An examination of mitigating devices in the argument interactions of L2 Spanish learners

•The article examines mitigation devices in arguments of L2 Spanish learners.•Data was obtained from spontaneous speech generated from several dyads.•The study reveals that advanced learners do not approximate native speakers.•Learners’ arguments were felicitous but employed mitigation and indirect speech in minimal degrees.

The present study investigates the use of mitigation and indirectness in argument discourse produced in an institutional setting by Spanish learners (L2). For the study, advanced-level L2 Spanish learners and native Spanish speakers completed a conversational protocol that was designed to elicit arguments as the participants discussed problems and concerns related to the university they attended. Among the mitigating devices examined are the use of parenthetical verbs, hedges, pauses, tag questions, challenge questions, and discourse markers. Results obtained from the analysis reveal differences between the learners and the native speakers in the repertoire of mitigating devices and indirect speech strategies employed by each group. Overall, the learners exhibited redundant uses of devices while native speakers employed a variety of devices which in many instances co-occurred with other strategies. Nonetheless, pragmatic violations in the use of mitigation and indirect speech that adversely affected learners’ arguments were not detected.