INTEGRATIVE PRAGMATICS OF THE SPEECH ACT OF REQUEST: FACE-SAVING MECHANISMS THROUGH THE INTERFACE OF PRAGMATIC DEVICES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18066/revistaunivap.v32i74.4694Keywords:
implicatures, cooperative maximsAbstract
The article examines the speech act of a request through the lens of various pragmatic devices, highlighting how they interact to form a unified complex that functions as face-saving mechanisms. Based on an analysis of two extended interactions between a Student and a Teacher, the study shows that these devices not only correlate in function but also iconically reflect the seriousness of the request, with their accumulation signaling an increased level of face-threatening potential. The research identifies a correlation between several devices: framing a request as a dispreferred move with pre-sequences and side sequences that serve as external modifiers; violating the maxims of quantity, relevance, and clarity through these sequences, which trigger conversational implicatures; and using hedges and mitigators within the request or its modifiers, intensifying implicatures or activating new ones. Additionally, negative politeness strategies are employed through internal and external modifications, while the illocutionary force of the request is derived from implicatures as an indirect directive act. The study confirms that as the seriousness of a request increases, its conventionality diminishes, leading to more implicit or indirect forms of expression. In some cases, the request seems almost absent, requiring the addressee to exert additional cognitive effort to infer the speaker's intent. This implicature-based interpretation often arises from the external pragmatic modifiers justifying the request.
Keywords: speech act of request, implicatures, cooperative maxims, dispreferred move, negative politeness.
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