Impoliteness Strategies and Social Characteristics. An Analysis of Films in Peninsular Spanish and American English Speakers at Work

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to offer a brief revision of some of the best-known contributions to the field study of impoliteness. On the one hand, a taxonomy of impoliteness strategies is presented, based on my own model of social characteristics. On the other hand, as an example of the application of this model, dialogues in six films – three of them filmed in peninsular Spanish and the rest in American English – are analysed, in search of the use of such impoliteness strategies. The results will show that different cultural conceptions of these two groups reflect upon the use of impoliteness strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Impoliteness strategies
• social characteristics
• cultural differences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rosa María Pacheco Baldó

Rosa María Pacheco Baldó is a lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of Alicante. She holds a Ph. D. in English Studies, and she has an additional degree in Cultural Anthropology. Thus, her preferred field of study is pragmatics, with a special interest in comparative linguistic and cultural issues. [email protected]