Refusals in Moroccan Arabic and American English

This study investigated refusals of forty Korean speakers in Korea (KSKs) and thirty-seven American English speakers in the USA (AEAs). Subjects' refusals were collected using a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) taken from Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss-Weltz (1990). Data were analyzed in terms of semantic formula sequences and were categorized according to the refusal taxonomy by Beebe et al. (1990). Results indicated that although a similar range of refusal strategies were available to the two language groups, cross-cultural variation was evident in the frequency and content of semantic formulas used by each language group in relation to the contextual variables, which include the status of interlocutors (i. e., higher, equal, lower status) and eliciting acts (i. e., requests, invitations, offers, suggestions). For instance, Korean speakers hesitated more frequently and used direct refusal formulas much less frequently than did English speakers. Thus, Korean speakers' refusals at times sounded less transparent and more tentative than those of English speakers. In addition, Korean speakers frequently paused and apologized before refusing, while English speakers often stated positive opinion and expressed gratitude for a proposed action. Further, the two language groups differed in terms of the types of reasons used in their refusals; Korean speakers typically used reasons (e. g., referring to a father's 60 th birthday when refusing a boss's invitation), which were not found in the English data. Evidence also suggested that Korean speakers tended to take a more mitigating approach in dealing with a higher status person as compared to other status types, whereas English speakers did not seem to be particularly sensitive to one status versus another in their refusals across the different situations. These differences in Korean and English refusals may cause pragmatic failure when Korean learners of English rely on their native culture-specific refusal strategies in int

The speech act of disagreement is one of the areas of research that has not received much attention in the Iranian context. The focus of this study is to investigate the ways in which this act is expressed by Persian EFL learners and American native English speakers. To collect the data 140 participants (100 Persian EFL learners and 40 American native English speakers) were selected randomly from among undergraduate and graduate students of University of Isfahan and Islamic Azad University (Najafabad branch) majored in English and from Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This study is an attempt to find out the role that power might play in the employment of strategies to mitigate the threat of the act of disagreement in two nations. Students were asked to complete a discourse completion test (DCT) designed by the researcher. They were supposed to read nine situations, and react to them via making disagreements. Respondents were expected to disagree with three interlocutors with higher status, three peers and three with lower status. In order to analyze the utterances of disagreement, Muntigl and Turnbull’s taxonomy (1998) was employed. The results revealed that although both nationalities were concerned about the power status of interlocutors and try to apply the appropriate strategies while expressing their disagreements, Persian EFL learners were more cautious.

The retrospective (final‐particle) use of so and but (Thanks, but.) is documented in Irish English, but not in American English, which only has the prospective (final‐hanging) use (I could scream, but …). American English (AmE) speakers are expected to have communication difficulty in understanding the retrospective use of so and but. Interestingly, however, our questionnaire survey indicated a partially contradictory result: some AmE speakers were able to arrive at the retrospective‐scope interpretation of final so and but. To gain a more in‐depth understanding of how AmE speakers interpret such final‐particle uses, we conducted a qualitative analysis using data obtained from semi‐structured interviews with AmE speakers.

Sociophonetic analysis of vowel production was completed to evaluate regional vowel variation in African American English. Previous research has established robust regional variation in White American English. Similar robust variation in African American English has not been observed. This study evaluated vowels produced by thirty-two male participants, African American and White American English speaking males (sixteen per socio-ethnic group) living in two distant and distinct dialect regions in North Carolina. Read speech data were collected and acoustically analyzed for participation in the Southern Vowel Shift, back vowel fronting, and the African American Shift, three regional and socio-ethnic vowel change phenomena currently occurring throughout the United States. Results revealed regional similarity in the production of front vowels across socio-ethic group membership, with White American English speakers and African American English speakers living in the same community producing front vowels in a similar manner. Socio-ethnic alignment in vowel production was observed for the White American English speaking males who are participating in back vowel fronting. African American English speaking males are not. African American English speaking males are participating in the African American Shift. The impact of these findings is discussed in relation to exemplar theories of speech production.

Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: Comparing Refusal Patterns between Native speakers of British English (NS) And Non-native speaker Saudi’s (NNS) who study in the UK

The development of speech-act theory has provided the hearers with a better understanding of what speakers intend to perform in the act of communication. One type of speech act is apologizing. When an action or utterance has resulted in an offense, the offender needs to apologize. In the present study, an attempt was made to compare the apology strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners and those of English native speakers in order to find out the possible differences and similarities. To this end, a discourse completion test (DCT) was given to 100 male and female Iranian EFL learners and English native speakers. The respondents were supposed to complete the DCTs based on nine situations, which varied in terms of power between the interlocutors and level of imposition. This study employed Cohen and Olshtain's (1981) model to classify various types of apology strategies. The obtained results revealed some similarities along with some (statistically insignificant) differences between EFL learners and American English speakers in terms of their use of apology strategies. Furthermore, it was found that the illocutionary force indicating devices (IFIDs), such as request for forgiveness and an offer of apology were the strategies mostly employed by the Iranian EFL learners while taking on responsibility such as explicit self-blame, and expression of self-deficiency were found to be the strategies mostly used by English native speakers. In terms of gender, the male and female respondents more or less used the same apology strategies in response to the situations. The findings of the present research can be used by language teachers as well as sociolinguists. Keywords: Speech act theory, Speech act of apology, Apology strategies, Iranian EFL learners, English Native speakers, Gender

This study assesses speech convergence between white American English (AE) speakers and black Nigerian English (NE) speakers. Most studies base convergence on speech shadowing, but this study investigates convergence in real-life conversations. Eighty utterances were analysed with PRAAT. The utterances were selected from interactions between two AE speakers and two NE speakers, and from separate interactions between the two Americans and between the two Nigerians respectively. Their fundamental frequency (F0) and duration values were subjected to a t-test. Results showed that the F0 of utterances made by the two blacks while they interacted with the whites were significantly different (p < 0.05) from the F0 of their speech with each other. Conversely, there was no significant difference between the F0 of the speech the whites made during their interaction with the blacks and the F0 of their speech with each other. Furthermore, fifteen NE speakers were used to assess the extent of convergence in whites; more of them understood the utterances of the white person that has socialised longer with Nigerians; the F0 of his speech also had higher probability. The study concludes that socialisation aids speech convergence, while F0 is a cue for predicting interlocutors’ degree of socialisation.

This study investigates the discrimination and categorization of two German /r/ allophones—the uvular fricative [R’] and the uvular trill [R]—by experienced and naive American English (AE) speakers. Two groups of AE speakers participated in a categorization experiment followed by a discrimination experiment. Preliminary results suggest that experienced AE speakers perceive both variants predominantly as a German /r/ sound, followed by an English /r/ sound. Inexperienced AE speakers also predominantly perceive both variants as a foreign /r/; however, their second most frequent selection during the experiment was “no category,” reflecting their inability to categorize the two variants. These results suggest a qualitative perception difference between the two groups. The experiment also revealed no significant categorization difference between the two types of /r/ allophones. The results of the discrimination experiment revealed that both groups of AE speakers performed equally well on average; however, the standard deviation of percent correct scores is greater for inexperienced AE participants than experienced AE participants. The obtained results will be discussed in relation to existing second language acquisition models.

The purpose of this study was to expand on the earlier work of Chen et al. (2001a) by comparing the acoustic vowel spaces for speakers of Mandarin-accented English (MAE) and speakers of American English (AE). Three vowels that are phonetically equivalent in both the Mandarin and English languages (/i, u, /) and three AE vowels not found in the Mandarin language (/I, , /) were acoustically measured for the first formant (F1) and second formant (F2) frequencies. On the basis of F1 versus F2 plots, estimates of acoustic vowel space were made for MAE and AE speakers. It was hypothesized that AE and MAE speakers would show no differences in vowel space area for production of equivalent vowels; however, vowel space area would differ significantly for production of nonequivalent vowels. Results obtained for speakers of MAE indicated a significantly smaller vowel space area for the vowels /i, u, / compared to AE speakers. On the other hand, the vowels /I, , /were produced by the MAE speakers with a significantly larger vowel space area compared to the AE speakers. The combined results suggest a generalized lack of acoustic differentiation between the vowels /i, u, / compared to /I, , / as produced by speakers articulaof MAE. The reason for this pattern appears to result from L1 influencing the establishment of /I, , / in the MAE inventory.

The German /r/ sound is one of the most difficult sounds for American English (AE) speakers learning German as a foreign language. Part of this difficulty may be due to its rich phonetic variation. The standard German /r/ variant [R] and dialectal variant [R′] are achieved by varying the tongue constriction degree while keeping place of articulation constant [Schiller and Mooshammer (1995)]. The close articulatory proximity of these allophones provides an opportunity for testing the relationship between perception and production in L2 sound acquisition. The aim of this study is to investigate how well experienced AE speakers and naive AE speakers can discriminate and produce the difference between the uvular fricative [R] versus the uvular trill [R′]. Two groups of AE subjects who participated in an imitation study were prompted to produce single words beginning with either [R] or [R′]. Subjects also participated in a discrimination and categorization test. Preliminary results suggest that inexperienced AE can discriminate [R] versus [R′] well. They often perceive the sounds as /h/ and are more successful at producing [R′] than [R]. Experienced speakers also discriminate the two sounds well, perceive both sounds as the German /r/ and struggle more with producing [R′] than [R].

Communication breakdowns can occur during cross-cultural communication due to different perceptions and interpretations of appropriateness and politeness. This study investigates similarities and differences between refusals in American English and Thai and incidences of pragmatic transfer by Thai EFL learners when making refusals. The participants of the study include Thai and American native speakers and EFL learners. All of them are graduate students. The data were collected by means of a discourse completion test (DCT) which was designed on the basis of interviews carried out with a view to possible situations for refusals. EFL data for refusals were compared with similar data elicited from native speakers of American English and Thai. Results indicate that overall all three groups share most of the refusal strategies and that pragmatic transfer exists in the choice and content of refusal strategies. Awareness of a person of a higher status and the characteristics of being modest in L1 culture motivate pragmatic transfer. Language proficiency is also an important factor in pragmatic transfer. In making refusals, EFL learners with lower English proficiency translate from L1 to L2 because of their lack of L2 pragmatic knowledge.

This study explores how American English and Peninsular Spanish speakers respond to a compliment. Participants completed an online discourse completion test with nine different complimenting scenarios. A total of 14 different strategies for responding to a compliment were found in the data. Based on verbal reports on language use, it was found that Peninsular Spanish speakers do not compliment as often as American English speakers do. The data analysis also revealed that both language groups clearly prefer to accept a compliment, but whereas American English speakers regard a simple ‘thank you’ as an appropriate compliment response, Peninsular Spanish speakers prefer to agree with the complimented assertion by making a semantically fitted comment. Other differences include the importance of returning a compliment in American English and the need to scale down the illocutionary force of the compliment among Peninsular Spanish speakers.

The purpose of this study was to determine possible differences in voice onset time (VOT) between speakers of standard American English (AE) and Indian English (IE) in a continuous speech context. The participants were 20 AE speakers, who were native to the Northeastern Pennsylvania region, and 20 IE speakers from the Indian subcontinent who had been residing in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Each subject read a phonetically balanced passage in a comfortable and natural speaking voice, and the recordings were analysed using a combination of waveform and spectrographic analyses. Results indicate that a reduced +VOT appears to characterise IE accent in comparison to AE. In addition, a difference in VOT between genders was observed in AE speakers but not in IE speakers.

Vocal tract steadiness reflected by measurement of fluctuation of the second formant frequency is reported for vowel production of Mandarin-accented English (MAE). Fluctuations of the second formant frequency for the 11 English vowels (/i ɪ e ɛ æ ʌ u ʊ o ɔ ɑ/) were examined in the syllable-level productions of 40 Mandarin speakers compared to 40 American English (AE) speakers. Results of the comparative analysis indicate that the pattern of vocal tract steadiness of MAE speakers is generally different in comparison to AE speakers. The discrepancy of vocal tract steadiness between MAE and AE speakers are interpreted as the probable outcome of brain reorganization in adult L2 learning. In addition, discussions of likely gender dimorphism in brain reorganization in L2 learning are provided in view of the opposite patterns of vocal tract steadiness demonstrated by MAE females and males, in comparison to their AE counterparts.

This article attempts to compare aspects of discourse and sociolinguistic competence among speakers of American English (AE) and Tunisian learners of English with regard to the communicative act of compliment response (CR). The two participant groups’ CR strategies were found to be cross-culturally different and were found to be dependent on the participants’ respective cultural backgrounds. In addition, the data collected emphasize the fact that cross-cultural communication is a transactional mutual process and that both native and nonnative speakers of English are equally required to adjust their communicative behaviors to develop intercultural communication. The 30 American students and 30 Tunisian students filled a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) with 8 contextualized situations and sat after that for a semistructured interview. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for analysis.