The compliment formula

Abstract

An analysis of six hundred and eighty-six compliments gathered through observation of everyday interactions reveals that compliments in American English are formulaic in nature. The semantic, syntactic and discourse features of the compliment formula are examined, as well as the fact that the formulaic nature of compliments is not explicitly recognized by native speakers. A consideration of the role of compliments in interactions shows that both the existence of a formula and its lack of recognition are, in fact, functional.