recipient to carry out a specific action as a solution to a problem. The action formats are designed to show consideration of the recipient’s benefits of the proposed actions in specific ways, and they make differential claims of entitlement, deontic authority, and moral accountability. As a more general point, we propose that an approach to grammatical formats that begins with the actual use of combinations of words and structures in interactional contexts, is more revealing than starting with a default understanding of the interactional function of a grammatical structure (for instance, that the imperative has a “commanding” function) and then see combinations with other words and structures as modifications of this default function.

Keywords: conversation analysis, Danish, imperative, modal particles, social action formats, requesting, granting permission, advising
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Danish imperatives in general and in our data
  • 3.Analysis of three imperative action formats
    • 3.1Imperative+lige as a format for requesting
    • 3.2Imperative+bare as a format for granting permission
    • 3.3 Bare+imperative as a format for giving advice
  • 4.Summary and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 August 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.30.05hei
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.
2010 Imperatives and Commands. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Allan, Robin, Phillip Holmes, and Tom Lundskær-Nielsen
1995 Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Basbøll, Hans
2005 The Phonology of Danish. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson
1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clayman, Steven E.
2012 “Address Terms in the Organization of Turns at Talk: The Case of Pivotal Turn Extensions.” Journal of Pragmatics 44:1853–1867. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Comrie, Bernard, Martin Haspelmath, and Balthasar Bickel
2015 “The Leipzig Glossing Rules. Conventions for interlinear morpheme-by-morpheme glosses”. Leipzig. (http://​www​.eva​.mpg​.de​/lingua​/resources​/glossing​-rules​.php, Accessed on 2016-04-04.)
Curl, Traci, and Paul Drew
2008 “Contingency and Action: A Comparison of Two Forms of Requesting.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 41: 129–153. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
DDO, Den danske ordbog [The Danish Dictionary]
2015 (ordnet.dk/ddo. Accessed on 2015-10-05).Google Scholar
Fox, Barbara
2007 “Principles Shaping Grammatical Practices: An Exploration.” Discourse Studies 9 (3): 299–318. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Erik, and Lars Heltoft
2011 Grammatik over det Danske Sprog [Grammar of the Danish language]. Copenhagen: Det Danske Sprog‑ og Litteraturselskab.Google Scholar
Heinemann, Trine
2005 “Where Grammar and Interaction Meet. The Preference for Matched Polarity in Responsive Turns in Danish.” In Syntax and Lexis in Conversation: Studies on the Use of Linguistic Resources in Talk-in-interaction, ed. by Auli Hakulinen, and Margret Selting, 375–399. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2006 “ ‘Will You or Can’t You?’: Displaying Entitlement in Interrogative Requests.” Journal of Pragmatics 38: 1081–1104. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 “Two Answers to Inapposite Inquiries.” In Conversation Analysis: Comparative Perspectives, ed. by Jack Sidnell, 159–186. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2016 “From Looking to Seeing: Indexing Delayed Intelligibility of an Object with the Danish Change-of-state Token n↑å↓: ” Journal of Pragmatics 104: 108–132. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heinemann, Trine, Anna Lindström, and Jakob Steensig
2011 “Addressing Epistemic Incongruence in Question-Answer Sequences Through the Use of Epistemic Adverbs.” In The Morality of Knowledge in Conversation, ed. by Tanya Stivers, Lorenza Mondada, and Jakob Steensig, 107–130. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heinemann, Trine, and Jakob Steensig
Forthcoming. “Justifying Departures from Progressivity: The Danish Turn-initial Particle altså .” In At the Intersection of Turn and Sequence: Turn-initial Particles Across Languages ed. by John Heritage, and Marja-Leena Sorjonen Amsterdam/Philadelphia John Benjamins
In preparation. “Seeing it our way versus seeing it my way – Two formats for mobilizing joint attention to an object in Danish talk-in-interaction..”
Heritage, John, and Sue Sefi
1992 “Dilemmas of Advice: Aspects of the Delivery and Reception of Advice in Interactions Between Health Visitors and Firsttime Mothers”. In Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings, ed. by Paul Drew, and John Heritage, 359–417. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Holmberg, Anders, and Christer Platzack
2005 “The Scandinavian Languages.” In Comparative Syntax, ed. by Guglielmo Cinque, and Richard S. Kayne, 420–458. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Holt, Elizabeth
1996 “Reporting on Talk: The Use of Direct Reported Speech in Conversation.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 29 (3): 219–245. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Houtkoop-Steenstra, Hanneke
1987 Establishing Agreement: An Analysis of Proposal-acceptance Sequences. Doctoral dissertation, Universiteit van Amsterdam. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail
1984 “Notes on Some Orderlinesses of Overlap Onset.” In Discourse Analysis and Natural Rhetoric, ed. by Valentina D’Urso, and Paolo Leonardi, 11–38. Padua, Italy: Cleup Editore.Google Scholar
2004 “Glossary of Transcript Symbols with an Introduction.” In Conversation Analysis: Studies from the first generation, ed. by Gene H. Lerner, 13–31. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, Gail, and John R.E. Lee
1981 “The Rejection of Advice: Managing the Problematic Convergence of a ‘Troubles Telling’ and a ‘Service Encounter.’” Journal of Pragmatics 5: 399–422. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lindström, Anna
2005 “Language as Social Action: A Study of how Senior Citizens Request Assistance with Practical Tasks in the Swedish Home Help Service.” In Syntax and Lexis in Conversation: Studies on the Use of Linguistic Resources in Talk-in-interaction, ed. by Auli Hakulinen, and Margret Selting, 209–230. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2017 “Accepting Remote Proposals.” In Enabling Human Conduct: Naturalistic Studies of Talk-in-interaction in Honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff, ed. by Geoffrey Raymond, Gene H. Lerner, and John Heritage. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mazeland, Harrie, and Mike Huiskes
2001 “Dutch ‘but’ as a Sequential Conjunction. Its Use as a Resumption Marker.” In Studies in Interactional Linguistics, ed. by Margret Selting, and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, 141–169. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita
1984 “Agreeing and Disagreeing with Assessments: Some Features of Preferred/Dispreferred Turn Shapes.” In Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, ed. by J. Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 57–101. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rossi, Giovanni
2012 “Bilateral and Unilateral Requests: The Use of Imperatives and Mi X? Interrogatives in Italian.” Discourse Processes 49: 426–458. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey
1992 Lectures on Conversation. Vol. 2. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel A.
1998 “Body Torque.” Social Research 65 (3): 535–596.Google Scholar
Sidnell, Jack
2007 “ ‘Look’-prefaced Turns in First and Second Position: Launching, Interceding and Redirecting Action.” Discourse Studies 9 (3): 387–408. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Steensig, Jakob, and Birte Asmuß
2005 “Notes on Disaligning ‘yes but’ Initiated Utterances in German and Danish Conversations: Two Construction Types for Dispreferred Responses.” In Syntax and Lexis in Conversation, ed. by Auli Hakulinen, and Margret Selting, 349–373. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Steensig, Jakob, and Trine Heinemann
2014 “The Social and Moral Work of Modal Constructions in Granting Remote Requests.” In Requesting in Social Interaction, ed. by Paul Drew, and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, 145–170. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
In preparation. “Pursuing Imperative Compliance: The Case of Danish Imperative+nu .”
Stevanovic, Melisa, and Anssi Peräkylä
2012 “Deontic Authority in Interaction: The Right to Announce, Propose, and Decide.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 45 (3): 297–321. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stivers, Tanya
2004 “ ‘No no no’ and Other Types of Multiple Sayings in Social Interaction.” Human Communication Research 30 (2): 260–293. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zinken, Jörg
2013 “Reanimating Responsibility. The wez-V2 (take-V2) Double Imperative in Polish Interaction.” In Approaches to Slavic Interaction, ed. by Nadine Thielemann, and Peter Kosta, 35–61. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

No author info given
2021.  In OKAY across Languages [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 34], Crossref logo
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth, Marja Etelämäki & Marja-Leena Sorjonen
2021.  In Intersubjectivity in Action [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 326], ► pp. 61 ff. Crossref logo
Golato, Peter
2020.  In Mobilizing Others [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 33], ► pp. 83 ff. Crossref logo
Kim, Stephanie Hyeri & Mary Shin Kim
2020.  In Mobilizing Others [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 33], ► pp. 19 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 01 december 2022. 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.