Resumen de Making a request and responding to it: A case study of Peruvian Spanish speakers
This article examines the strategies used by male and female Peruvian Spanish speakers when participating in two speech events: making a request for a service and responding to it. In addition, it looks at cross-gender similarities and/or differences.
In classifying the strategies used by Peruvian speakers the analysis uses both Blum-Kulka et al.'s (1989) model, differentiating between head acts and supporting moves, as well as Brown and Levinson's (1978) framework of politeness strategies.
The analysis showed that the strategies used by Peruvian Spanish speakers when making a request showed a marked preference for the expression of deference over camaraderie. However, when responding to the request they preferred the establishment of camaraderie with the interlocutor. It also showed that although there were some differences between male and female participation, this difference was not statistically significant.
Although the results cannot be generalized to all Spanish speakers, the results should prove helpful in understanding the preferred rules of language use of Peruvian Spanish speakers.
