Transition relevant places and overlapping in (Spanish and English) conversational etiquette

Abstract

Henk Haverkate distinguished two categories of metalinguistic politeness: Malinowski's phatic communion; and conversational etiquette. According to this scholar, conversational etiquette is based on three maxims: 'No hables gri tando ni susurrando, no interrumpas al que esta hablando y presta atencion a lo que dice tu interlocutor.' Undoubtedly, these maxims of conversational etiquette convey politeness since politeness is essentially the avoidance of friction in communication. In his elaboration of conversational etiquette, Haverkate quoted Fraser and Nolen, who had previously noted that attitudes such as interrupting or not listening are intrinsically impolite. Indeed, Haverkate's conversational etiquette is quite similar to Fraser and Nolen's conversational contract, which these authors defined as the rights and duties of participants in verbal interaction. They further suggested that interlocutors can only be truly polite if they comply with the conversational contract. More recently, Milagros Del Saz has viewed the conversational contract as the chief factor determining 'las directrices basicas de lo que sera la interaccion'. Del Saz concludes: 'ser cortes consiste simplemente en cumplir las pautas exigidas por el contrato conversacional y no es razon para violar el CP de Grice.