This paper is concerned with usage characteristics of a negative interrogative request, “Couldn’t you ~?,” which biases the addressee toward an acceptance. It is often pointed out it implies negative feelings such as criticism against the hearer（Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973、Swan, 2005）. However, it should be noted this expression has another aspect. It is used to make a request while the speaker tries to lead the addressee to come to terms with his/her wish. The former is a one-sided directive which implicates the speaker’s negative feelings that he/she entertains towards the hearer who is assumed to say “No”. Conversely, the latter is not a one-sided directive. The speaker implicates his/her relying on the hearer’s good will for the speaker and the values he/she has put in the hearer’s good intention. These differences reflect two distinct illocutionary forces: ORDER for the former and BEGGING for the latter.

The main difference between the two is whether it threatens the addressee’s positive face or not. The former which threatens his/her positive face is used to strengthen the request. Meanwhile, the latter, in observing his/her positive face, is used to minimize the threat against the speaker’s positive face.