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Abstract

Spanish

This paper reports the analysis of four talks—produced by two speakers in two different group situations—in terms of a set of discourse strategies called Cognitive Manoeuvres (Zammuner, 1981). The analysis aims at defining, in given social and linguistic contexts, to what extent and how speakers organize their talks to achieve certain communicative goals. The talks were produced in two contexts which differed in terms of audience type, level of formality, extent to which participants knew each other and shared goals, as well as in terms of amount of relevant shared knowledge. Results showed that speakers used, to a different degree in the two contexts, such strategies as specifications, repeats, rephrasing, attacks, branching out, stating something conditionally and stressing. However, the use of certain strategies, and their placement within the discourse, were fairly common across contexts—e.g., the explicitation of premises—while for others it was related to individual idiosyncratic preference and ability. The analysis method and the obtained results are presented in relation to the interaction between strategic planning of discourse and social interaction.

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Strategies speakers use to achieve a good communication

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