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It has become clear from the above analysis that, unlike most previous findings on pre-offer strategies which are always verbally initiated by the offerer, in my data this strategy was invariably used by the recipient rather than the offerer, whose non-verbal move, in a large sense, served as offering. Consequently, the normal offer-response format, especially the ‘head act’, i.e.

the core of the speech event in question was ‘blocked’. Instead, a description of the gift or justification of the offer was often provided in the offerer’s response. Moreover, as suggested above, the givers were inferior to the recipient in all instances. Perhaps more importantly, the finding that this strategy occurred exclusively in gift-giving seems to suggest that rather than homogeneity as assumed by Mao (1992) and Lii-Shih (1994) (2.3.4), politeness strategies used in gift-giving may differ from those in invitations.

Strategy 2: Solicitation was made by the recipient in the pre-sequence

Some invitations and gifts in my corpus were offered only after the recipient’s solicitation at the preparatory stage of interaction. As in AmE invitations (Isaacs & Clark 1990; Sherry 1983), solicitation was made through one of the three ways: context, indirectly or directly.

A. Solicitation through the context, e.g.

(14)

喜得绝处逢生, 遇着一个老者, 携杖而来, 问道: ‘官人为何哀泣?’ 唐璧将赴任被劫之事, 告诉了一遍。老者道: ‘原来是一位大人, 失敬了。舍下不远, 请那步则个。’ 老者引唐 璧约行一里, 到于家中, 重复叙礼。

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Rather unexpectedly, an old man with a staff walked toward him and asked, ‘Why are you weeping, sir?’, whereupon Tang Bi gave an account of how he was robbed on his way to assume a new post. ‘The old man said, ‘Your Excellency! Please forgive me for not recognising a man of distinction. My humble house is not far away. Please come with me.’ After about half a mile’s walk, they arrived at the old man’s house and went through formal courtesies.

As illustrated here in all I&Gs solicited in this way, the recipient was found to be in desperation, which was often revealed by the recipient in responding to the offerer’s sympathetic enquiry.

The offerer thus felt a strong sense of moral obligation to offer accommodation, money or clothes (cf. Wolfe 1989; Bargiela-Chiappini 2003; Barron 2005; Komter 2005). Among many others, the offer in example (15) below was also made in a similar context.

B. Direct and explicit solicitation, e.g.

On some occasions, offers were made after they were solicited directly and explicitly, typically by making a request. I&Gs of this type thus were in a large sense realised in the form of complying with a request. In addition to other examples analysed elsewhere in the thesis such as example (60) in Chapter 6, the following invitation is illustrative:

(15)

忽见岸上一老僧, 正不知从何而来, 将拄杖卓地, 问道: ‘檀越伴侣何在? 此非驻足之地 也!’ 宋金忙起身作礼, 口称姓名: ‘被丈人刘翁脱赚, 如今孤苦无归, 求老师父提挈, 救取 微命。’ 老僧道: ‘贫僧茅庵不远, 且同往暂住一宵, 来日再做道理。’ 宋金感谢不已, 随 着老僧而行。

Unexpectedly Song Jin saw an old monk emerging from nowhere on the riverbank and coming to him. Knocking his cane against the ground, the monk asked, ‘Where are your

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friends, sir? This is no place to stay!’ In haste, Song Jin rose and told him his name, adding,

‘My father-in-law Mr Liu tricked me into this remote place. And now, left all alone by my poor self, I have nowhere to go. Please help me, Your Reverence, and save my humble life.’

The monk said, ‘This poor monk’s thatched hut is not far from here. Just go and stay overnight with me and decide what to do next tomorrow.’ With profuse thanks, Song followed the old monk to his hut.

Similar to example (14), this invitation was issued to one in extreme hardship. Nonetheless, unlike the preceding example, the invitee here made an explicit request (italics), which was largely triggered by the monk’s initial sympathy. Unsurprisingly, the invitation was accepted with gratitude.

C. Indirect and implicit solicitation, e.g.

Solicitations, generally speaking, tended to be indirect or implicit. This seemed to be the most frequently used way of solicitation in my data. Moreover, despite the multiplicity of indirect strategies and devices (cf. B&L 1987; Kadar & Haugh 2013), showing interest appeared to be most recurrent in soliciting offers, especially gifts.

(16)

正当语酣之际, 黄生偶然举袂, 老者看见了那玉马坠儿, 道: ‘乞借一观。’ 黄生即时解下, 双手献与老者。老者看了又看, 啧啧叹赏, 问道: ‘此坠价值几何? 老汉意欲奉价相求, 未 审郎君允否?’ 黄生答道: ‘此乃家下祖遗之物, 老翁若心爱, 便当相赠, 何论价乎!’ 老者 道: ‘既蒙郎君慷慨不吝, 老汉何敢固辞! 老汉他日亦有所报。’

Fully engaged in the conversation, Mr Huang happened to raise his arm. Catching sight of the jade-horse pendant, the old man asked, ‘May I have a look at it?’ Mr Huang immediately took

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it down and gave it to him with both hands. While examining it closely, the old man sang his praise repeatedly and asked, ‘How much is it? This old man would love to buy it. Would you sell it to me?’ Mr Huang answered, ‘It is a family heirloom. If you like it, I’ll just give it to you as a gift. Why mention the price?!’ The old man said, ‘If you are so generous, this old man wouldn’t presume to reject it. Someday this old man will also give you something in return.’

This gift-giving took place in a bar where Huang was treating the recipient, a sage-like old man, to tea although they just met for the first time. It was directly triggered by the stranger asking for a close look at the pendant and then expressing his wish to buy it. At his request, Huang, a talented but poor scholar, dismissed his idea of paying for it and gave it him as a gift after a brief introduction although the pendant, as the context shows, was a highly cherished family heirloom.

In another similar example, impressed by the good feng shui of the village, a Daoist asked one of the venerable villagers if he could purchase a house on his farmland as his hermitage. A piece of land was then offered as a gift, for which the Daoist offered to pay (see more details in example (70)). Interestingly, in yet another example the recipient solicited the offer by expressing her intent to 借 ‘borrow’ the gift (i.e. a servant) from a close friend. She was then offered the opportunity to choose from a group of ‘clumsy servants’ and the one she chose was 奉赠

‘respectfully presented’ as gifts while dismissing the idea of ‘borrowing’ one of her servants.

Moreover, as in gift-giving the strategy of indirect solicitation was not uncommon in pre-invitations. Among others, perhaps this can be most clearly seen in example (48) that is used to illustrate explicit acceptance strategy in Chapter 6. At some point of drinking together in a bar, the Daoist produced his fine wine from a gourd bottle and shared it with his new friend Lu.

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Interested in the wine, Lu, who had been treating the Daoist in the bar, asked about its source, which was understood by the Daoist as soliciting an invitation.

As indicated above, all the I&Gs, albeit solicited, were perceived to be genuine and accepted.

This was especially true when the offer was made to one in desperate plight probably because, as observed by studies such as Barron (2005), the offerers were morally obliged to show kindness in such situations. This finding appears to differ from studies such as Isaacs & Clark (1990) that show solicited invitations in AmE were predominantly ostensible/insincere.

Strategy 3: A question, statement or comment relating to the social occasion sets the stage and