Reflections about the use of compliments as a speech act

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to reflect about compliments as a speech act. It is important to know the linguistic and functional aspects that compliments involve as they give valuable information of a culture. The reflection proposed in this article is divided into two main parts. The first one aims at describing the compliments and their linguistic forms. The second part involves some considerations of the use of compliments in the context of Medellín (Colombia). It is useful to know the functions, characteristics, and strategies of compliment in order to apply research studies.

Keywords

• pragmatic analysis
• politeness
• compliments