Interlanguage Pragmatics in Greek as a Foreign Language by Spanish/Catalan Bilinguals: An Analysis of Requests
[eng] The speech act of requests has been widely investigated in the field of Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) throughout the years (i.e., Alcón Soler et al., 2005, Barón, 2015; Cohen & Shively, 2007; Martínez-Flor, 2003; Taguchi, 2006), due to its highly face-threatening nature (Vilar & Martí...
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| Formato: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/222961 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/222961 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/695161 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Pragmàtica (Lingüística) Interferència (Lingüística) Bilingüisme Grec modern Actes de parla (Lingüística) Pragmatics Interference (Linguistics) Bilingualism Modern Greek language Speech acts (Linguistics) |
| Resumo: | [eng] The speech act of requests has been widely investigated in the field of Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) throughout the years (i.e., Alcón Soler et al., 2005, Barón, 2015; Cohen & Shively, 2007; Martínez-Flor, 2003; Taguchi, 2006), due to its highly face-threatening nature (Vilar & Martínez-Flor, 2008) and strong connection with politeness and cross-cultural differences (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Blum-Kulka et al., 1989; Brown & Levinson, 1987; Ishihara & Cohen, 2021). Despite the growing body of research on L2 English requests by native speakers of Greek in recent years (i.e., Economidou-Kogetsidis, 2012; 2018; 2022), little attention has been given to the acquisition of requests in Greek as a Foreign Language (FL), with only a few studies existing to date (Bella 2012a, 2012b, 2014a). In order to fill this gap in the field, the present dissertation intends to analyze the acquisition of requests in L2 Greek by Spanish/Catalan bilinguals. First, it aims to analyze the role of proficiency in their use of requests across a variety of contexts. Second, it examines the use of requests by L2 Greek learners in informal and formal communicative situations, characterized by different social parameters (-/+social power and - /+social distance). Lastly, it explores pragmatic transfer from a learner's L1 to their L2 in requesting behavior regarding the use of address forms in Greek (informal versus formal form of ‘you’). Thus, the theoretical foundations of this dissertation revolve around ILP, the speech act of requests, requests in Greek, and pragmatic transfer. The participants of this study were 54 (n = 54) adult learners of Greek (NNS), enrolled in language courses at two schools in Barcelona, Spain, with proficiency levels ranging from A2 to C1, as per the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001). Additionally, a group of native speakers of Greek (NS) (n = 53) was included to provide a baseline for comparison. Data was gathered through role plays with varying degrees of social parameters (-/+social power and -/+social distance). A background questionnaire was administered to the NNS to obtain information about their language profile, time learning Greek, previous experience with the language, and motivations for learning Greek. Moreover, retrospective verbal reports were conducted to provide insights into their perceptions of familiarity, prior experience, and level of difficulty of each scenario presented in the role plays. The data were then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, adapting Bella’s (2012a, 2012b) categorizations of Greek requests and modifications. Results have revealed no statistically significant differences between the NS and NNS in the types of requests, although several differences were observed in the qualitative analysis in some scenarios. Conversely, statistically significant differences were obtained regarding the use of modifications across various scenarios. The aforementioned divergences appeared to stem from the varying social parameters inherent to each context, which seemed to influence the NNS’s choice of requests and mitigation devices. Proficiency appeared to affect the type and amount of modifiers, both external and internal, revealing notable differences among groups based on the specific context, with advanced learners performing more in line with native-speaker norms. Findings revealed that the NNS struggled more when using requests and mitigation devices in formal contexts, showing a lack of sociopragmatic competence. Additionally, statistically significant differences were also found between the NS and NNS in the use of address forms when making requests in three particular scenarios. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications of these findings for teaching L2 learners to use requests in Greek appropriately across communicative situations, while adhering to Greek politeness standards. This study lays the groundwork for future research on cross-linguistic pragmatics within this underexplored combination of languages and promotes further investigation into request strategies across various linguistic contexts. |
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