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Mobilizing Others: Grammar and lexis within larger activities
Edited by Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm, Emma Betz and Peter Golato
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 33] 2020
► pp. 19–46

Chapter 2
Requesting here-and-now actions with two imperative formats in Korean interaction

| California State University, Northridge
| University of Hawaii, Manoa

This chapter analyzes two Korean imperative formats, the -e/a imperative and the imperative formed with the auxiliary verb po‑ ‘see’ (referred to as the plain imperative and the pwa imperative, respectively), focusing on the requests of here-and-now actions. Pwa imperatives are selected when the nominated action is a step that advances the larger course of action in progress and anticipates a next action, although the outcome of the nominated action is only provisionally determined. Plain imperatives, on the other hand, are deployed when no further actions are suggested as part of the nominated action. The paper challenges the previous explanations based on social distance or politeness by showing that the selection of the imperatives hinges on a particular ‘situation design’, that is, whether the nominated action is connected to the larger action trajectory.

Keywords: anticipatory action, auxiliary verb, conversation analysis, imperatives, Korean, politeness, requests, situation design
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Target imperative forms
  • Data
  • Analysis of the two imperative formats in Korean: Plain vs. Pwa imperatives
    • Pwa imperatives
    • Plain imperatives
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 13 May 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.33.02kim
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