Abstract
At the centre of the genre of dating advertisements is a tension between speech and writing, process and product, interaction and transaction. In this article I investigate some of the interpersonal resources available to writers of advertisements to achieve the goal of interacting in writing with a potential partner. I first consider the ways in which advertisers use questions and answers to enact and project speech-like interactional roles for themselves and their readers, in order to encourage an overt response to their textual initiations and open a conversation with a suitable partner. I then consider their use of modality to engage potential partners and negotiate mutual suitability. I conclude by comparing the generic function of these two areas of interpersonal resource and suggest a relationship of agnation between them.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 75-98 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Discourse Studies |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- dating advertisements
- functional grammar
- interaction
- modality
- questions