@article{jbp:/content/journals/10.1075/rro.47.2.03ruy, author = "Ruytenbeek, Nicolas", title = "Les actes de langage indirects sont-ils tous conventionnels ?", journal= "Revue Romane. Langue et littérature. International Journal of Romance Languages and Literatures", year = "2012", volume = "47", number = "2", pages = "258-282", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1075/rro.47.2.03ruy", url = "https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/rro.47.2.03ruy", publisher = "John Benjamins", issn = "0035-3906", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "allusion.", keywords = "conventions", keywords = "Indirect speech acts", keywords = "directives", keywords = "reasons to act", abstract = "This paper focuses on the variety of ways to communicate a directive illocutionary act in modern French. I argue that every type of directive speech act can be regarded as stemming from a convention, be it a linguistic one, for on-record speech acts, or a discursive one, for off-record speech acts. The various acceptations of the “conventionality” applied to on-record indirect speech acts (ISAs) are reconsidered. More specifically, I claim that the distinction, in terms of politeness, between on-record and off-record ISAs does not coincide with the opposition between conventional and non-conventional speech acts. Second, I show that it is necessary to identify two types of conventions or communicative strategies to perform off-record directives. The first consists in referring to a reason to act; the second is evoking the requested action.", }