Involvement in Obtaining Assistance in Long-distance Caregiving Phone Calls: Putting Forward a Favorable Scenario

• In Event: 40810 - Conversation Analysis and Ethnomethodology: Navigating Knowledge, credibility, and Accountability in Talk

Abstract

As an action involved in obtaining assistance, requests have been extensively studied in conversation analysis. However, solicitation of an offer and its practice remain underexplored. This paper examines solicitation of an offer in long-distance caregiving (LDC) phone interactions in Japan, where distant children (DCs) engage in obtaining assistance from care managers (CMs) for elderly parents (ELs). In these interactions, DCs navigate two key tasks: sharing deontic authority with CMs and accounting for implementation contingency. To manage these, DCs employ solicitation of an offer through the practice of “putting forward a favorable scenario” (PFFS).
That this practice serves as solicitation of an offer is evidenced by three key observations: (1) CMs’ preemptive production of an offer following a subordinate clause, (2) DCs relying on the main clause when an offer is absent, and (3) DCs’ orientation to the solicitation through their response following the offer. The systematic use of PFFS reveals that offers are preferred over requests in this context.
This study contributes to ongoing debates on the preference for offers over requests. While Schegloff (2007) argues that offers are preferred, Kendrick and Drew (2014) dispute this claim. However, the frequent occurrence of solicitation of an offer in LDC phone calls suggests that this preference is contextually grounded.
The findings have theoretical implications for conversation analysis, particularly in request and recruitment studies, and practical implications for LDC interactions.

Author

• Atsushi Nakagawa, Utunomiya University