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This paper deals with the pragmalinguistic analysis of those adverbs and expressions that qualify the formulation of the statement as sincere. Specifically, the main objective of this paper is to investigate those argumentative and social values that can be updated by these units in declarative sentences used in colloquial conversations and other interactions such as debates or interviews. From the argumentative standpoint, we found that all elements analyzed realizantes behave as modifiers: these units enhance the enunciation, reinforce the assumption of the above, and assume a preference declarative argumentiva increase strength in the utterance that are inserted. From the argumentative point of view, we have verified that all the analyzed elements behave as modifiers realizantes: these units heighten the statement, reinforce the assumption of the dictum, suppose an enunciative preference and increase the argumentative force of the utterance that are inserted. The variability is located in the social field, in which the basic discursive operation may cause different effects depending on the characteristics of the communicative situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among verbal (im)politeness phenomena, greetings are particularly important in institutional interactions, both from the point of view of their expression and their perception (Placencia 2001; Ferrer 2003; Rigatuso 2003 and 2015; Sánchez Lanza 2003; Murillo Medrano 2004). In this paper, which is part of a broader research on expression and perception of (im)politeness in customer service encounters in health and educational institutions in a city in the linguistic area of the Buenos Aires Spanish variety, we propose to analyze the dynamics of greetings in interactions between employees and users in educational institutions, specifically considering the opening and closing instances of the communicative event. Greetings, as speech acts, are emphasized by the users as fundamental for the expression of politeness in these contexts. We attend in particular to the presence/absence of greetings, the schemes in which they are inserted, the formulas used, who formulates them and how they contribute to the expression of politeness in the institutional discourse. Our theoretical and methodological approach is based on Interactional Sociolinguistics (Gumperz 1982 and 2001; Tannen 1985, 1996 and 2004), with contributions from Ethnography of communication (Gumperz and Hymes 1972), Goffman's Microsociology (1967) and Discourse analysis (Drew and Sorjonen 2000). For the study of politeness phenomena, we follow leading researchers in Sociocultural Pragmatics (Bravo 1999; Bravo and Briz 2004; Kaul 2008 and 2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the use of irony as a persuasive resource in two interviews, given by Rafael Correa (president of Ecuador) and the spokesperson of the PAH (The Platform of People affected by Mortgages), Ada Colau (currently mayor of Barcelona), in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Both interviews refer to the subject of the evictions in Spain. For the analysis of this trope from a systemic perspective, we have based ourselves on the constructivist proposal of Hayden White, a philosopher of history, who analyzes this trope (together with metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche, following the humanist Vico's tradition) in relationship with the plot of a historical work and the ideology which is being constructed. White's dialectic relationship established between the historical meaning of a book and the author's discursive resources selected to convey this meaning is an example of an extremely useful analytical proposal for the analysis of ideological discourses. Specifically, White's proposal helps us to interrelate dialectically irony (a kind of macro-function) with the various linguistic and discursive forms used in the text (narratives, free direct speech, lexical opposites, etc.), and the context within which these discourses take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of expressions of exemplification in the Spanish spoken in Caracas. The purpose of this study is to determine what aspects motivate the non-canonical use of por lo menos in place of por ejemplo. For the analysis of this particular use, I have used 24 interviews of Corpus Sociolinguistic of Caracas (1987). The parameters selected are of two types: i) linguistic -values of the expressions of exemplification and of por lo menos ('al menos','como minimo'), evidentiality, and topic proposed in the preceding sentence and in the sequence introduced by expressions of exemplification and by por lo menos-, and ii) social The results show that the use of expressions of exemplification is determined by social factors. Likewise, the use of por lo menos as an expression of exemplification has been motivated by certain semantic-pragmatic and discourse features shared by por lo menos ('al menos', 'como mínimo') and por ejemplo: generalization-particularization relationship, first-hand information and maintenance of the topic addressed in a previous generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the conversational strategy known as "intensification" from a sociolinguistic perspective. The data consists of a collection of informal conversations among Spanish women from Madrid, together with a set of oral interviews with women from the same speech community. The results illustrate the social change that have developed in Madrid, as they are codified in the Spanish spoken in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the study of politeness phenomena, small talk is an area that has gained in interest and popularity over recent years (cf. Coupland, 2000b). Given its close connection with phatic communion (Malinowski, 1972 [1923]), it constitutes a valuable resource for maintaining friendly relations in social interaction. This paper deals with the interactional dynamics of small talk in a dialectal variety of Argentinean Spanish, namely Buenos Aires Spanish. It does so from a sociolinguistic perspective, but it also builds on sociocultural pragmatics. The aim of the study is to investigate how small talk operates in both institutional and noninstitutional settings in terms of socio-discursive and pragmatic strategies, and to identify some of the functions that it fulfills. The corpus analysed consists of a range of data collected in Bahía Blanca in the form of notes from participant observation as well as recordings of naturally occurring face-to face interactions. Also included is some consideration of how members of the community under study perceive (Placencia, 2001) and interpret (Gumperz, 1982a; Tannen, 1996) the phenomena in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although its very name indicates its presumed insignificance and marginalization from the sociolinguistic enterprise, 'small talk' has recently begun to receive increased attention as an object of interest to sociolinguistics (cf. Coupland, 2000). This paper draws on work on small talk in varieties of Spanish (e.g. Márquez Reiter y Placencia, 2004; Placencia, 2004, 2005; Márquez Reiter, 2006) as well as work on television news discourse (cf. Clayman y Heritage, 2002) in order to investigate the functions of small talk in U.S. Spanish television newscasts. The analysis attempts to uncover the social functions of small talk used among broadcasters. The news anchors' stance and identity construction through small talk is explored, as is the construction of institutional identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the use of interjections in relation to the concept of (im)politeness as a function designed to establish a social image both for the speaker and interlocutor. The activities will more or less be carried out according to their discursive needs. This study focuses on television debate. The corpus of the research consists of recordings of different programs which more or less follow a debate structure. The interjection is a resource that guarantees the maximum efficiency of strategies of (im)politeness. It shows the speaker's attitude and intention and expresses them not as objects of speech, but as origin of the speech itself. Thus, it contributes to the discourse with great efficiency as much in a negative as in a positive sense. In this work, I try to prove that the interjection is used as an affiliation activity process in a few contexts and autonomy activity in others, or even both simultaneously, depending on filters of (im)politeness such as the topic, time slot, participants, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]