preview

Using The Alternative Option For Remedial Action

Good Essays

3. H: [have a la:ugh.]= 4. M: [yeah ] 5. H: =bu:t other than that maybe not 6. H: yeah? 7. M: yeah. 8. M: sounds about right I think 9. H: ye::ah Natasha, Ian and Hellen all three suggest alternatives to a second date. Natasha is suggesting that she will help Scott to find a woman (line 4) while Ian and Helen both suggest that they would see the other person again as a friend (line 5) or to ‘have a laugh’ (line 3). It appears that in order to decrese the potential disappointment, the rejecting party proposes alternative options. Thus it seems that they are treating the situations as ‘calling for remedial action’ (Couper-Kuhlen, 2012: p. 456) and using the alternative suggestion as a tool of face-work. People who have the …show more content…

Consequently they are complying with Grice’s Maxims of quality (be sincere), quantity (don’t say less/more than required), relevance (be relevant) and manner (avoid ambiguity and obscurity (1975), using the bald-on-record strategy (Brown & Levinson, 1987). The bald-on-record strategy is usually applied when the participants both feel no redress is necessary for the sake of efficiency. However, this does not seem to be the case in these situations, seeing that the majority of the other participants use redressive actions. Consequently, Kat and Fran might come across as slightly impolite to the audience. It is even suggested by Goffman (1967) that a person who can witness another person’s chagrin without feeling uncomfortable is seen as ‘heartless’. This is indicated by Collin as well when he calls Fran a ‘cruel mistress’ in line 8, even though it can be assumed it is not meant as a serious insult considering their joking conversations that they had during the date. Whether by complimenting the other party or suggesting alternatives, all rejecting parties except for two tried to minimize the face threat. Limitations Certainly these results come with a number of limitations. First of all, the sample size is relatively small considering that there are over 70 episodes in total. If it was not for the time constraint, all of the episodes could be inspected and an even more reliable results could be achieved. Besides that, the nature of the data

Get Access