Abstract:
To date, little research on pragmatic transfer has considered a multilingual situation where there is an interaction among three different languages spoken by one person. Of interest was whether pragmatic transfer of refusals among three languages spoken by the same person occurs from L1 and L2 to L3, L1 to L2 and then to L3 or from L1 and L1 (if there are more than one L1) to L2. This study aimed to investigate the production of refusals in three languages and to specify the impact of linguistic knowledge on pragmatic transfer of refusals. To this end, 161 participants in 5groups filled out a Discourse Completion Test (DCT). Data was coded and analyzed according to semantic formula sequences. The data obtained from Kurdish learners of English who were also fluent in Farsi (Trilinguals) were compared with those in other four groups: 1)Native English speakers; 2)Monolingual speakers in Farsi; 3) Monolingual speakers in Kurdish; and 4) Bilingual Farsi learners of English. The results revealed that pragmatic transfer exists in choice and content of semantic formulae. It was also found that the sociocultural norms of English, Farsi, and Kurdish languages differ with respects to the refusal speech act and that individuals’ social power and relative distance play a critical role in performing such a speech act. This research suggests that, in spite of the norm differences existing among these languages, transfer of refusals mostly occurs from Kurdish as L1but not from L2 (Farsi) to L3 (English).
Machine summary:
Many studies (Barron, 2002; Berns, 1990; Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989; Eslami-rasekh, Eslami- rasekh, & Fatahi, 2004; Koike, 1996; Nakamura, 2005; Palma Fahey, 2005; Esmaeili, 2015; Shishavan & Sharifian, 2016) were carried out to examine different facets of this issue.
Transferability of speech acts has moreover become a center of excellence to research cross-cultural training due to their relationship with politeness strategies (see Akbari, 2002; Felix-Brasdefer, 2006; House & Kasper, 1981; Koike, 1989).
In BabaeiShishavan and Sharifian’s (2016) study entitled “The refusal speech act in a cross-cultural perspective: A study of Iranian English-language learners and Anglo-Australian speakers”, the findings revealed that both groups of participants more frequently adopted indirect strategies while addressing interlocutors of higher social power.
sig (2 sided) Pearson chi-square Phi The results of the Chi-square tests for Kurdish and English speakers in three social statuses (low, high, and equal) showed that there was no significant difference among these two groups when employing explanation/reason for rejecting requests of an interlocutor in equal and high status.
Comparing the results of Chi-square among Farsi and English speakers, the researchers found no significant difference between these two groups in different social statuses for declining requests and these two languages similarly made use of explanation/reason in other situations.
This study was a new trend in cross cultural studies in the case of trilingual EFL learners who had mastered three languages; however, because of being non-native speakers and thus little opportunity for interaction might not have had the chance of acquiring knowledge on refusal strategies and, more specifically, of semantic formulae or the rules to appropriately produce them.