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A question of context: Directive use at a morris team meeting1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Kimberly Jones
Kimberly Jones
Affiliation:
Department of East Asian Studies, Franklin 404, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
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Abstract

Studies of speech acts such as directives and of gender and language use have rarely considered the details of the speech context. Comparing men's and women's use of directives at a dance group meeting, I find little difference in the frequency with which they direct others, the targets of their directives, or the types of directives used. Status variations within the group, although more important than gender, still fail to show the primary factors influencing the use of directives. Directive usage cannot be adequately understood without considering the specific contexts in which directives occur. Potentially face-threatening, directives are used most and expressed most strongly when another threat to conversation outweighs the threat of the directive, when the bonds between participants are strong enough to mitigate the threat, or when a high degree of involvement in a conversation renders the threat less potent and encourages the expression of solidarity and interest. (Conversation analysis, directives, gender and language use, speech acts, English)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 427 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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