Exploring request strategies in Austrian Italian learners: Pragmatic transfer insights

Abstract

Instant-message requests produced by intermediate learners (N = 60) of Italian as a second language (L2) with Austrian German as their first language (L1) were quantitatively analyzed and compared with the same speech acts performed by L1 speakers of Italian (N = 60). A cross-cultural comparison of requests in L1 Austrian German and L1 Italian was conducted firstly to verify whether any divergent trends in the two groups could be attributed to negative pragmatic transfer from the learners' L1. Cross-linguistic data were gathered through a multiple-choice questionnaire, L1 and L2 data through a discourse completion task. The analysis revealed minimal differences between L1 speakers of Italian and Austrian German in perceiving the most appropriate way to structure the request in terms of directness level and use of face-saving strategies. A substantial alignment of learners’ realizations with those of L1 speakers was found in the overall structuring of the request, except that L1 speakers exhibited a stronger tendency to apologize. As for the use of modifiers, small differences were found in the total number as well as in the preference for some types over others. The findings suggest that any effects of transfer from L1 Austrian German to L2 Italian are generally positive.