Linguistische Arbeiten, vol. 457: Dissension and face-work strategies in German dialogues

Dissension, defined as a propositional attitude of the speaker's disagreement is classified into four categories according to its scope. Its occurrences in German discussions were analyzed according to their linguistic expressions and 'Face-work'. No specific linguistic means for expressing Dissension was found, although most cases display semantically negative lexical components. 38 Face-work strategies were defined based on Brown/Levinson (1978, 1987). Linguistic elements from many word classes as well as devices such as Deixis manipulation were used for Face-work purposes. Introduction 1. Theoretical base 1.1. Dissension 1.1.1. Studies about Dissension 1.1.2. The Concept of Dissension 1.2. The Concept of Face 1.2.1. Grice and the Conversational Maxims 1.2.2. Sperber/Wilson: The Principle of Relevance 1.2.3. Robin Lakoff: The Rules of Politeness 1.2.4. Erving Goffman and the concept of Face 1.3. Face-Work 1.3.1. Brown/Levinson: Politeness strategies 1.3.2. Leech and the Principle of Politeness 1.3.3. The concepts of Face-work and Politeness 1.3.4. . Selection of Face-Work Strategies 1.3.5. Linguistic realization of Face-work strategies 1.4. Dissension and Face-work 1.4.1. Dissension as a potential threat to the Face 1.4.2. Dissension and Face-work strategies 2. Methodology 2.1. Corpus 2.1.1. Definition of the corpus 2.1.2. Corpus description 2.1.3. Dialogue description 2.2. Procedures 2.2.1. Occurrence collecting 2.2.2. Classification of occurrences 2.2.3. Face-work strategies 2.2.4. Linguistic realization of Face-work strategies in Dissensions 3. Occurrences analyses and discussion 3.1. Occurrence frequency of the Dissension categories 3.2. Dissension and Face-work strategies 4. Dissension off-record 4.1. Give hints to associations 4.2. Be ironical 4.3. Be vague 4.4. Exaggerate 4.5. Off-record strategies in Dissensions and their linguistic realization 5. Direct Dissension 5.1. On-record strategies in Dissensions and their linguistic realizatio 5.2. Linguistic realizations of Direct Dissension as found in the corpus 5.3. Direct Dissension, without redressive action 6. Direct Dissension with positive redress 6.1. Avoid disagreement 6.1.1. Issue a token agreement 6.1.2. Relativize the interlocutor’s opinion 6.2. Seek agreement: relativize your own opinion 6.2.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “seek agreement” 6.3. Create/presuppose common points 6.3.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “create/presuppose common points” 6.4. Intensify the interest: approximate the interlocutor 6.4.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “intensify the interest: approximate the interlocutor” 6.5. Make jokes 6.5.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “make jokes” 6.6. Use in-group markers 6.6.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “use in-group markers” 6.7. Give (or ask for) reasons 6.7.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “give (or ask for) reasons” 6.8. Include speaker and interlocutor in the activity: administrate personal Deixis 6.9. Be optimistic 6.9.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “be optimistic” 6.10. Linguistic realizations of positive redress strategies in Dissensions as found in the corpus 7. Direct Dissension with Negative Redress 7.1. Use conventionalized forms 7.1.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “use conventionalized forms” 7.2. Relativize your own opinion 7.2.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “relativize your own opinion” 7.3. Avoid statements: ask questions 7.3.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “avoid statements: ask questions” 7.4. Administrate the degree of reality 7.4.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “administrate the degree of reality” 7.5. Minimize the imposition 7.5.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “Minimize the imposition” 7.6. Show deference 7.6.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “show deference” 7.7. Personal withdrawal 7.7.1. Impersonalize: administrate the personal Deixis 7.7.2. Appeal to authority/objectivity 7.7.3. Evoke general rules 7.7.4. Defocus the participants 7.8. Epistemic withdrawal: use Modalverben 7.8.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “epistemic withdrawal: use Modalverben” 7.9. Temporal withdrawal: administrate temporal Deixis 7.10. Show reluctance 7.10.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “show reluctance” 7.11. Apologize 7.11.1. Linguistic realization of the strategy “apologize” 7.12. Linguistic realizations of negative redress strategies in Dissensions as found in the corpus 7.13. Use of off-record strategies as auxiliaries in direct Dissensions 7.13.1. Give hints for associations 7.13.2. Use rhetorical questions 7.13.3. Be ironic 7.13.4. Be incomplete 7.13.5. Exaggerate 7.13.6. Use metaphors 7.13.7. Be vague 7.13.8. Linguistic realization of off-record strategies in direct Dissensions 8. Interpretation of the Results 8.1. Use of Face-work strategies in expressing Dissension 8.2. Redress strategies and Dissension 8.2.1. Strategies for positive redress 8.2.2. Strategies for negative redress 8.3. Categories of Dissension and Face-work 8.3.1. Dissension referring to linguistic expression 8.3.2. Dissension referring to part of a proposition 8.3.3. Dissension referring to the whole of the proposition 8.3.4. Dissension referring to the course of the interaction 9. Final considerations 10. Appendix Bibliography Dissension in German discussions and the Face-work strategies (Goffman 1967, 1986; Brown/Levinson, 1978, 1987) used for expressing them are identified and analyzed in the study. Dissension, defined as a propositional attitude of the speaker's disagreement is deemed to be highly threatening to the social image of an individual and is to be uttered using specific Face-work strategies and/or a higher degree of redress for the social image. After a discussion of the concepts 'Dissension' and 'Face-work', the corpus and methodology, the results of an analysis of about eight hours of recorded conversation and about 370 occurrences of Dissension are presented. According to their scope, they were classified into four categories, which proved relevant for the set of 38 Face-work strategies found to express them, as well as the elements employed in their linguistic expression. No specific linguistic means for expressing Dissension was found, although most cases display semantically negative lexical components. Linguistic elements from many word classes as well as devices such as Deixis manipulation were used for Face-work. The results are also interpreted in regard to the relationship between Dissension, its different categories and the several strategies used to express them. An appendix presents all occurrences of Dissension found in the corpus as well as a detailed examination of their categories and linguistic forms, Face-work strategies and linguistic means used to convey them. Over the past few decades, the book series Linguistische Arbeiten [Linguistic Studies], comprising over 500 volumes, has made a significant contribution to the development of linguistic theory both in Germany and internationally. The series will continue to deliver new impulses for research and maintain the central insight of linguistics that progress can only be made in acquiring new knowledge about human languages both synchronically and diachronically by closely combining empirical and theoretical analyses. To this end, we invite submission of high-quality linguistic studies from all the central areas of general linguistics and the linguistics of individual languages which address topical questions, discuss new data and advance the development of linguistic theory. 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