Abstract
The present study aimed at exploring the strategies of disagreement and hedging devices used by native speakers of English. The study elicited the informants’ reactions when disagreeing with higher, equal, and lower status. The responses were analyzed using Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness model and Hyland’s (1998) hedging taxonomy. Discourse completion test data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed that native speakers of American English used positive politeness strategies considerably with higher and equal status interlocutors (father, teacher, and friends). The respondents were concerned with saving their interlocutors’ positive face regardless of their social distance and power. The only significant difference, in terms of strategy selection, was identified in highly face-threatening contexts (accusation), where the informants opted for bald on record politeness strategies because of the seriousness of the interlocutor’s (supervisor) claims (plagiarism). The data showed also that native speakers relied on hedges considerably to mitigate their disagreements.
Highlights
A native speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue was confined to acquiring the grammar and vocabulary of the language or what is referred to as grammatical competence
The present study aimed at exploring the strategies of disagreement and hedging devices used by native speakers of English
The findings revealed that native speakers of American English used positive politeness strategies considerably with higher and equal status interlocutors
Summary
A native speaker’s knowledge of his mother tongue was confined to acquiring the grammar and vocabulary of the language or what is referred to as grammatical competence. Thanks to this competence, the native speaker successfully produces infinite sentences. The shift of interest from grammatical competence to sociolinguistic and pragmatic competence has not been ad-hoc It has been rather dictated by the serious trouble speakers of a foreign language encounter due to the lack of sociolinguistic and cultural awareness that most often results in pragmatic failure. The acquisition of socio-cultural rules is crucial to language learners
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