Epistemics and the functions of declarative questions in Dutch talk-in-interaction

The role of grammar in talk-in-interaction has recently become a focal point of conversation analytic research. Yet how different clause types, such as declaratives and interrogatives, contribute to action formation is still rather vague. We approach this issue by looking at three questioning actions that are designed with a declarative prefaced by a specific lexical item: want, dus, and oh. We will demonstrate that each action presupposes that the speaker has a high degree of certainty: want is used to account, dus to infer, and oh conveys a change-of-state, typically from not knowing (K−) to... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Seuren, Lucas
Huiskes, Mike
Koole, Tom
Dokumenttyp: contributionToPeriodical
Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
Verlag/Hrsg.: Eburon
Schlagwörter: declarative questions
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27058123
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/11370/20416ae3-4737-4889-ac17-2a5f391b1701

The role of grammar in talk-in-interaction has recently become a focal point of conversation analytic research. Yet how different clause types, such as declaratives and interrogatives, contribute to action formation is still rather vague. We approach this issue by looking at three questioning actions that are designed with a declarative prefaced by a specific lexical item: want, dus, and oh. We will demonstrate that each action presupposes that the speaker has a high degree of certainty: want is used to account, dus to infer, and oh conveys a change-of-state, typically from not knowing (K−) to knowing (K+). Based on these findings, we will argue that declarative questions are used when a speaker claims a particular epistemic stance, and in turn that epistemic stance constrains the actions that a clause type can be used for.