How to Propose an Action as Objectively Necessary: The Case of Polish Trzeba x (“One Needs to x”)

Abstract

The present study demonstrates that language-specific grammatical resources can afford speakers language-specific ways of organizing cooperative practical action. On the basis of video recordings of Polish families in their homes, we describe action affordances of the Polish impersonal modal declarative construction trzeba x (“one needs to x”) in the accomplishment of everyday domestic activities, such as cutting bread, bringing recalcitrant children back to the dinner table, or making phone calls. Trzeba-x turns in first position are regularly chosen by speakers to point to a possible action as an evident necessity for the furthering of some broader ongoing activity. Such turns in first position provide an environment in which recipients can enact shared responsibility by actively involving themselves in the relevant action. Treating the necessity as not restricted to any particular subject, aligning responsive actions are oriented to when the relevant action will be done, not whether it will be done. We show that such sequences are absent from English interactions by analyzing (a) grammatically similar turn formats in English interaction (“we need to x,” “the x needs to y”), and (b) similar interactive environments in English interactions. We discuss the potential of this research to point to a new avenue for researchers interested in the relationship between language diversity and diversity in human action and cognition.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. We also want to thank Alan Costall, Alessandra Fasulo, Giovanni Rossi, Matylda Weidner, and Katarzyna Zinken for their feedback on earlier versions of the paper. The research reported here was supported by a grant awarded to the first author by the Economic and Social Research Council, grant reference RES-061-25-0176.

Notes

Eva Ogiermann is now with the Department of English at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom.