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9781412934633-Chap-28 1/10/09 8:58 AM Page 423

STRATEGIC MODEL OF ADDRESS 423

As indicated above, negotiation strategies In the negotiated plane, address forms
can be successful or unsuccessful. If success- cannot be ranked according to conventional-
ful (that is, if the hearer recognizes that the ized considerations of formality or status, as
speaker is attempting to negotiate a new rela- a form’s interpretation can become separated
tionship and signals agreement by using a from its conventionalized meaning. Thus, the
new form or by not signaling displeasure at pragmatic or semantic interpretation of forms
the use of the new form), the relationship (as T or V) changes according to their use.
moves to Stage 2. If not, the speakers con- The analogy of an accordion helps visualize
tinue to use the conventionalized form(s). the negotiation process. Imagining Figure
However, even when the address pattern is 28.3 as a box, the two left and two right
unchanged, a cognitive difference exists rela- columns are part of the fixed structure, and
tive to Stage 1: speakers need not evaluate there are markings along the side correspon-
the factors to determine the form. Instead, ding to the conventionalized interpretation of
they retrieve from memory the form previ- the forms. The list of forms is the accordion,
ously used. Here, to simplify the representa- placed so that the accordion expands and
tion, an arrow is merely drawn back to the contracts horizontally within the box. As the
conventionalized plane. As the outward accordion is played (as the negotiation
address pattern would be the same, this sim- process takes place), compression and
plification does not grossly distort the expansion take place. During compression,
communicative picture. forms normally separated by great distance
Even if speakers are receptive to the use of are brought together, symbolizing the fact
forms which do not draw attention to status that people can negotiate the use of a form
differential, they are not obliged to respond whose conventional interpretation is more
positively to the attempts at (re)negotiation ‘intimate’ than the speakers’ social status dif-
proposed by others, and there are verbal and ferential might indicate. Conversely, people
nonverbal cues that speakers use to commu- with a very close relationship may never
nicate their desire to maintain the address ‘play’ the accordion, preferring forms whose
status quo. Thus, underlying Stages 1 and 2 conventionalized interpretation is more dis-
is another layer of analysis, which includes tant than their relationship would appear to
the strategies that native speakers use to ‘merit’.
determine the status of a stranger and thus be Below this layer of strategies lies a third,
guided to an appropriate first form. These comprised of the factors and motivations
strategies surely vary from culture to culture, shaping the decision-making process. More
but there are undoubtedly some commonali- specifically, this level includes the personal-
ties. In the box below the strategies is the list ity, societal and familial socialization
of forms, ranked according to the degree of processes, identity construction and conver-
formality or intimacy of their conventional- sational goals, consideration of face needs,
ized interpretation, the least formal appear- etc., all of which will ultimately determine
ing first. Figure 28.2 presents the strategic the types of strategies speakers will use
level of the interaction on the socially con- and the pool of forms from which selections
ventionalized plane, with sample strategies are made. Evidence that differentiated pools
from European Portuguese. Figure 28.3 of forms exist comes from the informants,
presents the negotiated plane, in parallel who state that certain forms, such as
fashion. While most readers are unlikely to ‘senhora dona FN’, sound ‘too heavy’ and
absorb the details related to Portuguese, they do not use them. If true (informants are
hopefully the precision of description will not always reliable in recounting usage),
help in an overall understanding of the types such forms are simply not in their personal
of information and detail which might be address form pool, despite being in that of
included in studies of other languages. others.