politeness ideology in Spanish colloquial conversation: the case of advice

nieves hernandez-flores

"...politeness is based on a social ideology, i.e. on a set of ideas about behaviour which are shared by a community...the members of this community have to follow the rules in order to continue their membership in the group."

"the social ideology arising in European SPanish colloquial conversation."


autonomy: "the fact of perceiving, and to be perceived by people, as someone with his/her own surroundings inside the group."
affiliation: "the fact of perceiving, and to be perceived by people, as an integrated part of the group."

"what the categories of autonomy and affiliation aim at in terms of behaviour is open to cultural interpretation."

in Spanish groups:
self-affirmation: (Thuren 1988): "It is important to express your opinions forcefully and persuasively; one should be able to persuade through showing the invinsible structure and logic of one's opinions and also demonstrating their emotional charge, because what is emotionally strong carries its own logic."
confianza: (Thuren) "closeness or a sense of deep familiarity"

"the face want of self-affirmation (the desire to be seen by others as someone with good social qualities) does not refer to the fact of being or not being unimpeded in one's actions, as negative face does, but to the wish of standing out form the group...With regard to confianze (sense of deep familiarity), this notion does not refer to the wish of being appreciated and approved of (positive face) but to the wish of achieving closeness..."

"advice would be understood as a speaker's imposition on the hearer's freedom of decision and action."

note 8: "Also in American English, by using Brown and Levinson's features for face, Decapua and Huber display that unsolicited advice shows people's enagagement in related stories or descriptions arising in daily conversation and this is not seen as a threat in many situations...advice has other functions...to establish or maintain rapport."

"she plays down her task by using a diminutive in the adjective (tranquilita)"

"advice arises without a demand deom th addressee, it presents clear assertions and it is rejected by the hearer."