Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195306897
- eISBN:
- 9780199867943
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306897.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter, written by Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter, examines the use of tag questions by child protection officers (CPOs) in calls to a child abuse hotline. Hepburn and Potter find that tag ...
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This chapter, written by Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter, examines the use of tag questions by child protection officers (CPOs) in calls to a child abuse hotline. Hepburn and Potter find that tag questions are particularly common during crying sequences in these calls, that is, when callers are crying and having a difficult time expressing the reasons for their call. CPOs typically adopt a neutral or even skeptical stance with respect to callers and their predicaments, but during crying sequences CPOs “sympathetically acknowledge” the (upset) mental state of the callers. Combined with other features of the CPOs' turn, Hepburn and Potter argue that tag questions during crying sequences have an affiliative function and a weak response requirement. The use of this particular type of question means that callers are not held strongly accountable for answering and are thus encouraged to stay on the phone even if they fail to participate.Less
This chapter, written by Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter, examines the use of tag questions by child protection officers (CPOs) in calls to a child abuse hotline. Hepburn and Potter find that tag questions are particularly common during crying sequences in these calls, that is, when callers are crying and having a difficult time expressing the reasons for their call. CPOs typically adopt a neutral or even skeptical stance with respect to callers and their predicaments, but during crying sequences CPOs “sympathetically acknowledge” the (upset) mental state of the callers. Combined with other features of the CPOs' turn, Hepburn and Potter argue that tag questions during crying sequences have an affiliative function and a weak response requirement. The use of this particular type of question means that callers are not held strongly accountable for answering and are thus encouraged to stay on the phone even if they fail to participate.
