The Pragmatics of Requests and Apologies: Developmental Patterns of Mexican Students

276 Pages·2011·3.16 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Flores Salgado

The Pragmatics of Requests and Apologies
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University of Würzburg University of Zurich
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University College London Japan Women’s University Georgetown University
Thorstein Fretheim Kuniyoshi Kataoka Paul Osamu Takahara
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University of Trieste Yunxia Zhu
The University of Queensland
Volume 212
The Pragmatics of Requests and Apologies. Developmental patterns of Mexican
students
by Elizabeth Flores Salgado
The Pragmatics of Requests
and Apologies
Developmental patterns of Mexican students
Elizabeth Flores Salgado
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flores Salgado, Elizabeth.
  The pragmatics of requests and apologies : developmental patterns of Mexican students /
Elizabeth Flores Salgado.
       p. cm. (Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, issn 0922-842X ; v. 212)
Thesis (Ph.D.)-Macquarie University, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.  Spanish language--Dialects--Mexico. 2.  Spanish language--Discourse analysis.
3. Dialogue analysis.  I. Title.
PC4831.F56 2011
460.1’45--dc23 2011022401
isbn 978 90 272 5618 8 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 8503 4 (Eb)
© 2011 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
Table of contents
List of tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Introduction 1
chapter 2
Acquisitional issues in pragmatics 5
2.1 Pragmatic competence 5
2.1.1 Communicative competence 5
2.1.2 Defining pragmatic competence 7
2.2 Speech acts 8
2.3 Requests and apologies 11
2.3.1 Requests 11
2.3.2 Apologies 16
2.4 Developmental patterns 20
2.5 Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) 21
2.6 Single-moment studies 22
2.6.1 Research methods 23
2.7 Developmental studies 27
2.7.1 Universal pragmatic principle 27
2.7.2 Developmental studies: Cross-sectional 29
2.7.3 Developmental studies: Longitudinal studies 34
2.8 Pragmatic transfer 37
2.9 Cognitive studies 41
2.10 Conclusion 43
2.11 Research questions and significance of the study 45
vi Developmental patterns of requests and apologies in Mexican students
chapter 3
Methodology 47
3.1 Description of the context 47
3.1.1 Teaching and learning practices 49
3.2 Participants 50
3.3 Instruments 53
3.3.1 Pilot study 54
3.4 Data analysis 57
3.4.1 Requests 57
3.4.2 Apologies 58
3.4.3 Coding 60
3.4.4 Quantitative analysis 61
3.4.5 Qualitative analysis 62
chapter 4
Analysis of results 63
4.1 Requests: Quantitative findings 63
4.1.1 Direct strategies 64
4.1.2 Conventionally indirect strategies 68
4.1.3 Non-conventional indirect strategies 72
4.1.4 Length of requests 76
4.2 Requests: Qualitative analysis 80
4.2.1 Direct strategies 80
4.2.2 Conventional indirect strategies 82
4.2.3 Non-conventional indirect strategies 83
4.2.4 Opt out 84
4.2.5 Follow up requests 84
4.2.6 Length of requests 85
4.2.7 Influence of contextual factors 86
4.3 Internal and external modifiers: Quantitative findings 87
4.3.1 Internal modifiers 88
4.3.2 External modifiers: Alerts 92
4.3.3 External modifiers: Supportive moves 96
4.4 Internal and external modifiers: Qualitative analysis 97
4.4.1 Internal modifiers 100
4.4.2 External modifiers: Alerts 107
4.4.3 External modifiers: Supportive moves 109
4.4.4 Contextual factors 111
4.5 Apologies: Quantitative findings 113
4.5.1 IFID 114
4.5.2 Internal IFID 118
Table of contents vii
4.5.3 Taking on responsibility 122
4.5.4 Explanation or account 126
4.5.5 Offer of repair 130
4.5.6 Promise of forbearance 134
4.5.7 Distracting from the offence 138
4.5.8 Length of apologies 142
4.6 Apologies: Qualitative analysis 146
4.6.1 Expression of apology 146
4.6.2 Statement of remorse 147
4.6.3 Internal IFIDs 149
4.6.4 Taking responsibility 151
4.6.5 Explanation or account 152
4.6.6 Offer of repair 153
4.6.7 Promise of forbearance 153
4.6.8 Distracting from the offence 153
4.6.9 Opt out 154
4.6.10 Length of apologies 155
4.7 Modifiers: Quantitative findings 155
4.7.1 Alerts 155
4.7.2 Modality markers 160
4.8 Modifiers: Qualitative analyses 164
4.8.1 Alerts 164
4.8.2 Modality markers 165
4.8.3 Influence of contextual factors 167
4.9 Combination and sequence of apology strategies 171
chapter 5
Summary of findings 177
5.1 Requests 177
5.1.1 Language learners’ use of request strategies 177
5.1.2 Syntactic patterns 181
5.1.3 Internal modifiers 184
5.1.4 External modifiers 189
5.2 Apologies 193
5.2.1 Taking on responsibility 196
5.2.2 Explanation or account 198
5.2.3 Offer of repair 198
5.3 Opt out and length of requests and apologies 200
5.4 Syntactic and lexical downgraders 201
5.5 Combination and sequence of apology strategies 203
viii Developmental patterns of requests and apologies in Mexican students
chapter 6
Conclusions 205
6.1 Restricted grammatical knowledge does not prevent pragmatic
competence from developing 207
6.2 Available knowledge of grammar is necessary to develop
pragmatic competence 209
6.3 High levels of grammatical competence do not necessarily enable
high levels of pragmatic competence 210
6.4 Limitations and suggestions for further research 214
6.5 Pedagogical implications 215
References 219
Appendix 1 225
Appendix 2 227
Appendix 3 231
Appendix 4 247
Name index 259
Subject index 261
List of tables
Table 1. Situational variation (Requests) 56
Table 2. Situational variation (Apologies) 56
Table 3. Percentages and frequencies (n =) of the three main strategies
for the five groups 63
Table 4. Summary table for the subjects’ use of direct strategies 65
Table 5. Tests of within-subjects contrasts of direct strategies 66
Table 6. Summary table for the subjects’ use of conventionally
indirect strategies 69
Table 7. Tests of within-subjects contrasts of conventionally
indirect strategies 70
Table 8. Summary table for the subjects’ use of non-conventional
indirect strategies 73
Table 9. Tests of within-subjects contrasts of non-conventional
indirect strategies 74
Table 10. Summary table for the subjects’ number of words used
in the requests 77
Table 11. Tests of within-subjects contrasts for the subjects’ number
of words used in the requests 78
Table 12. Percentages (%) and frequencies (n =) of the requests
sub-strategies for the four groups 81
Table 13. Meanings of opting out 84
Table 14. Summary table for the subjects’ number of opting outs used
in the requests 87
Table 15. Raw numbers of internal and external modifiers per request
across all situations for the five groups 88
Table 16. Summary table for the subjects’ use of internal modifiers 89
Table 17. Tests of within-subjects contrasts of internal modifiers 90
Table 18. Summary table for the subjects’ use of alerts 93
Table 19. Tests of within-subjects contrasts of alerts 94
Table 20. Summary table for the subjects’ use of supportive moves 96
Table 21. Tests of within-subjects contrasts of supportive moves 98
Table 22. Distribution of internal modifiers 100
Table 23. Syntactic and lexical downgraders 101
Table 24. Syntactic patterns 102