1.2 Core Section Two: Design
We’ve seen that actions are done through talk. We now need to see how they are brought off. In this section, then, we’ll be asking ‘how is this being done?’ as well as ‘what is being done?’
Pomerantz and Fehr (1995) suggest that one way to do this is to ask questions about the data, which help us notice features of the way the things are said.
• How is the action ‘delivered’?
• What options does this give the recipient?
• What inferences might the recipient have made on the basis of the way the action is ‘packaged’?
• How are people, objects, events, places referred to?
• What other terms could have been used?
• What are the consequences for the interaction of this way of putting things, rather than an alternative?
To illustrate this before we look at some data, consider the following way of inviting someone for food.
Would you like to go for lunch?
The invitation is presented as something the recipient might or might not like to do.
The recipient is therefore given the option of providing an evaluative response to that activity (‘That would be great’ or ‘I’d love to’).
It indicates a limited range of places for lunch (because of the use of the term ‘go’ implying somewhere such as a café rather than coming round to my place).
The speaker could have said ‘Shall we grab a bite?. ‘Grabbing a bite’ implies something fairly quick (not say a three course meal). By comparison, ‘would you like to go for lunch?’ demands more commitment to that activity.
With these questions in mind, we’ll examine some data to ask how actions are accomplished.