Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Preinvitation

Definition: 

A preinvitation is a presequence that is likely to be understood by the respondent as a signal of a coming invitation. The coming invitation may be a question-answer sequence concerning the availability of the participant to be invited.

 

Examples: 

The second and third turns of the following exchange are a preinvitation:

  • A: Hi, John.
  • B: Say, what’re you doing?
  • A: Well we’re going out. Why?
  • B: Oh, I was just gonna say come over here this evening.