Mitigating devices: A comparative study between generations of the corpus “El habla de Monterrey”

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to compare and contrast the linguistic mitigating devices three different generations of speakers from Monterrey, Mexico, use when performing an assertive act. The research is part of the interinstitutional project El habla de Monterrey-preseea (Rodríguez Alfano, 2012). Firstly, the mitigating act will be studied using different theoretical approaches. A list of mitigating strategies, which has been adapted from previous frames (Albelda Marco and Cestero Mancera, 2011; Briz, 2010), will then be provided. This list can be useful for the understanding and study of how affiliation face appears. In this study, affiliation face is defined as the desire to be accepted by a group. It also shows what linguistic mitigating devices the three generational groups preferred to use when mitigating an assertive act. The investigation is primarily a pragmalinguistic analysis of a corpus composed of oral semi-formal interviews of Mexican Spanish speakers from Monterrey, Mexico.