Abstract
This paper analyzes the strategies used by a group of Argentinean participants when refusing an invitation. It identifies their preferred politeness strategies, and attempts to uncover the underlying perspectives that make up their culture within the context examined. The analysis incorporates Brown and Levinson's (1987) model of politeness and Blum-Kulka et al's (1989) distinction between head acts and supporting moves. More importantly, it takes into account 'the discourse context discourse organization and conversational management [...] (Kasper 2000: 201) to describe the overall politeness system expressed. Results show invitees preferring to balance their expression of respect and friendliness when refusing. They used strategies that threatened their own face with more strength than the interlocutor's (i.e., the inviter), specifically their negative face. All these strategies contributed to the maintenance of their vinculo (Fitch 1998) with the interlocutor.
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