Le risposte non gradite: strategie pragmatiche nel rifiuto di apprendenti ispanofoni di italiano L2

This exploratory study is concerned with the production of refusals by Hispanic learners of Italian as L2. The research investigates the order and the semantic formulas of the strategies employed in refusals in relation to the level of proficiency of the learners. The relationships in terms of power and distance of participants have been also considered as affecting factors in the realization of politeness strategies. Results suggest that there is a high degree of interlanguage variation in the use of and preference for refusal strategies among learners: despite the indirect strategies for the majority of non-native speakers be the dominant mode in all the analyzed situations, the number of direct strategies seems to vary in relation to the context and the distance perceived in the specific situations.