Article Title：Formulaic disclaimers
Abstract：
In this presentation, we describe the form and function of a formulaic construction used as a disclaimer in contemporary English. The basic structure not X or. anything, but Y appears to serve as a means of projecting a virtual offense that might lead to a negative retypification and disavowing it, or anything like it, prior to giving voice to a potentially problematic action. As formulaic language, this construction provides a template for the expression of a pragmatic relationship between two social actions and is demonstrated to be so familiar to conversational participants that it can be truncated or co-constructed within interaction. As a disclaimer, this construction provides insight into the relationship between what speakers perceive as problematic social action and the kind of virtual offense that they think might lead to a negative retypification unless disavowed in advance. As illustrated in their extended discourse contexts, formulaic disclaimers are shown to have a powerful metapragmatic function that allows conversational participants, conventionally and prospectively, to create constraints on the social interpretation of their expression of problematic action. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: disclaimer; formulaic language; impression management; general extender; metapragmatic function; pragmatic formula
DOI: 10.1016/S0378-2166(99)00125-3
Source：JOURNAL OF PRAGMATICS
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