ABSTRACT OF PHD THESIS, Author: Edoardo Natale

This study describes an analysis of the speech act of disagreement, in a sociopragmatics perspective, with the aim of establishing the cultural differences between Italian-speaking and French-speakers. I choose the disagreement as a prominent feature because it allows to analyze the linguistic politeness inside of a corpus of Italian and French television interviews.
The research is composed of a first part focuses on the exploration of various methodological models useful for the investigation of the linguistic phenomenon of disagreement, while the second part of the thesis concerns the analysis of the disagreement reported in the elected corpus. The analysis, conducted in accordance with the principles of sociopragmatics of Spencer-Oatey and Jiang, using the model of linguistic politeness by Brown and Levinson, with the grafts of Kebrat-Orecchioni, within an approach with the work of etnopragmatics (Duranti), highlights some differences in the realization of French and Italian speakers disagreement between speakers. These differences are attributable, according to the perspective adopted in this research, a different ethos in the two communities of speakers.
The ethos of the French would allow construction of more severe or aggravated disagreement is used as the linguistic structures that are not perceived as detrimental to the positive face of the speaker, in contrast Italian speakers in the production of the disagreement is almost always a threat to face upward, especially for their skills and \ or psychological identity. These results seem to adhere to a notion of ethos based on consideration and non-consideration by the Italian speakers, in which the linguistic politeness move from respect or no-respect for the interpersonal relationship with the approval or denial of interpersonal reality of the speaker. Instead, the ethos of the French seem to want to show a tendency to candor and to "engagement" through the emotional involvement of the speaker during the verbal exchange showing a greater willingness in terms of interactional rights between speakers.