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."

theories of identity and the analysis of face

helen spencer-oatey

"I propose that in cognitive terms, face and identity are similar in that both relate to the notion of 'self'-image..., and both comprise multiple self-aspects or attributes. However, face is only associated with attributes that are affectively sensitive to the claimant. It is associated with positively evaluated attributes that the claimant wants others to acknowledge..., and with negatively evaluated attributes that the claimant wants others NOT to ascribe to him/her."

A Hungarian student called Spencer-Oatey a kind old lady, hurting her face. She didn't want to be considered old.

A British businessman gave a welcome speech but didn't allow the Chinese to make a return speech, insulting them.

At a meeting, each British person introduced himself. Then it was the Chinese's turn. They spoke together, then allowed the delegation leader to introduce all of them. The interpreter interrupted and insisted they follow the British lead. "...the Chinese visitors were not used to introducing themselves and were expecting the delegation leader both to handle all the introductions and to give a return speech. Their acceptance of business meeting conventions, as well as their belief in hierarchical differentiation (cf. Pan 2000) significantly influenced how they interpreted and reacted to the British chairman's behavior."


"...important insights into why people experience certain ocurrences as face threatening can be gained by considering their underlying conceptions of sociality rights--obligations. Such considerations may also help us anticipate people's face sensitivities and thereby help us to manage them more effectively."