Offering a candidate answer: An information seeking strategy

Authors

Anita Pomerantz, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1998

DOI

10.1080/03637758809376177

Abstract

Interactants use a variety of strategies to seek information from one another. One strategy involves incorporating a Candidate Answer in a query. In using this strategy, a speaker provides a model of the type of answer that would satisfy his/her purpose-for-asking. Supplying a model is useful when a speaker wants to guide, direct, or assist a respondent in providing particular information. In offering a Candidate Answer, a speaker can display having knowledge and familiarity of a circumstance. A Candidate Answer can be read as revealing the speaker's attitude toward, and expectations of, relevant others.

Comments

The discussion of speaker and recipient knowledge claims implied by the form of a query predates current interest in epistemics.

Recommended Citation

Hayano, K. 2013. Question Design in Conversation. In J. Sidnell and T. Stivers (eds) The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp395-414. Pomerantz, A. (2012). Candidate answer queries, actions, and the moral order. In R. Ayass & C. Meyer (Eds.), Sociality in Slow Motion: Festschrift for Jorg Bergmann (pp. 333-352). Frankfurt: Velbrueck.