Issues in Action Formation : Requests and the Problem with x

In previous interactional studies of formats for utterances doing requests, attention has been given to the initial verb (such as can/could or wonder) and possibly the subject (especially I vs you). The current study examines the main types of grammatical variation found in what we call the " x component," that is the segment after the initial verb and subject. We examine two types of requests: those with can you x and those with wonder x, and we find that variations in the x component in these requests are associated with variations in the unfolding development of the request sequences. We thus suggest that the x component is crucial to the interactional work accomplished by the requesting utterance.Peer reviewe

Audiological Consultations

In this paper, we present a study of audiologists’ use of technology in consultations with patients. We highlight the ways in which the hardware and software the audiologist uses to adjust the settings on the patient’s hearing aid are not designed with their necessary use within the consultation’s interaction in mind. Rather, the technology is designed for use by a single user with audiological training. Furthermore, the local interactional context (in the consultation) in which the technology is used creates difficulties for patients to follow the course of their own treatment. For example, the relevance of the audiologists’ actions with the technology is often not available to the patient. Patients cannot know (due to both the arrangement of the computer and the technical sophistication of the software’s interface) whether or not the audiologist is actually addressing their problem when doing something with the technology. We argue that the technology is much more than simply a professional medical tool that mediates an adequate solution to patients’ difficulties. The move towards “patient-centred” design of technologies must appreciate the variety of roles of these technologies in the consultation. Such roles of the technology in a consultation include patient education, explanation, demonstration, and the medical professional’s justification of treatment decisions. In making these observations, we suggest that the existing design and use of technology can marginalise patients’ own participation in their treatment.

Hendiadys in naturally occurring interactions : A cross-linguistic study of double verb constructions

Double verb constructions known as hendiadys have been studied primarily in literary texts and corpora of written language. Much less is known about their properties and usage in spoken language, where expressions such as 'come and see', 'go and tell', 'sit and talk' are particularly common, and where we can find an even richer diversity of other constructions. In this study, we investigate hendiadys in corpora of naturally occurring social interactions in four languages, Danish, English (US and UK), Finnish and Italian, with the objective of exploring whether hendiadys is used systematically in recurrent interactional and sequential circumstances, from which it is possible to identify the pragmatic function(s) that hendiadys may serve. Examining hendiadys in conversation also offers us a special window into its grammatical properties, for example when a speaker self-corrects from a non-hendiadic to a hendiadic expression, exposing the boundary between related grammatical forms and demonstrating the distinctiveness of hendiadys in context. More broadly, we demonstrate that hendiadys is systematically associated with talk about complainable matters, in environments characterised by a conflict, dissonance, or friction that is ongoing in the interaction or that is being reported by one participant to another. We also find that the utterance in which hendiadys is used is typically in a subsequent and possibly terminal position in the sequence, summarising or concluding it. Another key finding is that the complainable or conflictual element in these interactions is expressed primarily by the first conjunct of the hendiadic construction. Whilst the first conjunct is semantically subsidiary to the second, it is pragmatically the most important one. This analysis leads us to revisit a long-established asymmetry between the verbal components of hendiadys, and to bring to light the synergy of grammar and pragmatics in language usage.Peer reviewe

Evaluating the Economic Performance of a Pure Electric and Diesel Vessel: The Case of E-ferry in Denmark

Europe is an extremely ferry-intensive area, with two main markets – the Northern Europe and the Baltic, and the Mediterranean; while EU ferries account for 35% of the world fleet. This research presents the E-ferry, the first pure electric ferry for medium range routes and likely the largest battery pack ever installed in an electric vessel, and evaluates its economic performance compared to an electric-diesel and a diesel vessel. Three E-ferry schemes are used in the evaluation: E-ferry prototype, E-ferry prototype excluding the development costs, and Series 3 E-ferry, for which we assume an increased production level. The evaluation focuses on the construction and operation costs of the vessels by utilizing real-world data that were collected during the evaluation period of the E-ferry, and complemented with data provided by the ferry operator. The evaluation shows that while the E-ferry construction cost is higher compared to the other two technologies, it contributes significantly to energy demand reduction. The E-ferry achieves cost parity with the diesel-based engine vessels between 5.2 and 3.6 years when considering different E-ferry and energy schemes, showing the potential to promote sustainable ferry operations in short and medium range ferry connections

Polar answers

Peer reviewe

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Will you or can't you? Displaying entitlement in interrogative requests

Interrogative structures such as ‘Could you pass the salt? and ‘Couldn’t you pass the salt?’ can be used for making requests. A study of such pairs within a conversation analytic framework suggests that these are not used interchangeably, and that they have different impacts on the interaction. Focusing on Danish interactions between elderly care recipients and their home help assistants, I demonstrate how the care recipient displays different degrees of stance towards whether she is entitled to make a request or not, depending on whether she formats her request as a positive or a negative interrogative. With a positive interrogative request, the care recipient orients to her request as one she is not entitled to make. This is underscored by other features, such as the use of mitigating devices and the choice of verb. When accounting for this type of request, the care recipient ties the request to the specific situation she is in, at the moment in which the request is produced. In turn, the home help assistant orients to the lack of entitlement by resisting the request. With a negative interrogative request, the care recipient, in contrast, orients to her request as one she is entitled to make. This is strengthened by the choice of verb and the lack of mitigating devices. When such requests are accounted for, the requested task is treated as something that should be routinely performed, and hence as something the home help assistant has neglected to do. In turn, the home help assistant orients to the display of entitlement by treating the request as unproblematic, and by complying with it immediately

Negation in interaction, in Danish conversation

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