COMPLIMENT

RESPONSES ACROSS

GENDER
CHRISTIAN ALFARO - SOFIA ESPINOSA - DIEGO SANTACRUZ
 INTRODUCTION
This paper deals with the study of responding to
compliments. The research is conducted to find the way
respondents employ compliment and its response strategies
for topics of appearance, possession and skill or ability. This
research was carried out by means of interviews and the
use of DCT (Discourse Completion Task) with four
situational settings. .
 CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
-The relationship between language and society as well as
its complexity.
-Address interactions that include some kind of emotional
intentions.
-Possible causes that motivate women and men to act and
response to particular situations.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study and analysis of compliments since each
person applies different tools when complimenting
others.
Teachers, students, and researchers will know what is
involved in the process of complimenting and the
reasons behind it.
RESEARCH QUESTION
-Central Question

What are the similarities and differences between male and female
students of the English and French and English and Spanish program
from the University of Nariño when responding to compliments?
OBJECTIVES
-General Objective

To understand the similarities and differences in the

strategies male and female students of the University of
Nariño use when responding to compliments.
CHAPTER II : LITERATURE REVIEW
-Theoretical Framework
Language plays an important role in people’s daily life
as a means of communication. People transmit their
ideas, feelings, opinions, ambitions, willing, or
intentions, and they will have an effect on the
listener.
SPEECH ACTS
People, as social beings need to communicate with each other
not only to present information but also to carry out actions.
How to do things with words. Speech acts include all the acts
we do while speaking, such as inviting, suggesting, refusing,
complementing, greeting, and so on.

Austin (1962)
AUSTIN’S LINGUISTIC THEORY
3 kind of acts:

-Locutionary: saying something.

-Illocutionary: what one does in saying it (purpose/ inform).
-Perlocutionary: what one does by saying it (persuade).
SPEECH ACT OF COMPLIMENT
COMPLIMENT:
A spontaneous expression of admiration and or approval.
Wolfson, (1983)

A speech act which attributes credit to someone other than the speaker,
usually the person addressed, for some good. (Possession, characteristic,
skill, etc.).
Holmes, (1988:446)

It may also be regarded as a face-threatening act (FTA).

Brown and Levinson, (1987:247)
ASPECTS OF COMPLIMENTS
-Topic of Appearance: personal
appearance and possession.
-Topic of Ability: general and
specific.
FUNCTIONS OF THE COMPLIMENT
-To express admiration or approval of someone’s work, appearance, taste (Manes,
1983; Herbert, 1990).

-To establish, confirm, maintain solidarity (Manes & Wolfson, 1981).

-To soften replace greetings, gratitude, apologies, congratulations (Wolfson,1981).

-To soften face threatening act such as apologies, requests and criticism (Brown &
Levinson, 1978).

-To open and sustain conversation, conversation strategy (Wolfson,1981).

-To reinforce desired behavior (Manes, 1983).

COMPLIMENT RESPONSES BY HERBERT,
(1986)
-Appreciation Token
-Comment acceptance
-Praise Upgrade
-Comment History
-Reassignment
-Return
-Scale Down
-Question
-Disagreement
-Qualification
-No Acknowledgment
-Request Interpretation
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH PARADIGM
Qualitative Research

SETTING OF THE RESEARCH

University of Nariño, Las Acacias.

SAMPLE
6 undergraduate students, half female; half male (English and French/ English and Spanish program).

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS: Interviews

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

- Selection of the appropriate situations for the interview
-Classification based on Herbert’s classification of compliment response.
-Analyzing differences between males and females in complimenting and responding.

ANALYSIS OF DATA
4 situations
 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

- SELECTION OF THE APPROPRIATE SITUATIONS FOR THE

INTERVIEW.
-SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS
-DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERVIEW
-CLASSIFICATION OF DATA BASED ON HERBERT’S
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPLIMENT RESPONSE.
-ANALYZING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES IN
COMPLIMENTING AND RESPONDING.
 ANALYSIS OF DATA
SITUATION 1:
TOPIC: ABILITY
YOU HAVE JUST FINISHED PRESENTING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER. AT THE END OF THE CLASS (WHEN
YOU WERE JUST LEAVING THE CLASSROOM), YOUR TEACHER SAYS: “YOU DID AN
EXCELLENT JOB! I REALLY ENJOYED YOUR PRESENTATION”.

Strategy Frecuency among Strategy Frecuency

males among females

Appreciation token 3 Appreciation token 3

Comment acceptance 1 Comment acceptance 1

 ANALYSIS OF DATA
SITUATION 2:
TOPIC: APPEARANCE
YOUR FRIENDS HAVE ORGANIZED A PARTY TO CELEBRATE THE END OF THE SEMESTER. YOU
HAVE DRESSED UP FOR THE PARTY. AS YOU ARRIVE AT THE PARTY ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS SAYS: ´´
HEY, YOU LOOK GREAT¡´´ YOU ARE REALLY HANDSOME/BEAUTIFUL TODAY.

Strategy Frecuency among males Strategy Frecuency among

Appreciation token 3 females

Return 2 Appreciation token 3

No acknowledgment 2 Return 2

Praise upgrade 1 Question 1

Praise upgrade 1
Comment acceptance 1
´´ … EVEN IF I DON’T LIKE THE DRESS, OR THE SHOES, OR THE
HAIR OF MY FRIEND, IF SHE GIVES ME A COMPLIMENT
ABOUT MY APPEARANCE, IT IS VERY LIKELY THAT I WILL GIVE
A COMPLIMENT BACK TO HER… IT IS THE TYPE OF BEHAVIOR
THAT IS SOCIALLY EXPECTED… IT IS MORE ABOUT BEING
POLITE THAN ABOUT BEING SINCERE ALL THE TIME.´´
 ANALYSIS OF DATA
SITUATION 3
TOPIC: CARÁCTER
YOU HAVE HELPED YOUR FRIENDS- A COUPLE- TO LOOK AFTER THEIR CHILD FOR WHOLE DAY AT
YOUR PLACE. WHEN THEY COME TO PICK UP THAT CHILD, THEY SAY:´´ THANK YOU, YOU ARE
REALLY HELPFUL, PATIENT AND CARING´´.

strategy Frecuency among males

Disagreement 3
Comment acceptance 3

strategy Frecuency among females

disagreement 3
Comment acceptance 3
``… I FEEL VERY FLATTERED WHEN SOMEONE OF THE
OPPOSITE SEX TELLS ME THAT I LOOK GOOD. MEN TEND TO
BE MORE SINCERE IN THAT SENSE AND IF YOU MANAGE TO
CAPTURE THEIR ATTENTION IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE TRULY
BEAUTIFUL… WHEN A WOMAN TELLS YOU A COMPLIMENT,
IT IS NOT ALWAYS WITH GOOD INTENTIONS. SOMETIMES
THEY SAY IT WITH ENVY OR BAD THOUGHTS.´´
 ANALYSIS OF DATA
SITUATION 4:
TOPIC: POSSESSION
YOU HAVE BOUGHT A NEW MOBILE PHONE. WHEN YOU RECEIVE A CALL, YOUR FRIEND NOTICES
THAT YOUR PHONE IS A DIFFERENT ONE. HAVING LOOKED AT IT AND TRIED SOME FUNCTIONS,
S/HE SAYS: ´´ WOW, HOW SMART¡ MY PHONE DOES NOT HAVE SUCH FUNCTIONS. IT IS REALLY
GREAT¡

Strategy Frecuency among males strategy Frecuency among

females
Appreciation token 3
Appreciation token 3
Comment acceptance 3
Comment acceptance 3
Qualification 1 request 1
Request strategies 1 Comment history 1
 CONCLUSIONS
Speech acts have different functions in different situations.
The results from this research cannot be generalized.

ADDITIONAL CONCLUSIONS
-Both men and women use appreciation token and comment acceptance the most over
the 4 situations.
-They see appreciation token as the quickest way to acknowledge a compliment and to
pass that awkward moment.
-In what concerns compliments about character, both genres use disagreement and
comment acceptance at the most.
-Female participants have a high tendency to agree with compliments in order to show
politeness and solidarity.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
AUSTIN, J. L. (1962). HOW TO DO THINGS WITH WORDS. OXFORD: CLARENDON PRESS.

BROWN, P & LEVINSON, S.C. (1987). POLITENESS: SOME PRINCIPLE IN LANGUAGE USE. CAMBRIDGE:
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

HERBERT, K (1986). SAY “THANK YOU” OR SOMETHING. AMERICAN SPEECH, 61(1), 76-88. (1990). SEX-
BASED DIFFERENCES IN COMPLIMENT BEHAVIOR. LANGUAGE IN SOCIETY, VOL. 19,201-224

MANES, J. (1983) ‘COMPLIMENTS: A MIRROR OF CULTURAL VALUES’, IN WOLFSON, N. AND JUDD, E.

(EDS.) SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION ( ROWLEY, MA: NEWBURY HOUSE ) PP. 96–102.

WOLFSON, N. (1983) ‘AN EMPIRICALLY BASED ANALYSIS OF COMPLIMENTING IN AMERICAN ENGLISH’,

IN WOLFSON, N. AND JUDD, E. (EDS.) SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION ( ROWLEY, MA:
NEWBURY HOUSE ) PP. 82–95.