A theoretical and methodological proposal to study the linguistic attenuation in Spanish and Portuguese. Basis for a common project

This paper provides and explains a data sheet to analyse the attenuation from a sociolinguistic and pragmatic point of view. The theoretical and methodological basis are established to create a common project to study the attenuation in the different varieties of Spanish and Portuguese (ES.POR.ATENUACION). The data sheet results from preliminary research based on a discursive corpus analysis and it proposes solutions for problems the analyst may face when recognising attenuation devices, especially those that come from situational factors. This present project aims at achieving homogeneity among the researchers in the pragmatic attenuation analysis, both qualitative and quantitative. Once particular analysis are carried out, we will focus on comparative and contrastive studies.