'I'm Just Raising the Question': Terms for Talk and Practical Metadiscursive Argument in Public Meetings

摘要

This study examines the meanings and functions of raising questions in utterances such as "I'm just raising the question." We examine such phrases as they were used in deliberative public meetings about a water conservation initiative. We show how raising questions is a distinctive mode of talk that draws attention to an issue requiring further discussion. The family of terms, each of which includes some form of the words raise and question, are used as a practical metadiscourse in these meetings. We show how situated use of the terms reveals a distinctive sociality and rhetoric for participants in the meetings.