Interlocutors’ judgment of Lx conventional expressions: An exploratory study

Abstract The present study is a perception study that investigates how French L1 speakers evaluate the speech produced by advanced French Lx users that deviates from the pragmatic norms of the local community. More specifically, this exploratory study investigates how conventional expressions that displayed pragmalinguistic or sociopragmatic deviances affected the raters’ (N = 62) evaluation of perceived communicative effectiveness and perceived likeability of the speakers in imagined intercultural encounters. Results from the study revealed that deviances were generally judged more severely on both evaluative dimensions than the target conventional expressions. Interestingly, however, findings also showed that deviances that partly included the pragmalinguistic or sociopragmatic resources preferred by target community members were evaluated positively. Methodological recommendations to pursue this new line of inquiry in the field of intercultural pragmatics are also discussed.

[1]  Suzie Beaulieu,et al.  I hear you, I see you, I know who you are , 2022, Journal of Second Language Pronunciation.

[2]  Suzie Beaulieu,et al.  Professional Identities of French Lx Economic Immigrants: Perceptions from a Local French-Speaking Community , 2022, Languages.

[3]  Suzie Beaulieu,et al.  Cours de français langue seconde pour personnes immigrantes à Québec : portrait des habiletés orales en fin de parcours , 2021, Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics.

[4]  Yuri Hosoda,et al.  Deployment of the formulaic utterance “how about∼” in task-based second language classroom discussions , 2021, Intercultural Pragmatics.

[5]  I. Kecskés.  Processing implicatures in English as a Lingua Franca communication , 2021 .

[6]  Kazuya Saito.  Multi‐ or Single‐Word Units? The Role of Collocation Use in Comprehensible and Contextually Appropriate Second Language Speech , 2020 .

[7]  Q. Wang,et al.  The effects of Hong Kong L2 English speakers’ phonological features on listeners’ cognitive and affective perceptions , 2019, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics.

[8]  Suzie Beaulieu.  What Is the Target for L2 Learners when Descriptive, Textbook, and Subjective Norms Widely Differ? , 2018, The Canadian Modern Language Review.

[9]  K. Bardovi-Harlig,et al.  The Acquisition of Conventional Expressions as a Pragmalinguistic Resource in Chinese as a Foreign Language , 2018, The Modern Language Journal.

[10]  Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig,et al.  Unconventional Expressions: Productive syntax in the L2 acquisition of formulaic language , 2017 .

[11]  M. Economidou-Kogetsidis.  Variation in evaluations of the (im)politeness of emails from L2 learners and perceptions of the personality of their senders , 2016 .

[12]  Marko Dragojevic,et al.  I Don't Like You Because You're Hard to Understand: The Role of Processing Fluency in the Language Attitudes Process , 2016 .

[13]  Suzie Beaulieu.  Prescriptivism and French L2 instruction , 2016 .

[14]  R. A. V. Compernolle.  Are multilingualism, tolerance of ambiguity, and attitudes toward linguistic variation related? , 2016 .

[15]  I. Kecskés.  How does pragmatic competence develop in bilinguals?† , 2015 .

[16]  Naoko Taguchi,et al.  Production of formulaic expressions in L2 Chinese: A developmental investigation in a study abroad context , 2013 .

[17]  Fanny Forsberg Lundell.  ¿Qué significa ‘pasar por nativo’? Un estudio exploratorio sobre la actuación oral de usuarios muy avanzados de español y francés como segundas lenguas , 2013 .

[18]  Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig,et al.  Developing L2 Pragmatics , 2013 .

[19]  I. Kecskés.  Why do we say what we say the way we say it , 2013 .

[20]  B. Erman,et al.  High-level requests: A study of long residency L2 users of English and French and native speakers , 2012 .

[21]  Jonathan Culpeper,et al.  Conventionalised impoliteness formulae , 2010 .

[22]  I. Kecskés.  Situation-bound utterances as pragmatic acts , 2010 .

[23]  Fanny Forsberg,et al.  Using conventional sequences in L2 French , 2010 .

[24]  K. Bardovi-Harlig.  Conventional Expressions as a Pragmalinguistic Resource: Recognition and Production of Conventional Expressions in L2 Pragmatics , 2009 .

[25]  I. Kecskés.  Dueling contexts: A dynamic model of meaning , 2008 .

[26]  Paul Skandera.  Phraseology and Culture in English , 2007 .

[27]  E. F. Stone-Romero,et al.  Listeners' Cognitive and Affective Reactions to English Speakers with Standard American English and Asian Accents , 2007, Perceptual and Motor Skills.

[28]  F. Boers,et al.  Formulaic sequences and perceived oral proficiency: putting a Lexical Approach to the test , 2006 .

[29]  Stephanie Lindemann,et al.  Koreans, Chinese, or Indians? Attitudes and Ideologies about Non-Native English Speakers in the United States. , 2003 .

[30]  S. Boyd.  Foreign-born Teachers in the Multilingual Classroom in Sweden: The Role of Attitudes to Foreign Accent , 2003 .

[31]  I. Kecskés.  Situation-Bound Utterances in L1 and L2 , 2002 .

[32]  J. Reitz.  Immigrant skill utilization in the Canadian labour market: Implications of human capital research , 2001 .

[33]  Linda Gaylord Piazza.  French Tolerance for Grammatical Errors Made by Americans , 1980 .

[34]  Naoko Taguchi.  RATER VARIATION IN THE ASSESSMENT OF SPEECH ACTS , 2011 .

[35]  B. Hendriks.  An experimental study of native speaker perceptions of non-native request modification in e-mails in English , 2010 .

[36]  Jeffrey L. Herman,et al.  The Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale: Towards a more refined measure for international management research , 2010 .

[37]  B. Warren.  A Model of Idiomaticity , 2005 .