ABSTRACT
Several linguistic devices and strategies that contribute to attenuation or linguistic mitigation are exemplified and discussed in detail in Chapter 4. The kernel of this chapter also explains how researchers can detect and analyze linguistic features that point to an attenuated expression. The chapter examines several types of discourse, and it presents data generated from spontaneous interactions. In particular, it discusses several mitigating devices and strategies such as impersonal constructions, the omission of referents, syntactic constructions, epistemic disclaimers, the use of parenthetical verbs, the morphological diminutive -ito, deictic expressions, cajolers, prosodic features, proverbial sayings, and metaphoric-related expressions. The stressors that motivate speakers to attenuate are also explained, and the chapter points to how mitigation has been confused with politeness. The excerpts presented in this chapter point to other societal ideologies and group affiliations that fuel the need to attenuate and mediate the expression of mitigation.
