Interactional Metafunction

Question 1

Interactional

Answer 1

To establish & maintain social roles or relationships.
Socializing.

Question 2

Phatic Questions

Answer 2

• Opening the communication channel
• Maintenance of social relationships
▪︎ Take Referring Tones (↗,↘↗).
▪︎ Appear to request information. “Where do you ↗live?”
▪︎ Enquiries about well-being. “How ↗are you?”
▪︎ Archieve social ends.
• Taken as Convergence. Speaker invokes a feeling of solidarity, togetherness, being ‘at one with the listener’

Question 3

Exchange of Goods & Services

Answer 3

• To reveal other illocutionary functions.
• Are generally modulated to minimize the effect of the “impossition” (face-saving).
• Issues of convergence, divergence and dominance have a bearing on the choice of tone.
≫ Rise (↗) usually applied “for the benefit of the hearer”.
≫ Fall-Rise (↘↗) for “the benefit of the speaker” (‘be humble’).
≫ Referring Tones carry an idea of the world view having been modified in advance to ask for approval.
≫ Fall (↘) to express divergence or the expectation that the answer will be “world-changing” or to have one of the 2 options selected.

Question 4

Exchange of Goods & Services

Answer 4

• Offers: “Can I ↗help you?” (Always dominant tones)
• Requests: “Can you ↘↗help me?”
• Commands: “Could you ‘pass the ↘salt?”
• Invitations: “Can we [↘↗,↗,↘]go now?”
• Suggestions: “How about asking Bill?”
• Alternative Questions: “Would you like ↗tea|, ↗coffee…?”
• Permission: “Do you mind if I smoke?”