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Rethinking format: An examination of requests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2016

Barbara Fox  and
Trine Heinemann
Barbara Fox
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Colorado, Campus Box 295, Boulder, CO 80309, [email protected]
Trine Heinemann
Affiliation:
Finnish Centre of Excellence in Intersubjectivity in Interaction, University of Helsinki, Finland, P.O. Box 4 (Vuorikatu 3), 00014 University of Helsinki, [email protected]
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Abstract

This study explores the formulation of requests in an American English-speaking shoe repair shop. Taking prior work on request formats as our starting point, we explore the two primary syntactic moods (declarative and interrogative) in our collection and two of the commonly noted subtypes of these moods, need/want-declaratives and can-interrogatives. While our findings in very general terms match those of previous studies, we also find significant grammatical variation within each of these formats, and note interactional uses for each variation. Our examination yields insight into facets of requesting that were previously undescribed. We offer an Emergent Grammar perspective on the complexity of lexicosyntax in the social action of requesting. (Requests, formats, Emergent Grammar, Conversation Analysis, American English, service encounters)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , September 2016 , pp. 499 - 531
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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