Debouche, Sonia <br/><br/>
Selling to a Merchant or Selling to a Private Person: Language when Bargaining in Second-Hand Shops 

 -  2004.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 72 
<br/><br/> Selling ×–to a dealer×– or to a private customer: how language functions when bargaining in a second-hand store Commercial transactions in second-hand stores are characterized by specific language dealings, of which bargaining is the best example. Field-work based both on a body of oral data and on direct observation in the milieu of professional second-hand dealers allows us to describe and try to understand how language functions when bargaining. Two sorts of commercial interactions are compared: between professionals (selling ×–to a dealer×–, as they put it) and between professionals and private customers. The sequential organization of bargaining (openings, bargaining per se), and the formal aspects of the utterances produces by sellers and buyers when making an offer, making a counter-proposition, asking for a reduction, etc. are analyzed.