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Speech Acts Bibliography:
Opting Out
Bonikowska, M. P. (1988). The choice of opting out.
Applied Linguistics, 9 (2), 169-181.
Argues that pragmatics should expand research
interest to include not only the study of how speakers perform speech
acts but also instances where the decision not to -- opting out —
is a choice. For some research purposes the need for a large corpus
and manipulation of contextual factors -- elicited superior data but
a shortcoming of elicited instructions is that it forces subjects to
perform linguistically in situations in which in real life they might
opt out -- e.g., in a highly face-threatening act. In her work on complaints,
she allowed for not saying anything in situation. By studying opting
out, we can really understand the nature of the act under study -- its
conditions, relation to face-threat.
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