When Native Speakers Meet Non-Native Speakers: A Case Study of Foreigner Talk

Abstract

This study was triggered by speech modification in English overseas Chinese students encounter and find puzzling. Foreigner talk (FT) is such a type of modified speech used by native speakers (NSs) in their communication with non-native speakers (NNSs) in the form of linguistic simplification and foreigner-directed communication strategies. Based on a case study between Canadian and Chinese students, this study investigated FT through natural NS-NNS conversations and surveyed participants’ views on FT. The findings go beyond illustrating the features of FT in phonology, lexicon, syntax and discourse to unfold native and non-native speakers’ opposing views on FT, a conflict caused by NSs’ and NNSs’ different communicative goals based on communication accommodation theory (CAT), a sociolinguistic framework. This study is significant because a good understanding of this conflict, understudied by existing FT research, is vital to arousing NSs’ and NNSs’ awareness of each other’s attitudes towards FT to promote mutual understanding for effective NS-NNS communication.