A Comparative Analysis of Politeness in First Encounter Conversations in British English Film and Peninsular Spanish Film

Abstract

This paper aims at analysing the phenomenon of politeness in British English and Peninsular Spanish in the first encounter conversations between strangers taking into consideration power and distance, where relevant. I attempted to demonstrate the differences in two cultures as Spaniards are thought to be more direct, while the British seem to be deeply concerned about non-imposition. The data for the analysis were taken from to films: Love Actually (British English) and Va a ser que nadie es perfecto (Peninsular Spanish), which were analysed applying Brown and Levinson’s framework. The results supported my hypotheses that most of the strategies used by Spaniards were those of positive politeness, while the British employed negative politeness strategies. However, the number of positive politeness examples found in British English conversations and negative politeness strategies as well as many instances of bald on record technique (which were claimed to be inappropriate and almost absent) used by Spaniards revealed new tendencies in the use of politeness in Peninsular Spanish and British English cultures.