LINGUIST List 29.1391
Thu Mar 29 2018
Diss: English; French; Cognitive Science; Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Sociolinguistics: Nicolas Ruytenbeek: ''The mechanics of indirectness: A case study of directive speech acts''
Editor for this issue: Sarah Robinson <srobinsonlinguistlist.org>
Date: 24-Mar-2018
From: Nicolas Ruytenbeek <nruytenb
ulb.ac.be>
Subject: The mechanics of indirectness: A case study of directive
speech acts
E-mail this
message to a friend Institution: Université Libre de Bruxelles,
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
Program: Linguistics
Dissertation
Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2017
Author: Nicolas Ruytenbeek
Dissertation Title: The mechanics of indirectness: A case study of
directive speech acts
Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
Pragmatics
Psycholinguistics
Semantics
Sociolinguistics
Subject Language(s):
English
(eng)
French (fra) Dissertation
Director:
Mikhail Kissine
Dissertation Abstract:
This
dissertation investigates the comprehension of indirect requests (IRs). Focusing on
English and French, it proposes that IRs such as Can you + verbal phrase (for short,
Can you VP?) achieve an optimal communicative efficiency because, while they entail
extra processing costs, they match the expected level of politeness in many
contexts. The approach taken combines Talmy’s force dynamic semantics with a
traditional perspective in philosophy of language drawing on speech act theory.
Page Updated: 29-Mar-2018