DOCUMENT RESUME ED 395 517 FL 023 890 AUTHOR Bouton, Lawrence F., Ed.; Kachru, Yamuna, Ed. TITLE Pragmatics and Language Learnin
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. DOCUMENT RESUME ED 395 517 FL 023 890 AUTHOR Bouton, Lawrence F., Ed.; Kachru, Yamuna, Ed. TITLE Pragmatics and Language Learning, Volume 3. INSTITUTION Illinois Univ., Urbana. Div. of English as an International Language. PUB DATE 92 NOTE 242p.; For individual articles or papers, see FL 023 891-904. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Pragmatics and Language Learning; v3 1992 EDRS PRICE MF01/PCIO Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Code Switching (Language); Communicative Competence (Languages); Comparative Analysis; Cultural Traits; Discourse Analysis; English (Second Language); English for Academic Purposes; English for Special Purposes; Error Patterns; Interlanguage; Interpersonal Communication; Language Patterns; Language Research; Latin American Literature; Learning Processes; Linguistic Theory; Native Speakers; Periodicals; *Pragmatics; Regional Dialects; Second Language Learning; *Second Languages; Spanish; Spanish Speaking;, Story Telling; Swahili; Uncommonly Taught Languages; Written Language IDENTIFIERS Apologies; Mexico; *Politeness; South Africa ABSTRACT Monographs on pragmatics and language learning include: "Do We All Apologize the Same?--An Empirical Study on the Act of Apologizing by Spanish Speakers Learning English" (iontserrat Mir); "Conversational Openings in Kiswahili: The Pragmatic Performance of Native and Non-Native Speakers" (Alwiya S. Omar); "Experimental and Observational Data in the Study of Interlanguage Pragmatics" (Beverly S. Hartford, Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig); "The Interpretation of Implicature in English by NNS: Does It Come Automatically--Without Being Explicitly Taught?" (Lawrence F. Bouton); "Linguistic and Pragmatic Competence: Their Relationship in the Overall Competence of the Language Learner" (Sheila Hoffman-Hicks); "Discourse Domains Revisited: Expertise and Investment in Conversation" (Shona Whyte); "Politeness Phenomena in South African Black English" (Elizabeth de Kadt); "Gender and Function of Language Use: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence from Japanese" (Sachiko Ide); "Seeking a Pedagogically Useful Understanding oF. Given-New: An Analysis of Native-Speaker Errors in Written Discourse" (Asha Tickoo); "The Telling of a Tale: Discourse Structure and Tense Use in Learners' Narratives" (Bardovi-Harlig); "Pragmatics of Elusive Languages" (Salikoko S. Mufwene); "The Pragmatics of Codeswitching in Mexican Political, Literary, and News Magazines" (Erica McClure); "Modality as a Strategy in Interaction: Epistemic Modality in the Language of Native and Non-Native Speakers of English" (Elise Karkainen); and "Pragmatics of the Use of Nominals in Academic and Professional Genres" (Vijay K. Bhatia). (MSE) ---- NOD GIP II to. L a o $ is $ 0 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educahonal Research and Improvement HAS BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIOI leCENTER (ERIC) -ir\C . his dOCument has been reproduced as ecemed from the person or organization AVIY°-"*411fatik- originating it O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy NMI/ "rer111414r0.2A1111,10/11.- 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Pragmatics and Language Learning Monograph Series PURPOSE AND SCOPE Pragmatics and Language Learning consists of papers selected each year from those presented at the annual conference sponsored by the Division of English as an Inter- national Language and the Intensive English Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The general theme of this conference each year is on the inter- action of pragmatics (including discourse analysis and conversation analysis) with the teaching and/or learning of a second or foreign language (especially English) in either formal or informal surroundings. Individual papers may be focused on any of the following or related topics. 1. the contribution of pragmatics to our understanding of what we mean by communicative competence 2. research into specific facets of English discourse 3. contrastive pragmatics 4. analysis of the discourse patterns found in the language classroom The purpose of both the conference and this monograph series is to seme as a forum for research into the pragmatics of the language learning process and to encourage the interaction of scholars involved in pragmatics and in language pedagogy in a common effort to increase the level of communicative competence achieved in the language classroom. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Pragmatics and Language Learning is published once each year in the spring. Cop- ies can be obtained at a cost of $10.00 each by writing to: Editors Pragmatics and Language Learning DEIL University of Illinois 3070 Foreign Languages Building 707 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, Illinois 61801 U.S.A. 3 Pragmatics and Language Learning Volume 3 1992 Editors Lawrence F. Bouton and Yamuna Kachru Published by Division of English as an International Language Intensive English Institute University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Copyright1992 .4 Pragmatics and Language Learning Monograph Series Volume 3 1992 CONTENTS i Introduction 1 Do We All Apologize the Same? -- An Empirical Study on the Act of Apologizing by Spanish Speakers Learning English, Montserrat Mir 20 Conversational Openings in Kiswahili: The Pragmatic Performance of Native and Non-native Speakers, Alwiya S. Omar 33 Experimental and Observational Data in the Study of Interlanguage Prag- matics, Beverly S. Hartford and Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig 53 The Interpretation of Implicature in English by NNS: Does It Come Automatically -- Without Being Explicitly Taught? Lawrence F. Bouton 66 Linguistic and Pragmatic Competence: Their Relationship in the Overall Competence of the Language Learner,. Sheila Hoffman-Hicks 81 Discourse Domains Revisited: Expertise and Investment in Conversation, Shona Whyte 103 Politeness Phenomena in South African Black English, Elizabeth de Kadt 117 Gender and Function of Language Use: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence from Japanese, Sachiko Ide 130 Seeking a Pedagogically Useful Understanding of Given-New An Analysis of Native-Speaker Errors in Written Discourse, Asha Tickoo 144 The Telling of a Tale: Discourse Structure and Tense Use in Learners' Narratives, Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig 162 Pragmatics of Elusive Languages, Salikoko S. Mufwene 182 The Pragmatics of Codeswitching in Mexican Political, Literary and News Magazines, Erica McClure 197 Modality as a Strategy in Interaction: Epistemic Modality in the Lan- guage of Native and Non-native Speakers of English, Elise Keirkainen 217 Pragmatics of the Use of Nominals in Academic and Professional Genres, Vijay K. Bhatia INTRODUCTION Volume 3 of the Pragmatics and Language Learning monograph series be- gins with two papers comparing speech acts in English with those of others cultures. First, Mir, in "Do We All Apologize the Same? -- an Empirical Study on the Act of Apologizing by Spanish Speakers Learning English," looks at apologies as they are performed by speakers of peninsular Spanish and American English.Citing the work of Owen, Blum-Kulka, Olshtain, Cohen, and Trosberg as the basis for her own, Mir sets out to answer two main questions: 1)whether the apology strategies used by the native speakers of these two languages are culture-specific or whether they are common to speakers of both languages and are governed instead by thesitu- ation in which an apology might occur, and 2) whether native speakers ofSpaniil tend to intensify English apologies more than the American NS do. In the process, she also attempts to discover to what extent the pragmatic competence associated with the native language of a second language learner interferes with that person's developing pragmatic competence in the target language. Her conclusions: thatthe specific apology strategies that occur in different circumstances and the frequency with which they are used tend to be language specific, but that certain contextual factors such as the age of the victim and the severity of the offense tend to affectthe apologies in the same way in both cultures, thus suggesting that some facets of apology are cross-cultural if not universal. All of this, she argueseffectively, means that more attention needs to be paid to the details of the context within which com- munication takes place as we prepare students to communicate in a secondlanguage. Omar also demonstrates the impact of the language learner's nativepragmatic competence on his/her second language use. In her paper,"Conversational Open- ings in Kiswahili: The Pragmatic Performance of Native and Non-native,"Omar notes significant differences between conversation openers inKiswahili and in American English, especially in the number and types of turns devoted tothe proc- ess, the speed with which those turns are"recycled," and how the relative age of the pirticipants affects the role of each. Using various examples, Omar notes the types of pragmatic failure found in the attempts by American English speakers totake part in Kiswahili conversation openings, suggests that the skillsneeded to overcome these failures seem to develop in essentially the same order from onelearner to another, she also notes that truly native-like proficiency wasachieved only by those of her subjects who had had "some exposure to the target languageenvironment." Hartford and Bardovi-Harlig's "Experimental and ObservationalData in the Study of