Repetition and Reduction. Two Contrastive Characters of Politeness Formulas in a Gender Perspective
The Case of the Italian cià cià and Similar Expressions
abstract
This study is about politeness formulas as a class of fixed expressions and, in particular, it analyses the coexistence of two opposing phenomena – namely repetition and phonetic reduced variants – which contrasts with the typical stability and immutability of formulaic aspects in spoken communication. These aspects are discussed using the method of correlational sociolinguistics with reference to language and gender. The data show that men tend to use politeness formulas affected by repetition and reduction more than women. This tends to support the thesis according to which men are more exposed to linguistic variation and innovation while women would tend to a conservativeness and a tradition of the forms.
Keywords: Politeness Formulas • Innovativeness • Ciao • Spoken Communication • Reduction • Repetition • Conservativeness • Gender Studies