Method - Requests

15 important questions on Method - Requests

What may the request sentence include?

  • alerters
  • preposed supportive moves
  • the Head Act
  • downgraders or upgraders
  • postposed supportive moves

What are supportive moves?

Requests are often preceded by checks on availability and attempts to get a precommitment. They may also be preceded, or followed, by grounders, which provide the reason for the request or by promises and threats, all of which serve to persuade the hearer to do x.

Which strategy types for Head Acts exist?

  1. mood derivable
  2. performatives
  3. hedged performatives
  4. obligation statements
  5. want statements
  6. suggestory formulae
  7. query preparatory
  8. strong hints
  9. mild hints
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What are mood derivable head acts?

Utterances in which the grammatical mood of the verb signals illocutionary force.

What are hedged performatives?

Utterances in which the naming of the illocutionary force is modified by hedging expression.

What are obligation statements?

Utterances which state the obligation of the hearer to carry out the act.

What are suggestory formulae?

Utterances which contain a suggestion to do x.

What are query preparatory head acts?

Utterances containing reference to preparatory conditions as conventionalized in any specific language.

What are strong hints?

Utterances containing partial reference to object or element needed for the implementation of the act.

What are mild hints?

Utterances that make no reference to the request proper but are interpretable as requests by context.

Which three main levels of directness has been empirically shown to be valid across several languages?

  1. direct strategies
  2. conventionally indirect strategies
  3. nonconventionally indirect strategies

What does choice of perspective affect?

Social meaning; since requests are inherently imposing, avoidance to name the hearer as actor can reduce the form's level of coerciveness.

What are internal modifiers?

Elements within the request utterance proper, the presence of which is not essential for the utterance to be potentially understood as a request. Their omission will leave the pragmatic force of the utterance as a request intact.

In which two ways can such modifiers be multifunctional?

  1. they may act both as indicating devices, used to signal pragmatic force, as well as sociopragmatic devices, meant to affect the social impact the utterance is likely to have.
  2. in their sociopragmatic role, they may act either as downgraders, meant to mitigate, the act of alternatively as upgraders that emphasize its degree of coerciveness.

What are syntactic downgraders?

This aspect of the analysis is realized by language specific sub-categories. It is a factor contributing to the effect a request is going to have.

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