ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to discuss some distinctive sociolinguistic characteristics of the European Mediterranean. The Mediterranean countries are those that are surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea; consequently the Mediterranean region represents the crossroads between the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. This chapter will restrict the discussion to a specific part of this larger area – the European Mediterranean – and will focus more specifically on Spain, Italy and Greece. These European countries are positioned at the heart of the Mediterranean area and, as will become clear in the course of this chapter, have much in common: culturally, politically, linguistically and sociolinguistically. This area differs from the main Anglo-Western model in various respects. More
precisely, I will focus on the issues of politeness and gender, since these stand out due to their deviancy. For a better understanding of the following discussion, a short outline of the sociolinguistic background of Spain, Italy and Greece is presented.
