Dissension and Face-Work Strategies in German Dialogues

Dissension in German discussions and the Face-work strategies (Goffman 1967, 1986; Brown/Levinson, 1978, 1987) used for expressing them are identified and analyzed in the study. Dissension, defined as a propositional attitude of the speaker's disagreement is deemed to be highly threatening to the social image of an individual and is to be uttered using specific Face-work strategies and/or a higher degree of redress for the social image.