TY - JOUR
T1 - Directive-giving and grammatical forms
T2 - Mitigation devices in a medical laboratory setting
AU - Chan, Angela
AU - Zhang, Wei
AU - Zayts, Olga
AU - Tang, Mary Hoi Yin
AU - Tam, Wai Keung
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - This paper investigates the use of grammatical forms in directive sequences by drawing on daily interactions between colleagues in a medical laboratory in Hong Kong. From a conversation analytic perspective, we focus on how directives in Cantonese are commonly formulated and how the force of a directive is mitigated. Our analysis shows that (1) the imperative seems to be the most frequently used syntactic form for giving directives and there is no apparent hierarchical ('power') differentiation, (2) the imperative-formulated directives are frequently mitigated by the use of a range of linguistic forms as well as interactional resources.
AB - This paper investigates the use of grammatical forms in directive sequences by drawing on daily interactions between colleagues in a medical laboratory in Hong Kong. From a conversation analytic perspective, we focus on how directives in Cantonese are commonly formulated and how the force of a directive is mitigated. Our analysis shows that (1) the imperative seems to be the most frequently used syntactic form for giving directives and there is no apparent hierarchical ('power') differentiation, (2) the imperative-formulated directives are frequently mitigated by the use of a range of linguistic forms as well as interactional resources.
KW - Cantonese
KW - Directives
KW - Grammar and interaction
KW - Mitigation devices
KW - Workplace interaction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954088023&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84954088023&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1075/cld.6.2.02cha
DO - 10.1075/cld.6.2.02cha
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
SN - 1877-7031
VL - 6
SP - 133
EP - 161
JO - Chinese Language and Discourse
JF - Chinese Language and Discourse
IS - 2
ER -