open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/jgsl.10.27

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/58206

A Usage-Based Analysis of Indirect Directives in English (3) : I wonder if you

英語

2015-03

北海道大学文学研究科

Journal of the Graduate School of Letters

10

27-40

The present paper deals with the I wonder if you VP construction in English, with a special focus on its use for conveying a request as opposed to genuine information question. The paper has three aims: (i) to define the nature of request made with this construction from the viewpoint of the types of verbs that frequently appear; (ii) to characterize this directive construction within the framework of the 6-parameter analysis of FORCE EXERTION (Takahashi 2012), a theory originally designed to capture the difference in illocutionary force among different imperative utterances; and (iii) to describe the ways in which this construction functions, and interacts with other directive constructions, in actual discourse. It is argued that I wonder if you is prototypically an information-seeking device when it is used as directive. Furthermore, quite unlike the expression I’d appreciate it if you (Takahashi 2014b),its appearance is not restricted to the core or conclusive segment of directive discourse but rather the construction may occur in an introductory part of the entire directive discourse to communicate to the addressee that the speaker is about to make a request.

紀要論文

Version of Record

1880-8832

AA12118273