A study investigated the linguistic behavior of three groups of speakers in reacting to accusatory complaints: (1) native speakers of Italian residing in Italy (SI); (2) native speakers of Canadian English residing in Toronto (CE); and (3) speakers of Italian residing in Toronto, first-generation immigrants, defined as speakers of Italian as a community language (ICL). The resulting description of linguistic and pragmatic behavior of the SI and CE was then used to explain the ICL speakers' possible patterns of divergence from the native norms of Italy, and possible patterns of convergence toward the norms of their adopted country. Speakers' performance was analyzed in terms of positive or negative face- orientation, as well as a number of variables, including social distance and dominance and weak or strong face threat of the complaint. Implications for research on speech act behavior are examined, and new procedures for collecting and analyzing speech act data are suggested, with the goal of understanding the relationship between the preferred or dispreferred status of the second components of an adjacency pair, and the face-orientation of a given speech community. Contains 39 references. (Author/MSE)