Epistemic (a)Symmetries and Mitigation in the Description of Conversational Markers: The Case of Spanish ¿No?

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between epistemic (a)symmetries and mitigation in three different genres (conversation, interview and monologue) through the study of a specific form: the Spanish discourse maker ¿no? To do so, an analysis combining qualitative and quantitative methods has been carried out. The main results show how the differences in the distribution of the absolute values of ¿no? and its mitigating values across genres may be caused by the type of sequences that compose each genre. As for mitigation and knowledge, five different knowledge configurations have been established. Their distribution shows how mitigation seems to favour specific epistemic configurations, whereas non-mitigating data seem to be clustered around other epistemic figures. Taking into account epistemic configurations has also enabled discovery of two different types of mitigation to protect the speaker's face.

Las funciones interactivas del marcador español ‘¿no?’ Las fronteras entre la atenuación y la protección de la imagen

“…Por último, se ha estudiado la función atenuante de '¿no?' desde una perspectiva intergenérica (Uclés, 2017), diatópica (Uclés, 2018) y en relación con la gestión de los derechos epistémicos (Uclés, 2020).…”