120 Advances in spoken discourse analysis
K2 distinction redundant, we can perhaps do the same with directive exchanges.
We can propose an act to be called a commissive, one in which a participant
undertakes an obligation to fulfil some specified action at some time in the
future. We would then have:
A: Will you come tomorrow please? (elicit)
B: Yes, of course. (commissive)In this case, just as an evaluate at the head of the Follow-up move in an
eliciting exchange marks the initiation as a K2 in Berry’s terms, so a commissive
as head of an Answering move in a given exchange shows that the Opening
move in that exchange has been interpreted as a direct.
J.D.Willis (1987) looks at a number of problematic exchanges in which
an initiation which has the form of an inform or an elicit is interpreted as
a direct:
1 A: Is that your coat on the floor again?
B: Yes. (picks up coat)
2 A: Is that the salt over there?
B: Sorry, (passes salt)
3 A: The room’s a bit dusty.
B: Sorry. I’ll do it as soon as I can.
4 A: Why don’t you send a telegram?
B: Yes. OK.
But if we include the possibility of a commissive these exchanges cease
to be problematic. Examples (1) and (2) create relatively little difficulty
anyway. The non-verbal action in each case provides a react which shows
that the initiation has been treated as a direct. In these cases the react is
the head of the move with an accompanying verbal act as pre- or post-
head. In the case of (3) and (4), the words ‘I’ll do it as soon as I can’ and
‘OK’ are commissives. In uttering them the speaker undertakes an obligation
to carry out an action in the future. The utterance of a commissive as the
head of an Answering move has the effect of saying ‘I understand your
initiation as a direct’, and therefore has a reclassifying force. If we accept
this analysis the next stage is to look at data and see how such commissives
are realized.
J.D.Willis (1987) goes on to consider the difference between:
5 A: It’s hot in here.
B: Yes, isn’t it?
6 A: It’s hot in here.
B: The window’s jammed.
A: Oh, I see.
and