Extreme Case Formulations: Softeners, Investment, and Doing Nonliteral

Extreme case formulations (ECFs) were identified by Pomerantz (1986) as expres-sions using extreme terms such as all, none, most, every, least, absolutely, com-pletely, and so forth, whose uses are to defend or justify a description or assessment, especially in case of challenge. In this study, orientations to the extremity of ECFs are initially shown in how and when they are sometimes qualified or softened. Yet ECFs are overwhelmingly not softened. Further examination shows how ECFs can work as devices for doing “nonliteral, ” in the sense of being not accountably accu-rate descriptions. Rather, their extremity might be taken to display investment in, or stance toward, some state of affairs. In addition to Pomerantz’s observations, there-fore, ECFs can (a) display various kinds of “investment ” on the part of the speaker (e.g., commitment, certainty, caring, determination, a critical or positive attitude, etc.) and (b) provide for a range of nonliteral, metaphoric uses (interpretable as “it seemed as if extreme X, ” “let us proceed as if extreme Y, ” or “take extreme Z as ironic, a joke, a tease, etc.”). In a seminal article, Pomerantz (1986) drew attention to the conver-sational uses of extreme case formulations (ECFs). ECFs are descriptions or assessments that deploy extreme expressions such as every, all, none, Thanks to Charles Antaki, Alessandra Fasulo, Alexa Hepburn, Katie MacMillan, Jonathan Pot-ter, and Wayne Beach for useful comments on an early draft of this article, and in particular to Anita Pomerantz for significant help in revising it for publication. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Derek Edwards, Department of