Cover not available

Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 37:1 (2024) ► pp.233–263

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

¿Acercamiento solidario vs. distanciamiento respetuoso?

La percepción del acto de habla de invitación por hablantes españoles e ingleses

ORCiD logo with link | Universidad de Jaén

Article language: Spanish

Published online: 19 December 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.21036.fer
Resumen
A partir de un análisis inicial sobre la naturaleza del acto de habla de invitación y sus relaciones con la (des)cortesía, el presente trabajo contrasta la percepción que hablantes españoles e ingleses tienen sobre dicho acto de habla, con el objetivo de determinar si existen patrones de variación cultural y, en su caso, también de variación social, en este sentido. El análisis, que combina metodología cuantitativa y cualitativa, parte de las respuestas a un cuestionario por 240 informantes (cuidadosamente seleccionados conforme a su procedencia geográfica, edad, sexo y formación académica), a quienes se les muestran dos variantes de un diálogo con una secuencia invitación–rechazo justificado–insistencia en la invitación. Los resultados obtenidos confirman la esperable existencia de diferencias culturales, si bien solo parcialmente coincidentes con los perfiles tradicionalmente descritos por la bibliografía especializada, además de la presencia de parámetros bastante definidos de variación social, tanto transculturales como específicos de una u otra cultura.
Abstract
Solidarity approach vs. respectful distance? The perception of the speech act of invitation by Spanish and English speakers
Starting from an initial analysis on the nature of the speech act of invitation and its relationships with (im)politeness, this paper contrasts the perception that Spanish and English speakers have of such a speech act. The aim pursued is that of determining whether there are patterns of cultural variation –and, if this is the case, also of social variation– in this sense. The analysis combines quantitative and qualitative methodology and is based on the answers to a questionnaire by 240 informants (carefully selected according to their geographical origin, age, sex and academic training) who were shown two variants of a dialogue with a sequence invitation–justified rejection–insistence on the invitation. The results obtained confirm the expected existence of cultural differences, although only partially coincident with the profiles traditionally described in the specialized bibliography, in addition to the presence of fairly clearly defined parameters of social variation, both cross-cultural and specific to one or the other culture.
Article outline
  • 1.Introducción y objetivos
  • 2.Marco teórico
    • 2.1La invitación y la (des)cortesía
    • 2.2Variación cultural y variación social
    • 2.3La invitación en hablantes españoles e ingleses
    • 2.4La teoría de la gestión interrelacional
  • 3.Metodología
  • 4.Presentación de los resultados
  • 5.Análisis de los resultados
  • 6.Discusión
  • 7.Conclusiones
  • Notas
  • Referencias bibliográficas
References (62)
Referencias bibliográficas
Bach, K., & Harnish, R. M. (1979). Linguistic Communicaction and Speech Acts. The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ballesteros Martín, F. J. (2001). La cortesía española frente a la cortesía inglesa. Estudio pragmalingüístico de las exhortaciones impositivas. Estudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense, 91, 171–207.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barros García, M. J. (2010). Actos de habla y cortesía valorizadora: las invitaciones. Tonos Digital, 191.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bella, S. (2009). Invitations and politeness in Greek: The age variable. Journal of Politeness Research, 51, 243–271. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bravo, D. (1999). ¿Imagen positiva vs. imagen negativa? Pragmática socio-cultural y componentes de face. Oralia, 21, 155–184.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Sobre la cortesía lingüística, estratégica y conversacional en español. Oralia, 41, 299–314. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). The implications of studying politeness in Spanish-speaking contexts: a discussion (Las implicaciones del estudio de la cortesía en contextos del español: una discusión). Pragmatics, 181, 577–603.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Briz, A. (2007). Para un análisis semántico, pragmático y sociopragmático de la cortesía atenuadora en España y América. Lingüística Española Actual, 291, 5–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1978). Universals in language usage: politeness phenomena. In E. N. Goody (Ed.), Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction (pp. 56–311). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1987). Politeness. Some Universals in Language Use. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Contreras Hernández, J. (2008). Test de hábitos sociales en un análisis contrastivo sobre el uso y la interpretación de la cortesía lingüística. In A. Briz et al. (Eds.), Cortesía y conversación: de lo escrito a lo oral. III Coloquio internacional del Programa Edice (pp. 643–651). Universidad de Valencia y Programa Edice.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Culpeper, J. (1996). Towards an anatomy of impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 251, 349–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Impoliteness. Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). (Im)politeness: Three issues. Journal of Pragmatics, 441, 1128–1133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eslami, Z. R. (2005). Invitations in Persian and English: Ostensible or genuine? Intercultural Pragmatics, 21, 453–480. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fernández García, F. (2016a). Hacia un análisis de la variación cultural, social y situacional en la percepción de la (des)cortesía. In A. M. Bañón Hernández, M. M. Espejo Muriel, B. Herrero Muñoz-Cobo, & J. L. López Cruces (Eds.), Oralidad y análisis del discurso (pp. 223–238). Universidad de Almería.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016b). Bases teóricas para un estudio transcultural y variacionista de la (des)cortesía. Estudios de Lingüística. Universidad de Alicante, 301, 79–100. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). ‘Your hair looks great’: Variación cultural, social y situacional en el uso del halago. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación, 851, 21–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2022). Desacuerdo y (des)cortesía en hablantes españoles e ingleses: un análisis de variación pragmática. Oralia, 251, 7–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fernández García, F., & Sánchez Morillas, C. M. ª. (2021). Spanish vs. English disagreement: An analysis of cultural and situational variation. Estudios de Lingüística. Universidad de Alicante, 351, 93–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
García, C. (2008). Different realizations of solidarity politeness. Comparing Venezuelan and Argetinean invitations. In K. P. Schneider & A. Barron (Eds.), Variational Pragmatics (pp. 269–305). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hancher, M. (1979). The classification of cooperative illocutionary acts. Language in Society, 81, 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haverkate, H. (2003). El análisis de la cortesía comunicativa: categorización pragmalingüística de la cultura española. In D. Bravo (Ed.), Primer Coloquio del Programa EDICE. La perspectiva no etnocentrista de la cortesía: identidad sociocultural de las comunidades hispanohablantes (pp. 60–70). Universidad de Estocolmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1994). La cortesía verbal. Estudio pragmalingüístico. Gredos.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernández Flores, N. (2002). La cortesía en la conversación española de familiares y amigos. La búsqueda de equilibrio entre la imagen del hablante y la imagen del destinatario. Institut for Sprog og Internationale Kulturstudier, vol. 371.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003a). Cortesía y contextos socioculturales en la conversación de familiares y amigos. In D. Bravo (Ed.), Primer Coloquio del Programa EDICE. La perspectiva no etnocentrista de la cortesía: identidad sociocultural de las comunidades hispanohablantes (pp. 121–127). Universidad de Estocolmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003b): “Los test de hábitos sociales y su uso en el estudio de la cortesía: una introducción”. In D. Bravo (Ed.), Primer Coloquio del Programa EDICE. La perspectiva no etnocentrista de la cortesía: identidad sociocultural de las comunidades hispanohablantes (pp. 186–197). Universidad de Estocolmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Politeness as face enhancement. An analysis of Spanish conversations between friends and family. In R. Márquez Reiter & M. E. Placencia (Eds.), Current Trends in the Pragmatics of Spanish (pp. 265–284). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernández López, M., & Placencia, M. E. (2004). Modos de conducir las relaciones interpersonales en interacciones de atención al público: el caso de las farmacias en Sevilla y Londres. Estudios de Lingüística. Universidad de Alicante, 181, 129–150. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holmes, J. (1995). Women, Men and Politeness. Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (3rd edn.). Pearson. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kádár, D. Z., & Haugh, M. (2013). Understanding Politeness. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kecskes, I. (2015). Intercultural impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 861, 43–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, R. (1973). The Logic of Politeness, or Minding your P’s and Q’s. Proceedings of the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 345–356.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Locher, M. A., & Watts, R. J. (2005). Politeness Theory and Relational Work. Journal of Politeness Research, 11, 9–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Makri-Tsilipakou, M. (2001). Congratulations and bravo! In A. Bayraktaroğlu & M. Sifianou (Eds.), Linguistic Politeness across Boundaries: The Case of Greek and Turkish (pp. 137–178). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Margutti, P., Tainio, L., Drew, P., & Traverso, V. (2018). Invitations and responses across different languages: Observations on the feasibility and relevance of a cross-linguistic comparative perspective on the study of actions. Journal of Pragmatics, 1251, 52–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Márquez Reiter, R. (2002). A contrastive study of conventional indirectness in Spanish. Evidence from Peninsular and Uruguayan Spanish. Pragmatics, 121, 135–151.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mills, S. (2003). Gender and Politeness. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mills, S., y D. Z. Kádár. (2011). Politeness and culture. In D. Z. Kádár & S. Mills (Eds.), Politeness in East Asia (pp. 21–44). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nazari, B. (2014). The Contrastive Analysis of the of the Speech Act of Invitation Between English and Farsi. US-China Foreign Language, 121, 655–661.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pérez Hernández, L. (2001). The directive-comisive continuum. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 231, 77–98.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz de Zarobe, L. (2000–2001). Estrategias de invitación en español e imagen social de los hablantes: un estudio empírico. Pragmalingüística, 8–91, 261–278. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). El acto de habla ‘invitación’ en español y en francés: análisis comparativo de la cortesía. Revista Española de Lingüística, 341, 421–454.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Pragmática. Los actos de habla. Octaedro.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, K. P. (2012). Appropriate behaviour across varieties of English. Journal of Pragmatics, 441, 1022–1037. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1976). A Classification of Illocutionary Acts. Language in Society, 51, 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sifianou, M. (1992). Politeness Phenomena in England and Greece. A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2002). Managing rapport in talk: Using rapport sensitive incidents to explore the motivational concerns underlying the management of relations. Journal of Pragmatics, 341, 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). (Im)Politeness, face and perceptions of rapport: unpackaging their bases and interrelationships. Journal of Politeness Research, 11, 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Theories of identity and the analysis of face. Journal of Pragmatics, 391, 639–656. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Face, (Im)Politeness and Rapport. In H. Spencer-Oatey (Ed.), Culturally Speaking. Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory (pp. 11–47). Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stewart, M. (2005). Politeness in Britain: ‘It’s Only a Suggestion…’. In L. Hickey & M. Stewart (Eds.), Politeness in Europe (pp. 116–128). Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suzuki, T. (2015). How Politeness is Controlled in Invitations, Their Acceptances and Refusals in English: A Case Study in the U.K. The Cultural Review (Waseda Commercial Studies Association), 471, 69–87.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsui, A. B. M. (1994). English Conversation. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watts, R. J. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (1987). English Speech Act Verbs. Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Cross-Cultural Pragmatics. The Semantics of Human Interaction (2nd edn.). Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Elena Shorokhova & Palma Peña-Jiménez
2025. Invitations in Spanish and Russian communicative cultures: Sociocultural context and politeness strategies. Russian Journal of Linguistics 29:2 ► pp. 362 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue