lorenzo dus

ELSEVIER Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2001 ) 107-127

joln'nal of

www.elsevier.nl/locate/pragma

Compliment responses among British and Spanish university students"

A contrastive study

N. Lorenzo-Dus

School of European Studies. PO Box 908. Cardiff, Wales CFI 3YQ. UK

Received 2 August 1998; revised version 3 November 1999

Abstract

Responding to a compliment poses a dilemma for speakers (Pomerantz, 1978) because they have to balance two diametrically conflicting conversational principles: to agree with one's conversational coparticipants and to avoid self-praise (Herbert, 1989). Far from being universal, the solution to the above dilemma hinges upon politeness principles at work within and across societies (Brown and Levinson, 1978 [1987]). In this paper the speech act of compliment responses is analysed in the light of a relative, rather than absolute, orientation towards positive or negative politeness. Using Herbert's (1989) taxonomy of compliment responses, a corpus of more than a thousand compliment responses by British and Spanish male and female undergraduates was examined. The results show the existence of cross-cultural and cross-gender similarities as well as differences between the four groups. For exam- pie, Spanish males tended to upgrade compliments ironically (a type of compliment response absent in the British data) more frequently than their female counterparts. This clearly has important implications as, unless speakers are made aware otherwise, they may bring into their intercultural encounters pre-conceived, often stereotypically negative, evaluations about the other individuals' identity. Further research in this area of language use, particularly within the field of second language acquisition, is therefore essential. © 2001 Elsevier Sci- ence B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Compliment responses; Speech acts; Linguistic politeness; Intercultural communication; Relational/procedural solidarity; Irony

' My thanks go to Dr Adam Jaworski and Dr Patricia Bou for all of their advice and encouragement.

0378-2166/01/$ see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PIt: S0378-2166(99)00127-7

108 N. Lorenzo-Dus / Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2001) 107-127

1. Introduction

The speech act of compl imen t responses has been selected for two main reasons. First, a wealth of studies have been conducted on the compl imen t - compl imen t response speech act set (C and CR hereafter) in several variet ies of English, as well as in other languages, and these provide a basis for compara t ive analysis . l However , this paper seeks to address an impor tant omiss ion in previous scholar ly analyses , as there have been very few Spanish /Engl ish cross-cul tural studies on the C-CR speech act set. Indeed, the re levant l i terature is conf ined to a couple of studies on mainly Latin Amer ican Spanish and Amer ican Engl ish (Vald6s and Pino, 1981; Yfifiez, 1990). 2 Second, CRs provide an invaluable but under-ut i l i sed insight into speakers ' react ions to external appraisals of their personal , and social, identi ty. In this sense, CRs, as Cs themselves , act as a "mi r ro r of cultural va lues" (Manes, 1983: 96).

Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) provided an insightful account of the various ways in which l inguist ic pol i teness can be conveyed. Since its formulat ion, the model of pol i teness p roposed by these two scholars has been often revisi ted, one o f the main reservat ions being its a l leged universal i ty. 3 The differences in the employ - ment of CRs by the part ic ipants of the present study, however , can be sat isfactor i ly expla ined along the lines of the l inguist ic pol i teness theoret ical f ramework, and more specif ica l ly in the l ight of the dist inct ion be tween an orientat ion towards ei ther pos- i t ive or negat ive pol i teness within and across societies. Posi t ive pol i teness refers to the ass ignment of p r imacy to those conversa t ional devices that address the posi t ive face needs of one ' s interlocutors , i.e., one ' s desire that the others approve of, or appreciate , one ' s wants, mater ial or non-mater ia l . Nega t ive pol i teness devices are d i rec ted at preserving the negat ive face wants of one ' s interlocutor, i.e., one ' s free- dom to act without being impeded by others. This does not imply, though, that societies as a whole can be character ised as being pos i t ive ly or nega t ive ly polite. Nor does it suggest that societ ies with ei ther type of pol i teness or ientat ion are more or less pol i te than the other. Instead, a p redominant ethos, a relat ive rather than absolute

t See, for instance, Manes and Wolfson (1981); Manes (1983); Knapp et al. (1984); Johnson (1992) on Cs in American English. Also, Holmes and Brown (1987); Holmes (1988) on Cs in New Zealand English. Herbert (1989); Herbert and Straight (1989) on Cs in South African English. Studies on Cs in other languages include, amongst others: Herbert (1991), Jaworski (1995) on Polish Cs; Barnlund and Araki (1985) on Japanese Cs; Chen (1993) on Chinese Cs; Nelson et al. (1996) on Egyptian Arabic Cs. 2 Studies related to, albeit not specifically so, include Haverkate et al. (1993); Hickey (1991) and Vfizquez-Orta (1995) on linguistic politeness in English and Spanish. For studies within Speech Act The- ory see, for example, Chodorowska (1997) on the use of/,me entiendes? in Peninsular Spanish; Garcfa (1993, 1996) on requests and reprimands respectively in Peruvian Spanish; Romero Trillo (1997) on attention-getting in Peninsular Spanish. 3 The issue of universality features prominently in sociolinguistic discussions. Research on politeness in non-Western cultures has evinced the inadequacy of the Brown and Levinson model when studying less individualistic cultures, such as the Chinese (Gu, 1990) or the Japanese (Matsumoto, 1988), in which the notion and the weight of face (i.e., "the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself", Brown and Levinson, 1978: 66) is significantly different. However, the Brown and Levin- son model lends itself very well to empirical speech act research, because it acknowledges variation in the realisation of speech acts with regard to both form and function.

N. Lorenzo-Dus /Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2001) 107-127 109

orientation in verbal and non-verbal interactions, delineates a continuum between the positive and negative politeness poles. Spanish and British societies have been seen to follow this pattern. For example, Hickey (1991) claims that whilst the main fea- ture of Spanish politeness is the primacy assigned to positive politeness devices, British politeness is enshrined in negative politeness strategies. As a matter of fact, in British society, positive politeness is centered upon the avoidance of practising such politeness blatantly. With regard to Cs, they "are a normal part of Spanish social behaviour to an extent and in ways that would be intuitively regarded as exag- gerated, hypocritical or simply embarrassing between (near) equals in Britain" (Hickey, 1991: 5).

Speech Act theory has often touched on the question of linguistic politeness because the realisation of any given speech act relies heavily on the speaker's selection from a pool of what Brown and Levinson (1978) refer to as super-strategies: ( 1 ) bald on record, (2) positive politeness, (3) negative politeness, and (4) off record. Moreover, the concept of speech act plays a crucial role in language studies since it embraces both "linguistic form and social norms" (Hymes, 1972: 57). General cultural values and norms can be seen to find effective channels of expression through patterns of speech behaviour. The present study is predicated upon such a view. CRs are clearly influenced by both linguistic and sociocultural norms of behaviour, as evinced by generalising comments such as the British always look uneasy when you pay them a compliment or Spanish people do ,o t know the meaning of the word modesty.

The C-CR speech act set has been characterised as "an adjacency pair operation" (Schegloff and Sacks, 1973: 296) or as an "action chain event" (Pomerantz, 1978: 109-110), whose two components, C and CR, are linked by both temporal and rele- vance conditions (Herbert, 1990). The place of Cs within Brown and Levinson's politeness theory is complex, since their location within the pool of positive or negative strategies hinges upon the particular communicative function that they serve in any given interaction. Cs are generally viewed as manifestations of solidarity through the expression and acknowledgement of admiration (Wolfson, 1983: Her- bert, 1989), but may nevertheless serve other communicative goals. A C itself may constitute a face threatening act (FTA), 4 since praise, like criticism, implies evaluation of one's interlocutor and, consequently, invasion of his/her negative face wants. Cs can also be employed to express disapproval, sarcasm (Jaworski, 1995), to con- gratulate and possibly request the complimented object (Herbert, 1991), to reinforce desired behavioural patterns (Manes, 1983), and so forth. Indeed, their multifunctionality contributes to the dilemma posed in the mind of the speaker when having to respond to a C. Pomerantz (1978) first acknowledged such a dilemma in terms of a

Some communicative activities imply imposition on the face of both or either of the participants, i.e., they are face threatening acts (FTAs). FTAs can entail imposition either on the positive face wants of the participants (for example, apologies) or on their negative face needs (for example, requests and sugges- tions), According to Brown and Levinson ( 1978: 79), the risk of imposition of these FTAs depends on the cumulative effect of three variables, namely (1) the social distance between the participants (D); (2) the relative power between them (P); and (3) the ranking of imposition (R) in any particular culture.

I l0 N. Lorenzo-Dus / Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2001) 107-127

three (partly overlapping (1 and 2), partly conflicting (1 and 2 versus 3)) constraint system:

(1) Accept / reject compliment (2) Agree / disagree with compliment assertion (3) Avoid self-praise.

The dilemma derives from two conversational principles, i.e., the need to avoid self- praise and the need to agree with one 's conversational co-participant (Herbert, 1989). These two conversational principles diametrically conflict with each other. Since Cs p e r se contain a positive evaluation, how can one agree with the C and avoid self-praise at the same time? It therefore becomes the complimentee 's task to look for the most effective manner of solving the dilemma within the confines of face work in his/her culture. Furthermore, the paradox created in the mind of the complimentee is enlarged by the presence of various factors which affect the choice of CRs, mainly self-evaluation; topic of compliment; gender of compliment giver and receiver; and the P, D and R variables.

Whereas societies with a negative politeness orientation place high value upon avoiding disagreement, positive politeness cultures do not necessarily see disagreement as interactionally inappropriate. Moreover, self-praise avoidance strategies in cultures with a positive politeness orientation are subordinate to the more salient maxim of attending to the positive face wants of one's interactant. For instance, Vald6s and Pino (1981) show in their study on American English/Mexican Spanish CRs how in Mexican society asking the complimenter for a repetition and arguably an expansion of a C is not perceived as an imposition but rather as a socially sanctioned means to communicate, a means that nurtures the reciprocal attendance of positive face wants.

Discrepancies in the use of Cs and CRs by specific sociocultural groups, both at an inter- and intra-cultural level, are also a consequence of their multifunctionality. Considering gender, for example, Holmes (1988) states that the sex of the participants plays a significant role in the selection of a specific CR type. According to her study, New Zealand men tend to interpret Cs as FTAs more readily than their female counterparts, the latter usually treating them as strategies for maintaining solidarity. In his study of Polish compliments and their alleged solidarity function, Jaworski (1995) suggests a refinement to Holmes ' remark in the sense that, whilst females tend to exchange Cs to achieve relational solidarity, males often use the procedural solidarity function of Cs in order to negotiate in-group power relations. 5

Herbert 's (1990) study highlights the fact that Cs offered by males are more likely to be accepted than those proffered by females, particularly when the complimentee

5 Relational solidarity in Cs refers to the expression of genuine admiration with a view to establishing or reinforcing solidarity between the complimenter and the complimentee. Procedural solidarity in the use of Cs refers to their employment as a means to another end. For example, in the case of Polish Cs the notion of procedural solidarity refers specifically to the use of Cs in a manipulative or instrumental fashion in order to obtain information regarding the source and/or price of the complimented object.

N. Lorenzo-Dus / Journal ~ Pragmatics 33 (2001 ) 107-127 I 11

is another female. Herbert has noted differences in the use of Cs and CRs between females and males, such as fewer instances of Cs being returned or of disagreeing CRs by the former, together with a higher tendency to question or fail to acknowl- edge the C by the latter (see also Holmes, 1988; Wolfson, 1983). These findings are consistent with Tannen's (1990) hypothesis that women show an inclination towards communicative involvement (or the use of positive politeness devices) and therefore emphasise common ground, camaraderie and solidarity. In contrast, men use communicative independence and, hence, use more distancing (or negative politeness) strategies.

Cross-cultural differences in the content of Cs have also been extensively reported. One striking finding, for instance, is the high incidence in Polish of Cs about new possessions (Herbert, 1991). Manes (1983) highlights the social inappro- priateness of Cs that praise natural attractiveness (rather than attributes which are the result of deliberate effort) in most Western societies. Holmes and Brown (1987) also identify the cultural differences in what constitutes a socially appropriate topic for a C. For example, whilst weight loss is considered a suitable topic for a C in Western societies, in Tokelan society it is a reason for concern.

2. Methodology

The data for the present study was collected by means of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT hereafter). The limitations of this method of data collection are well- known, as it cannot capture the whole range and nuances of spontaneously produced Cs and CRs (Wolfson et al., 1989; Rintel and Mitchell, 1989; Beebe and Cummings, 1996). Nevertheless, two reasons explain why a DCT was considered a suitable research tool for this particular study. First, it can create a sound template of the stereotypically perceived requirements for socially appropriate CRs in the groups studied. Second, it enables the researcher to obtain sufficient data in a relatively short period of time. Interestingly, the participants in the study rendered the data more realistic by providing non-verbal and paralinguistic cues as to how to interpret their responses. These included adding comments such as smiling, laughing, using exclamation marks, winking at him~her, etc.

A Spanish and an English version of a nine-item DCT (see Appendix A) were conducted with two sociocultural groups: Valencia and Cardiff university students. The participants in both the Spanish (n=32) and the British (n=28) corpus were representative of their respective universities' population in terms of gender (59.3% and 56% female, respectively) and age (between 20 and 24 years old). Spanish respondents were sampled randomly on the Valencia campus through informal channels. A postal approach was used for collecting the British corpus, whereby 60 final year Cardiff University students were requested to co-operate in a cross-cultural study on the use of Cs. It was clearly specified in the letter that accompanied the DCT that no extra credits in their course would derive from their co-operation. Once the different CRs had been classified following Herbert's (1989) taxonomy, two coders ran a check on the classification and this produced a 92% intercoder agreement.


The Cs in the questionnaire involved the following topics: outward appearance, personality, skill/work and possessions. Within the content area of outward appearance, Cs referred to attributes which were the result of some deliberate effort, with the exception of Situation 9 (beautiful eyes).The reason for including such an exception was to see whether Cs on natural attractiveness were also atypical in Spanish society. Thus Situation 1 (hair style) entailed a C on a different hair-cut and not on the beauty of the hair itself. Similarly, Situation 6 (smart clothes) referred to looking elegant rather than being naturally so. There was one C on personality (Situation 7), which included having good interpersonal skills. Praise on skill / work was directed at cooking (Situation 3), sport (Situation 4), essay writing (Situation 5) and computer ability (Situation 8). Finally, there was one C on possessions (Situation 2: brand new car), which was related to good taste in choice of colour.

Great care was taken to provide readily identifiable scenarios in order to minimise the drawbacks associated with reporting ex situ on behaviour that is rarely monitored (Sasaki, 1998; Kasper and Dahl, 1991 ; BlumoKulka et al., 1989). Consequently, Sit- uations 1 and 4 were unmarked in terms of spheres of activity. We all have our hair cut from time to time and most of us either practise or have practised some type of sport. Situations 5, 7 and 8 were all located within an academic environment which was perfectly familiar to the respondents. As for Situations 2, 3, 6 and 9, these were located in work environments. Although these required the participants to envisage scenarios of which they had no first-hand experience, this approach was justified on two counts. First, the study by Eisenstein and Bodman (1993) on the speech act of expressing gratitude by native speakers and non-native speakers of English revealed that, whereas the latter found it more difficult to respond to those Situations in the DCT with which they had no cultural familiarisation, the former produced appropriate responses despite first-hand unfamiliarity with several of the Situations. In other words, the determining factor in the quality of response was cultural unfamiliarity, not position unfamiliarity. 6 Second, this type of Situation has been tested before with university students (Blum-Kulka et al., 1989) and no problems of identification by participants were reported. After all, as university undergraduates, they are all likely to aspire to future careers akin to the ones depicted in the Situations, i.e., working in a company in managerial or responsibility-related positions.

Since the study was concerned with cross-gender complimenting in Peninsular Spanish and in British English, two versions of the DCT in each language were pre- pared so that the data would not include same sex C-CR exchanges. This was made clear to all respondents via the explicit identification of all compliment givers as males in the DCT for females and vice versa. 7

~' The response pattern across the nine Situations in this author's study corroborates Eisenstein and Bodman's finding vis-a-vis native speakers' communicative competence. Native speakers appear to be perfectly capable of applying some sort of scripted, socio-culturally appropriate, behaviour to communicative contexts which, albeit part of their culture, are new to them on a personal level. 7 In order to avoid as much as possible biasing the participants' responses with regards to the issue of same-sex / cross-sex complimenting behaviour, it was considered more adequate not to add an instruc- tions section to the DCT in which this point (or any other relating to the P, D, R variables) would be explained.

N. Lorenzo-Dus / Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2001) 107-127 113

A final aspect considered when devising the DCT was that of the effect of the P, D and R variables (see note 4). Although P and D are independent theoretical variables, it is not always a straightforward task to see in practice how the D factor oper- ates independently of the P variable, and many studies have actually conflated the two (Blum-Kulka et al., 1989). The D variable does not affect those encounters in which there is a symmetrical power relationship between interactants (Situations 1, 5 and 7 in the DCT). In the remaining Situations of the study, spatio-temporal references and register employed in the wording of the compliment are deemed suffi- ciently indicative for the respondents to have interpreted the D variable uniformly. The R variable was also controlled in the study, for all informants were presented with identical topics and wording of Cs (see Table 1).

Table 1

Compliment content Power variable*

Outward appearance Hair-style (S 1 ) ¢:* Smart clothes(S6) ~. Beautiful eyes ($9)

Personality Interpersonal skills ($7) ¢~

Possessions Brand new car ($2) ~"

Skill Cooking ($3) 1) Sport ($4) Essay writing ($5) ¢=~ Computers ($8) ~"

* ¢=~ power symmetry between complimenter and complimentee: ~ complimenter is in the -P position;]J complimenter is in the +P position.

3. Results

Several cross-cultural and cross-gender divergent patterns in the use of CRs emerged from the analysis of the data, namely:

(1) The British participants exhibited a greater tendency than their Spanish counterparts to question the truth value of the C and, consequently, the relational solidarity of their complimenter.

(2) Humorous CRs were employed on a regular basis by all four groups. The British respondents combined irony/humour with various types of agreeing CRs (especially comment acceptance, history and return), 8 whereas their

s In the present analysis the following types of CRs. following Herbert's (1989) taxonomy, are used (All examples are taken from Herbert. 1989):

114 N. Lorenzo-Dus /Journal of Pra~matics 33 (2001) 107-127

(3)

(4)

Spanish counterparts , par t icular ly male respondents , genera l ly opted for i ronic/ humorous upgrades. A c o m m o n pattern amongst Spanish par t ic ipants involved a request for repet i - t ion and, most l ikely, an expans ion o f the C. This pat tern was a typical in the Brit ish corpus. The use of reass ignments revealed on the one hand a s imilar tendency in both cultures to avoid self-praise on topics such as natural talent and intell igence. On the other hand, c ross-gender differences were also found that suggest tradit ional gender s tereotyping in both cultures, and especia l ly within the Spanish data.

4. Discussion

4.1. 'Thanks, but I ah'eady have a girlfriend': the hidden agenda o f Cs?

The results across the nine Situat ions of the D C T revealed a greater tendency among the Brit ish respondents than among their Spanish counterparts to quest ion the sinceri ty of Cs and, in turn, the compl imen te r ' s relat ional solidari ty. Moreover , the Brit ish part ic ipants did not verbal ise their reservat ions about the compl imen te r ' s intentions in a direct manner. Instead, they opted for the inclusion of me ta -comment s (see examples below) which did not be long as such to their response:

- ' I ' d be p leased to know that I look nice but also wonder whether the boss was try- ing it on with m e ' ($6: smart clothes).

- ' I ' d feel as if he was pat ronis ing m e ' ($7: interpersonal skills).

In contrast , those interpretat ions by the Spanish par t ic ipants of the C as solely instrumental were openly verbal ised:

- ' S i lo que quieres es una vuelta en mi moto, dilo claro' ( ' I f y o u ' r e after a ride on my bike, jus t say so ' ) (S I : hair cut).

- Comment acceptance: The complimentee accepts the force of the utterance through the provision of a response semantically fitted to the C. For instance, A:'You have such a nice house', B: 'It's given us a lot of pleasure'.

- Comment history: The complimentee, albeit agreeing with the praise force, does not register it as addressed to him/her but impersonalises it by giving additional details, which are frequently irrelevant and at times lengthy. For instance, F l : ' I like your shoes. They're cute', F2: 'I got them over two years ago. My dress shoes wore out so I went to the mall with $20 and got these, and everybody was telling me how dumb I was to get clogs in winter, but ! sure did wear them a lot'.

- Return: The complimenter becomes the target of the very C that he/she has offered. For instance, A: 'You sound really good today', B: 'I 'm just following your lead'. - Praise upgrade: The complimentee agrees with and raises the praise assertion. The typically playful key in which praise upgrades are employed tends to gloss over the power imbalance created with the choice of words. For instance, A: '! really like this soup', B: 'I'm a great cook'. - Reassignments." The complimentee redirects the praise force to some third person or to the object complimented. For instance, A:'You're really a skilled sailor', B: 'This boat virtually sails itself'.

N. Lorenzo-Dus / Journal of Pra~matics 33 (2001) 107-127 115

- 'No me hagas la pelota que sd que me ha salido mal' ( 'Don ' t be a creep. I know it 's not good! ') ($7: interpersonal skills).

This contrasting pattern conforms to the different interpretation by the two societies of the weight and value attached to positive or negative politeness strategies. For example, the British respondents did not consider it socially appropriate to verbalise their disagreement, presumably because to do so would run counter to the communicative rule of attending to one 's interlocutor's negative face wants. However. the Spanish participants deemed it equally inappropriate to use hedging, and opted instead for direct expression of their feelings, i.e., a positive politeness strategy that was much more in accordance with the prevailing interactional ethos.

Situation 9 (beautiful eyes) yielded some interesting findings vis-h-vis the content of Cs and their relational solidarity. Within the British data, responses that ques- tioned the sincerity of the praise assertion suggested that the C had been understood as an indirect speech act aimed at self-promotion (see examples below):

- ' I have already thought of a new deputy manager ' . - 'You ' l l surely be promoted soon'.

Some British participants also asked their complimenter to repeat the praise assertion (mainly in the form of questions such as ' yeah? ' and ' real ly? ' ) at the onset of their CRs. This type of request for repetition was much less frequent in the remaining Sit- uations of the DCT. It appears, thus, that those British respondents, surprised bv the atypical content of the C in a work-related communicative context, were initially unsure of how to respond to it. Their apprehension led to linguistic hedging in an attempt either to gain time before being able to produce a socially appropriate response, or to indicate their genuine reservations regarding the truth of the C. Their atypical use of rather direct CR disagreements (see examples below) in Situation 9 supports this view:

- ' I don' t believe my eyes are any different to anybody e lse ' s ' ; or, as one respondent put it, 'you don' t expect emotion in a work environment' ,

The responses provided by the Spanish participants to a C on natural beauty did not diverge markedly from those in the other Situations involving a C on outward appearance. A plausible explanation for this rests in the positive politeness orientation of Spanish culture. Mediterranean cultures tend to place higher value on attending to the positive face needs of one's interlocutors than to their negative face needs (Hickey, 1991; Leech, 1983; Sifianou, 1992, etc.). One of the expected outcomes of such a positive politeness ethos in Spanish culture is a less restricted exchange of tokens of mutual appreciation. 9

The expression 'less restricted' needs to be interpreted here in the context of British cultural norms. By no means does less limitation in the content of Cs imply, for instance, that other - more private - attributes of Spanish people's physical appearance are not regarded as taboos. It is the author's belief, for


Spanish male respondents at times interpreted the C in Situation 9 as a sexual lead-on to which they responded in a flirtatious fashion. For instance:

- '$61o cuando te miran' ( 'Only when they look at you') .

CRs such as the one above are congruent with the traditional attitudes of some Span- ish males to male-female roles in C-CR exchanges. It is undoubtedly a gross gener- alisation to claim that it is always the male in Spanish society who initiates a complimenting sequence or any type of flirtation. However, tradition does place the man as the expected initiator in such male-female encounters. The interpretation by some male respondents of Situation 9 as a lead-on and their ensuing flirtatious response epitomises the nature of transformations concerning gender relations in contemporary Spain, namely, tension between the public and the private domains. The perception by some male participants of a female initiating a compliment sequence as a lead-on was not unexpected, given the patterns of gender socialisation that are still present at the microstructural level in contemporary Spain. Indeed, gender relations in the Spain of the 90s are still an arena for debate within institutions such as the family, albeit having undergone significant transformation at the macrostructural level in the last two decades. As Goetze and So16 (1994: 145) put it:

"... [N]ew values, new patterns of behaviour, are still developing; they are heterogeneous, at times only internalised by the minority, and are constantly being tested. The sociocultural and individual cost of such tests is uncertain and the results will only be revealed by future generations of women." (my translation)

Changes in traditional gender relations are precipitated almost exclusively by women 's efforts to overcome adverse social practices. Moreover, the introduction of new male-female relational patterns is met with considerable apathy by males (Goetze and So16, 1994). As Iglesias de Ussel (1994: 161) states, "[1laws can be altered without much difficulty (..). But traditions cannot be changed by decree. Transitional periods are, therefore, the most susceptible to the outbreak of conflicts" (my translation).

4.2. 'Hope you didn't notice the dog hairs': the use o f humour/irony in CRs

Whether perceived as sincere tokens of appreciation or as teasing behaviour, Cs are at times responded to in a humorous key. In the former interpretation, such responses minimise imposition on the complimentee by reducing the self-praise ele- ment of accepting a C. They can, hence, contribute to create/reinforce a sense of in- groupness. In the latter interpretation, humorous responses to Cs serve to put up a good defence against their perceived criticism because teasing can be used as a power negotiation strategy:

instance, that a C about beautiful legs, an adequate topic for a C in Egyptian culture (cf. Nelson et al., 1996), would have been perceived as face threatening by Spanish speakers within the given communicative context.


"Self-confident, witty and outspoken members of the group tease the weak, diffident and vulnerable ones, and thus establish their dominance within the group" (Jaworski. 1995: 86).

The type of CRs employed to achieve such an interactionally defensive goal vary both at an inter-ethnic and an intra-ethnic level. In the present study, Cs interpreted as ironic, i.e., as a tease, were counter-attacked in several forms including, for instance, accepting the jab with good humour. I° The main difference between the British and the Spanish humorous responses was the absence within the former of upgrades of a clearly ironic nature.

The analysis of humour/irony in CRs amongst the British participants revealed a tendency to combine it with agreeing responses, especially with those of the comment acceptance and comment history type:

- 'So English cooking isn't so awful after all then! ' (Situation 3: cooking skills). - 'Thank you. They ' re not mine! ' (Situation 9: beautiful eyes). - 'Thank you very much. PVC is very cheap at this time of the year in M&S!"

[Marks and Spencer, a department store] (Situation 6: smart clothes).

Ironic returns of Cs were found in the British data but not in the Spanish corpus. For example, a female 's response to the C in Situation 9 (beautiful eyes) was: 'You 've got very striking ears! ' . Such a CR is consistent with Jaworski 's (1995) view that Cs can function (and be interpreted) as solidary only at the procedural level. Having perceived the C as an unmistakable teasing statement, this respondent 's use of irony acted to signal her willingness to enter the ritual of competitive verbal duelling and to reciprocate the teasing, thus showing that she, too, was capable of displaying a witty self. As Tannen (1990) has noted, such verbal duelling need not result in def- erence but can also contribute to the enhancement of rapport.

Within those CRs that made use of humour, ironic upgrades were by far the preferred strategy of male Spanish respondents (see examples below). Ironic upgrades conveyed the image that the C was, in the eyes of its recipient, light-hearted and not worthy of serious consideration. They therefore acted as self-praise avoidance mechanisms that did not require an explicit disagreement with the complimenter:

- 'Lo sd nena, soy una m d q u i n a ' ( ' I know, babe, I ' m invincible') (Situation 4: tennis game).

- 'Es que c o n m i g o se r o m p i 6 el m o l d e ' ( 'Well, they broke the mould with me ' ) (Situation 6: smart clothes).

Cultural and gender factors need to be considered when attempting to explain the frequent use of ironic upgrades by Spanish males and its virtual absence in the remaining groups. The former derive from the cultural specificity of definitions of

to It must be noted at this point, however, that the perception of a C as a teasing expression often hinges upon very subtle clues, such as the mood of the addresee, which were at times difficult to identify in the data.


irony and of comic situations. The latter result from women's inclination towards involvement strategies (Tannen, 1990) that avoid power imbalance and, most probably, from a conscious decision by Spanish females to let males appear as conversa- tionally dominant.

Shared knowledge is, indeed, central to successful communication especially when, as in the case of irony, more than one level of meaning can be established. Such knowledge ranges from mundane everyday experiences, common to one or more cultures, to encyclopaedic or world knowledge. The Spanish habit of poking fun at themselves (see, for instance, Chiaro, 1992) in areas such as personality, physical appearance and patriotism helps explain the use of ironic upgrades by Spaniards. Within Spanish culture, and within specific communicative frames (Goffman, 1974), ironic upgrades are not face threatening to the complimenter. Thus, in this study, ironic upgrades can be adequately interpreted as a positive politeness strategy that not only aids the display of the desired social identity, i.e., a witty self, but also tests for common ground and creates rapport. In short, they act as social accelerators for the establishment of healthy and socioculturally sanctioned communicative practices.

However, the above cultural differences do not adequately explain why the Span- ish female participants used ironic upgrades only sporadically. A more comprehen- sive account surfaces when one considers traditional male-female interaction in Spain. Once more, stereotypical gender roles that place men as initiators in complimenting behaviour are truly influential regarding the relative ease, compared to British counterparts with which the Spanish female respondents reacted to Cs in this study. The use of ironic upgrades implies entering the ritual combat for verbal dominance, something in principle contrary to women's reported tendency towards conversational involvement. The analysis of the data suggests that the step between agreeing with and actually upgrading the praise force of the C ironically, constituted too high a conversational risk for many Spanish female participants. There is no reason to doubt that Spanish female participants were as secure in themselves as their male counterparts. This suggests that their reluctance to self-aggrandise overtly in front of men reflects, rather than a feeling of genuine submission, a conscious decision to maintain, at the communicative level, traditional gender attitudes regarding the male dominant role in complimenting.

4.3. 'Do you really like it? ': Fishing f or further compliments?

Requesting a repetition and possibly an expansion of the C was a common pragmatic strategy used by the Spanish respondents, thus supporting past research on Mexican Spanish (Vald6s and Pino, 1981). jl Once more, the explanation for this

l~ Unlike in Vald6s and Pino's research, however, these requests were not restricted to interactions among intimates but occurred in all Situations. The different method of data collection in the two studies (recording of naturally occurring interactions in the case of Vald6s and Pino's research) is believed to be one of the reasons for this discrepancy. Other plausible explanations, pending empirical research, relate obviously to differences between the language varieties of Mexican Spanish and Peninsular Span- ish as well as between their respective cultures.


finding rests with the positive/negative politeness dichotomy. Whereas in the case of British culture the emphasis is upon avoiding self-effacement, it is the principle of fulfilling the desire of a person to be appreciated, liked and approved at least by some others, that takes precedence in Spanish society. The total number of CRs in the British and the Spanish data, 553 and 764 respectively, supports this view. British respondents found it generally more difficult to provide more than one or two socially appropriate CRs for each of the nine Situations that they were presented with, whereas all Spanish DCTs included three or four different CRs.

It appears therefore that for Spaniards, or at least for the participants in the study, examples such as those below, in which the necessary care and time is taken in complimenting others and feeling complimented by others, do not count as a territorial intrusion but rather as a welcome communicative practice:

- 'gLo dices en serio? gNo es demasiado cor to? ' ('Are you sure? Isn't it too short?'). (Situation 1: hair cut).

- ' gDe verdad? Yo pensaba que no le gustaria a nadie ' ('Really? I didn't think anyone would like it') (Situation 6: smart clothes).

- 'gT6 crees? c;De verdad? ' ( 'Do you think so? Really?') (Situation 8: computer skills)

As in the case of Mexican speakers (Vald6s and Pino, 1981), Spanish respondents probably saw in the use of this CR type an opportunity to attend to their interlocutor's positive face wants rather than an invasion of his/her negative face needs. Moreover, the possibility of entering a circular exchange of Cs when using this type of CR is sanctioned in Spanish culture, for it contributes to the enhancement of rapport between the complimenter and the complimentee. In the case of various Eng- lish-speaking societies, however, previous research (Pomerantz, 1978; Herbert, 1989; Holmes, 1988, etc.) has evinced how the practice of recurrent complimenting can have a negative effect on the participants involved, especially if the Cs are seen as ornate. The reason is that not only is this practice perceived as placing great demands on the complimentee to reinstate the interactional equilibrium, but it can easily make him/her feel obliged to return the C, thus entering a circular exchange of Cs which is not felt to be in the interests of either participant. The results of this study support such a claim.

4.4. 'It only took f i ve minutes'~ 'A bachelor needs to know about cooking ' : Compli- ments as a mirror o f social values.

Reassignments present the complimentee with an ideal opportunity to adhere to the two conversational principles at stake in CRs, for they allow him/her to shift, according to his/her interest, part or the whole of the C away from his/her own self without needing to reject its truth value. The use of reassignments by the participants of this study shed some light on: (a) a tendency by all four groups to avoid self- praise on topics such as natural talent and intelligence; and (b) gender differences vis-a-vis certain male-female roles.


(a) The data revealed the existence of cross-cultural similarities in both the fre- quency of reassignments and the third party/object towards which the praise force was redirected. Consistent with Manes' (1983) finding on complimenting behaviour in American English, Cs within the content area of skill/work (Situations 3, 4, 5 and 8) tended to be redirected to the result of a particular action rather than to the talent or skills of their recipients. The C in Situation 4 (tennis game), for instance, included both effort and talent. Nevertheless, whilst training and effort were customarily rated as worthy of praise, natural talent on the part of the complimentee was not acknowledged. Since natural talent is considered in Western cultures to be a more excep- tional attribute than effort or steadiness (Wolfson, 1983; Manes, 1983), to refer to the latter as the authentic recipients of one's achievements is socially sanctioned, for it prevents disagreeing with the C without appearing excessively boastful. The examples below are representative of the type of reassignments used by both groups:

- 'Great, all the hard work has paid off'. - 'About time, too! ' - 'Thanks, all this effort has been worthwhile'. - 'Menos mal, de algo ha servido que me haya esforzado tanto' ( 'Thank goodness

for that. The effort has been worthwhile'). - 'Gracias, pero es que si despu~s de tanto entrenar no juego bien es para reti-

rarme '. ('Thanks, but if I don't play well after all this training I might as well give up').

Along similar lines, effort and interest were preferred over intelligence or natural talent when redirecting the Cs in Situations 5 (essay writing) and 8 (computer skills):

- ' It 's not me having a flair for computers but my interest in the course'. (Situation 8)

- 'Well, my intelligence is just average'. (Situation 8) - 'Interns no me faltar6, pero lo de la inteligencia no es tan seguro' ('I am defi-

nitely interested, but I am not that sure about my intelligence'). (Situation 8) - '}1o creo que todo se debe al empe~o que pongo al hacer las cosas, nada mc~s' ('I

reckon I 'm very determined when doing anything, that's all'). (Situation 8) - 'Oh, thanks! Well, it just takes time'. (Situation 5) - 'You have to put a lot of work in, that's all'. (Situation 5) - 'Si, es un buen trabajo, pero es que le dediqu~ muchas horas' ('Yes, it's a good

essay but then, I put a lot of time into it'). (Situation 5) - 'Es que me esforc~ mucho. Era el t~ltimo trabajo de la carrera' ('It took a lot of

effort . It was the last essay for my degree'). (Situation 5) 12

Situation 5 (essay writing) was devised following Johnson's (1992) research on commendable academic writing features in the English language, namely clarity,

~2 In Situation 5, third party redirection also referred to help from both lecturers and friends, and appropriate use of bibliography.

N. Lorenzo-Dus / Journal of Pra~matics 33 (2001) 107-127 121

brevity and quality of content. Whilst the responses by the British participants were largely congruous with Johnson's results, the Spanish respondents also stressed the usefulness of a good bibliography over creativity:

- 'Ten[a buena bibliografia' ('I had a good bibliography') - 'Es cuestidn de leer mucho ' ( 'It 's a matter of extensive background reading') - 'No hay que ser original, s61o estructurar Io que has le[do' ('You don't have to

be original, just structure your background reading')

This does not imply that personal evaluation of sources is deemed unimportant amongst Spanish undergraduates. It is the author's belief, nonetheless, that the Span- ish university system is accountable for students' heavy reliance upon bibliography. Unfortunately, small group teaching and dialoguing, let alone a one to one exchange of viewpoints between lecturer and student, are generally sporadic. Students, consequently, do not always feel confident enough to construct their own interpretations instead of simply providing a good synopsis of work by others.

(b) The use of reassignments in Situation 3 (cooking skills) also reflected gender differences vis-a-vis perceptions of male-female roles. British and Spanish male respondents often redirected the praise force - being 'a talented cook' - towards either necessity on the grounds of their single male status, or towards some female assistance (see I below). Interestingly enough, neither British nor Spanish female respondents mentioned the above reasons in their reassignments. Instead, they cited the easiness of the recipe or assistance from some third, not necessarily female, party (see II below):

I -- To be honest my mum deserves the compliment. She did most of the work'. - 'Un soltero tiene que saber cocinar' ( 'A bachelor needs to be able to cook').

II 'Thank you, but it was a very simple dish' 'Me he copiado la receta de Karlos Arguihano Arguifiano')13

' ('I got the recipe from Karlos

Spanish male responses of the type above conformed with anticipated findings. Mediterranean countries have been traditionally classed as chauvinistic and there is abundant sociological evidence demonstrating how stereotyping in the domains of tradition and social attitudes remains prevalent in contemporary Spain (Durfin, 1987; Iglesias de Ussel, 1994, etc.), especially within the family institution. Iglesias de Ussel (1994: 160), for instance, talks about the still present "disparity between males and females regarding the amount of time devoted to domestic chores, cultural habits, timetables, etc." (my translation). What was surprising, though, was that

L~ Karlos Arguifiano is a very popular chef in Spanish TV cooking programmes.


British male respondents also followed the Spanish pattern of referring to their single status. This was unexpected because Northern European countries are normally perceived as more advanced at the macrostructural level of women's rights. Further- more, the British university system can be seen as minimising traditional micro-level constructs of close social networks such as the family, because so many students live away from home and therefore become socialised within a new, more egalitarian, sociocultural framework. The findings of this study therefore clearly raise important questions concerning attitudinal stereotyping along geographic lines and assump- tions about the emancipatory effects of British university life.

5. Conclusion

The results of this study cannot be generalised to all Spanish/British university students, let alone all speakers of both languages. Nevertheless, they do provide important insights into understanding better the principles of language use that shape the activity of responding to a compliment in both cultures and the implications that this has for cross-cultural (mis)communication.

The degree of cross-cultural affinity shown in the nine situations of the DCT was considerable, a fact which may well stem from the progressive disappearance of geo- graphical and, hence, sociocultural barriers within the European Union, at least in the case of the younger generations. Technology, too, has contributed to the liberal- ization of language practices; for example, communicative practices imported via audio-visual media from cultures with a negative politeness orientation are spreading into the Spanish language/culture. A clear example of this is the dubbing of films from English for Spanish audiences. As Hickey (1991) has noted, for ease of translation, the general practice is to retain in the Spanish version expressions such as sortLv, please, thanks and excuse me in contexts where most Spaniards would not use them.

Nevertheless, this close analysis of CRs suggests the existence of some cross-cultural and cross-gender differences between British and Spanish university students. Some of these differences are believed to have considerable weight in evaluations, often stereotypically negative, concerning the identity of individuals in both cultures. The implications of such stereotyping cannot be underestimated, especially within the fields of cross-cultural communication and of second language learning. It is indeed plausible, for instance, to envisage the specific employment of upgrades and irony by Spaniards as leading to instances of miscommunication at a pragmalinguis- tic and/or sociopragmatic level (Thomas, 1983). Failure by native speakers of Eng- lish to interpret ironic upgrades as intended by Spanish learners of English can result in the characterisation of the latter as exceedingly confident and boastful, Similarly, Spanish non-native speakers of English may transfer the tendency to request a repetition and possibly an expansion of Cs when communicating with British speakers. Instances of sociopragmatic failure may easily derive from such communicative practice. This in turn may develop into the stereotyping of Spaniards as either lack- ing self-esteem and in need of constant reassurance, or as deliberately inattentive to


the linguistic politeness norm at work in British culture that places special care on one's interlocutor's negative face wants and that in most communicative contexts sees positive face enhancement as a relational taboo (Coupland, 1996). The gap between such localised characterisation and a more general stereotyping attitude is, needless to say, an easy one to bridge.

The analysis of the data suggests an equilibrium between differences and similarities which can best be accounted for as a tendency to balance out two general processes. First, that of globalisation in an era in which information is a key concept. Second, the maintenance of self-identity as a means of distancing oneself from the potentially threatening anonymity of any large-scale grouping. Each individual has, to a certain degree, his/her own recipe for reconciliating the two extremes of self- and group-identity.

References

Barnlund+ Dean and Shoko Araki, 1985. Intercultural encounters: The management of compliments by Japanese and Americans. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 18: 9-26.

Beebe, Leslie M. and M.C. Cummings, 1996. Natural speech act versus written questionnaire data: tfow data collection method affects speech act performance. In: J. Neu and S.M. Gass, eds., Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language, 105-135. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, Juliane House and Gabriele Kasper, eds., 1989. Cross-cultural pragmalics: Requests and apologies (CCSARP Project). Norwood, N J: Ablex.

Brown, Penelope and Stephen C. Levinson, 1978. Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena. In: E.N. Goody, ed., Questions and politeness: Strategies in social interaction, 56-311. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, Penelope and Stephen C. Levinson, 1987. Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chen, Rong, 1993. Responding to compliments: A contrastive study of politeness strategies between American English and Chinese speakers. Journal of Pragmatics 20: 49-75.

Chiaro, Delia, 1992. The language of jokes: Analysing verbal play. London: Routledge. Chodorowska, Marianna, 1997. On the polite function of l ine entiendes? in Spanish. Journal of Prag-

matics 28: 355-371. Coupland, Justine, 1996. Dating advertisements: Discourses of the commodified self. Discourse and

Society 7(2): 187-207. Dur~in, Marfa Angeles, 1987. De puertas adentro. Madrid: Betanzos. Eisenstein, Miriam and Bodman, Jean, 1993. Expressing gratitude in American English. In: G. Kasper

and S. Blum-Kulka, eds., Interlanguage pragmatics, 64-81. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Garcfa, Carmen, 1993. Making a request and responding to it: A case study of Peruvian Spanish speak-

ers. Journal of Pragmatics 19: 127-152. Garc[a, Carmen, 1996. Reprimanding and responding to a reprimand: A case study of Peruvian Spanish

speakers. Journal of Pragmatics 26: 663~97. Goetze, Dieter and Carlota Sold, 1994. E1 dificultoso camino de la emancipaci6n femenina en Espafia.

In: F. L6pez-Casero, Walther L. Bernecker and Peter Waldmann, eds., El precio de la modem- izaci6n, 113-148. Madrid: Iberoamericana.

Goffman, Erving, 1974. Frame analysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Gu, Yueguo, 1990. Politeness phenomena in Modem Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics 14: 237-257. Haverkate, Henk, Kees Hengeveld and Gijs Mulder, eds., 1993. Aproximaciones pragmalingtifsticas al

espafiol (Dif.logos hisp~inicos, 12). Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi.


Herbert, Robert K., 1989. The ethnography of English compliments and compliment responses: A contrastive sketch. In: W. Olesky, ed., Contrastive pragmatics, 3-35. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Herbert, Robert K., 1990. Sex-based differences in compliment behaviour. Language in Society 19: 201-224.

Herbert, Robert K., 1991. The sociology of compliment work: An ethnocontrastive study of Polish and English compliments. Multilingua 10: 381~.02.

Herbert, Robert K. and Stephen H. Straight, 1989. Compliment-rejection versus compliment-avoidance: Listener-based versus speaker-based pragmatic strategies. Language and Communication 9: 35-47.

Hickey, Leo, 1991. Comparatively polite people in Spain and Britain. Journal of the Association of Con- temporary Iberian Studies 4: 2-6.

Holmes, Janet, 1988. Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand English. Anthropological Linguistics 28: 485-508.

Holmes, Janet and Dorothy F. Brown, 1987. Teachers and students learning about compliments. TESOL Quarterly 21: 523-545.

Hymes, Dell, 1972. Models of the interaction of language and social life. In: J. Gumperz and D. Hymes, eds., Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication, 35-71. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Iglesias de Ussel, Julio, 1994. i, Conflicto generacional o armon/a familiar? Los j6venes en Espafia. In: F. L6pez-Casero. Walther L. Bernecker and Peter Waldmann, eds., El precio de la modernizaci6n, 149-182. Madrid: Iberoamericana.

Jaworski, Adam, 1995. This is not an empty compliment!: Polish compliments and the expression of solidarity. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 5: 63-94.

Johnson, Donna M., 1992. Compliments and politeness in peer-review texts. Applied Linguistics 13: 51-71.

Kasper, Gabriele and Merete Dahl, 1991. Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Sec- ond Language Acquisition 13: 215-247.

Knapp, Mark L., Robert Hopper and Robert A. Bell, 1984. Compliments: A descriptive taxonomy. Jour- nal of Communication 19: 12-31.

Leech, Geoffrey N., 1983. Principles of pragmatics. London: Longman. Manes, Joan, 1983. Compliments: A mirror of cultural values. In: J.N. Wolfson and E. Judd, eds., Soci-

olinguistics and language acquisistion, 96-11)2. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Manes, Joan and Nessa Wolfson, 1981. The compliment formula. In: F. Coulmas, ed., Conversational

routine, 115-132. New York: Mouton. Matsumoto, Yoshiko, 1988. Reexamination of the universality of face: Politeness phenomena in Japan-

ese. Journal of Pragmatics 12: 403-426. Nelson, Gayle L., El Bakary, Waguida and AI Batal, Mahmoud, 1996. Egyptian American Compli-

ments: Focus on Second Language Learners. In: Susan M. Gas and Joyce Neu, eds., Speech Acts Across Cultures: Challenges to Communication in a Second Language, 102-128. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Pomerantz, Anita, 1978. Compliment responses: Notes on the cooperation of multiple constraints. In: J. Schenkein, ed., Studies in the organization of conversational interaction, 79 112. New York: Acad- emic Press.

Rintel, Ellen M. and Candace J. Mitchell, 1989. Studying requests and apologies: An inquiry into method. In: Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Juliane House and Gabriele Kasper, eds., Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies (CCSARP Project), 167-198. Norwood, N J: Ablex.

Romero Trillo, Jestls, 1997. Your attention, please: Pragmatic mechanisms to obtain the addressee's attention in English and Spanish conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 28: 205-221.

Sasaki, Miyuki, 1998. Investigating EFL students' production of speech acts: A comparison of production questionnaires and role plays. Journal of Pragmatics 30: 457-484.

Schegloff, Emanuel A. and Harvey Sacks, 1973. Opening up closings. Semiotica 8: 289-327. Sifianou, Maria, 1992. Politeness phenomena in England and Greece: A cross-cultural perspective.

Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tannen, Deborah, 1990. You just don't understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: Bal-

lantine Books.


Thomas, Jenny, 1983. Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics 4: 91-109. Vald6s, Guadalupe and Cecilia Pino, 1981. Muy a tus 6rdenes: Compliment responses among Mexican-

American bilinguals. Language in Society 10: 101-120. VJ, zquez Orta, Ignacio, 1995. A contrastive study of politeness phenomena in England and Spain. Duis-

burg: LAUD. Wolfson, Nessa, 1983. An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English. In: J.N.

Wolfson and E. Judd, eds., Sociolinguistics and language acquisistion, 82-95. Rowley, MA: New-. bury House.

Wolfson, Nessa, Thomas Marmor and Steve Jones, 1989. Problems in the comparison of speech acts across cultures. In: S. Blum-Kulka, Juliane House and Gabriele Kasper, eds., Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies (CCSARP Project), 174-196. Norwood, N J: Ablex.

Yfifiez, Rosa H., 1990. The complimenting speech act among Chicano women. In: J.J. Bergen, ed., Spanish in the United States: Sociolinguistic issues, 9-85. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Appendix A: Discourse Completion Test (DCT

English version

First of all thank you very much for giving up some of your time. Nine different Situations are described below in which you receive a compliment on various matters. How would you respond? For each Situation, you might find more than one response socially appropriate. In that case, please write all of them on the lines provided.

Situation 1 (hair cut) You 've just had your hair cut in a different style. You bump into a friend and after saying hello, he/she says: 'That hair cut makes you look great. It makes you look younger! '

Situation 2 (brand new car) You' re the manager of a company. As you leave work one day you bump into an employee and start talking. He/she mentions that his/her car has broken down and he/she has to take two buses to get home. You have your brand new car at work and offer to give him/her a lift. When he/she sees the car, he/she says: ' I t ' s smashing! l love the model. And you 've got good taste in choosing the colour! '

Situation 3 (cooking) You' re a teacher in a language school. You 've invited a group of your students to your house for a meal. After eating, one of your male/female students says: 'I didn't know you were such a talented cook. The food was wonderful! '

Situation 4 (tennis game) You 've just finished playing a game of tennis (the first one after two months of intensive training); your trainer has been watching the game. When it is finished, he/she says: 'All the effort has been worthwhile. You have played brilliantly today! '

Situation 5 (essay writing) A friend asks you to lend him/her an essay that you wrote for a course in the university and for which you got a very good mark. When he/she returns it to you he/she says: ' I t ' s an excel- lent essay. You 've structured it in a very clear and concise way. If only I could write something half as interesting as that! '

126 N. Lorenzo-Dus /Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2001) 107-127

Situation 6 (smart clothes)

Your boss at work has organised a leaving do for a colleague. You've dressed up for the occasion. As you arrive at the party, he/she tells you how elegant you look and how much the outfit suits you.

Situation 7 ( interpersonal skills) Over the past week you've been helping to organise a conference at your university. A male/female friend, who has also been helping, says: 'You're the right person for this type of job. You're ever so nice to the others and know how to avoid disagreements with everyone'.

Situation 8 (computers) You started a computing course three months ago. At the end of a lesson your teacher comes up to you. He/she says: 'You're very intelligent and have a flair for computers. Besides, you show a lot of interest in what we do in the lessons'.

Situation 9 (beautiful eyes) You're the new sales manager of a large department store. You're out for coffee with a group of people from work. One of your male/female employees, who's been with the store for many years, says to you: 'You've got beautiful eyes'.

Spanish version

Ante todo, muchas gracias por dedicarnos parte de tu tiempo. A continuaci6n hemos descrito una serie de si tuacions en las que recibes un cumplido. Por f avor indica la respuesta - o respuestas - que darfas a cada uno de los nueve cumplidos como si se tratase de si tuaciones reales.

Situaci6n 1 (corte de pelo) Te acabas de cortar el pelo de forma diferente a la habitual. Te encuentras a un amigo/a por la calle y, tras saludaros, te dice: 'Te queda genial ese corte de pelo. Pareces m~s joven'.

Situaci6n 2 (coche nuevo) Eres el/la gerente de una compafiia. AI salir del trabajo coincides con uno/a de tus empleados/as y comenzfiis a hablar. El/ella comenta que tiene el coche averiado y ha de coger dos autobuses para llegar a casa. T6 has cogido tu coche nuevo ese d/a y le ofreces llevarlo/la a casa. AI ver el coche, 61/ella dice: 'Vaya cochazo. Me encanta el modelo. Ademfis has tenido muy buen gusto al escoger el color'.

Situaci6n 3 (talento en la cocina) Trabajas como profesora en una academia y has invitado a cenar a casa a un grupo de alumnos. AI acabar la cena, uno/a de los/las alumnos/as te dice: 'No sabra que tuvieras tanto talento en la cocina. La cena estaba buenfsima'.

Situaci6n 4 (partido de tenis) Acabas de jugar un partido de tenis (el primero tras dos meses de entrenamiento intensivo). Tu entrenador/a te dice: "El esfuerzo ha valido la pena. Hoy has jugado de maravilla".


Situaci6n 5 (trabajo escrito para la universidad) Un /a amigo/a te pide que le dejes un trabajo que escribiste para la universidad ye n el que te pusieron muy buena nota. Cuando te 1o devuelve, te dice: 'Es un trabajo excelente. Lo has estructurado de forma muy clara y concisa. Ojalfi supiese yo escribir algo la mitad de intere- sante ! '.

Situaci6n 6 (ropa elegante) E l / la director/a de tu trabajo ha organizado una fiesta de despedida para una de tus com- pafieras. Te has vestido de forma bastante elegante para la ocasi6n. AI llegar a la fiesta, el/la director/a te dice 1o elegante que te has puesto y 1o bien que te queda ese vestido/traje.

Situaci6n 7 (buenas dotes de trato) Durante la 61tima semana has estado colaborando en la organizaci6n de unas conferencias en tu universidad. Un/a amigo/a que tambi6n ha estado ayudando te dice: 'Estfis hecho para esto. Eres muy amable con los demfis y sabes evitar discusiones con todos'.

Situaci6n 8 (ordenadores) Hace aproximadamente tres meses que empezaste un curso de informfitica. Al acabar la clase, tu profesor/a te dice: "Se nota que eres inteligente y tienes facilidad para los ordenadores. Adem~is pones mucho inter6s en 1o que hacemos en clase".

Situaci6n 9 (ojos bonitos) Eres elba nuevo/a encargado/a de ventas de unos grandes almacenes y has salido a tomar caf6 con un grupo de trabajadores a tu cargo. Uno/a de tus empleados/as que lleva muchos afios en los almacenes te dice: "Tienes unos ojos muy bonitos".

Nuria Lorenzo-Dus is currently a researcher with the Centre for Applied Language Studies at Swansea University, having worked previously at Cardiff University with the Centre for Language and Commu- nication Research and the School of European Studies. She is about to complete her doctoral thesis, 'Linguistic Presentation of Identity in Media Narratives', and has further research interests in inter-cultural communication and second language acquisition.

lorenzo dus

Documents