Self-authorizing action: Onlet me Xin English social interaction

Abstract

AbstractThis article contributes to conversation analytic research on the formatting of imperative actions by focusing on the English first person imperativelet me/lemme Xas it appears in a range of naturally occurring interactions. I argue thatlemme Xis a practice for displacing what was projectably relevant in a given environment in favor of a self-authorized action. This as a result tends to advance the speaker's interests/initiatives. The analysis accounts for speakers’ apparent presumption of permission in unilaterally undertaking theirlemme Xaction by reference to the placement, design, and subsequent orientations to the self-authorized action. The construction is discussed in terms of the distribution of agency and it is suggested thatlemme Xis particularly suited to advancing activities that favor autonomous action by the speaker and which involve the recipient only minimally. (Conversation analysis, imperatives, directives, English, agency)*