Entitlement and Two Formats of Interrogative Requests in E-mail Interactions

Abstract

We, based on a discourse analysis framework (i.e. methodology of Conversation Analysis), demonstrate that the two interrogative formats of indirect requests, ‘Can you …?’ and ‘Will you …?’, are used not in random manners but in pragmatically constrained manners. In comparing the two interrogative formats with modal verbs used in E-mail interactions, we propose that speakers’ selectional patterns of one linguistic format over the other for the same speech act of request reflect their orientation to entitlement to request rather than politeness, undermining Clark and Schunk’s (1980) politeness approach. As such, our study on the E-mail interactions will eventually guide ESL and EFL learners to realizing that speakers (or E-mail senders) rely more on the pragmatic factor of entitlement than politeness in making requests, especially, in the workplace setting.