Linguistic Choices and Cultural Values in the Interactional Construction of Brazilians’ and Italians’ Requests

Abstract

Requests can be considered “basic social acts”, used in various contexts in everyday life. The premise here is the assumption that the illocutionary force of requests is constructed in interactional moves, which define the linguistic activity mingling conventionality and intentionality. Analyzing interactions can help understand these moves, especially when languages and cultures are compared. To this end, 40 role-plays recorded by Brazilians and Italians controlling the variables of social distance, age, degree of imposition were investigated. The transcriptions were coded to verify how the interactional sequences are constructed and what elements they are constituted of. Similarities were observed in the main linguistic choices that determine the construction of the interactional sequence in both languages, as well as differences, mainly regarding the type of contact established with the interlocutor, based on different cultural values: empathy in the case of Brazilians, and respect for other people’s territory in the case of Italians.