MITIGATING FUNCTIONS OF THE LEXICAL-DISCURSIVE UNIT NO SÉ IN AN ORAL CORPUS OF NORTHEASTERN MEXICO, ES.VAR.ATENUACIÓN

Abstract

This is an exploratory phase of the use of no sé (I do not know) as a mitigation marker in Monterrey PRESEEA corpus and ES.VAR.ATENUACIÓN Monterrey, another corpus. It follows the original classification by form and function with nine interviews: four men and five women, of coincident age and schooling. The diaphasic variety, structure where it shows, compares to its diatopic and diastratic dimensions, in an oral corpus of Northeastern Mexico: Monterrey. Based on Briz and Albelda’s (2013) theoretical-methodological proposal. We search for the mitigating intention, viewed as a minimization of the illocutionary force and the ‘defocusing’ defocalization (Aijmer, 2002) in participants’ enunciation. It is an intentional tactic on the effectiveness / efficiency of discourse for contextual interaction purposes (Briz y Albelda 2013: 292). This approach is related to proposals from other researchers such as Caffi (1999), Fraser (1980, 1990); Meyer-Hermann (1988); Haverkate (1994) y Briz (1995, 1998, 2005 y 2007).