Teaching the pragmatics of English as an international language: A focus on pragmatic markers

The current era of globalization and emergence of English as an international language (EIL) has brought about new opportunities for L2 pragmatic learning and teaching. The common view of pragmatic learning as an approximation to native-likeness is changing towards conceiving pragmatic ability as a tool to interact with people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the majority of whom are non-native speakers (NNSs) of English. While such reality is widely acknowledged, few attempts have been made to teach pragmatic competence in EIL. Addressing this concern, the present study investigates the effects that a pedagogical intervention on EIL pragmatics has on the oral use of pragmatic markers (PMs): a key tool for successful communication in the current increasingly multicultural and multilingual society. Seventy-three Spanish EFL students were divided into an instructional ( n = 34) and a control group ( n = 39). The instructional group received 4 interventional sessions that included (1) awareness of the legitimacy of EIL, (2) meta-pragmatic awareness of pragmatic behavior across the world, (3) task-supported instruction on PMs, and (4) strategy-based instruction. Pragmatic competence was assessed by students’ use of PMs in oral academic presentations. The results revealed that the instructional group had more significant changes in the frequency and variety of PMs used than the control one, as they widened the repertoire of PMs uttered in their academic presentations. These findings project the future of pragmatic instruction in EIL and provide directions for reorienting the EIL curriculum towards the integration of L2 pragmatics.

Die Komparativ- und Superlativformen besser/am besten/das Beste als Varianten in modalen Vergleichskonstruktionen

It is well known that linguistic variants play a key role in the acquisition of language skills in the first, second or foreign language as well as in writing and translation processes and in general in communicative interactions. Thus, a major research goal is the systematic investigation of intra- and interlinguistic variation. Due to its complexity, its qualitative-quantitative analysis continues to be a challenging issue, but it seems to become more and more feasible thanks to both the possibility of compiling very large corpora and the availability of high-performing corpus-linguistic tools. The paper discusses a corpus-linguistic pilot study concerning the use of besser, am besten and das Beste as pragmatic markers in a cross-linguistic perspective. In particular, the analysis focusses on selected superlative and comparative constructions on the left periphery used for expressing advice. The data basis consists mainly of German and Italian comparable very large web corpora and, to a lesser extent, of bilingual sentence pairs drawn from parallel corpora. As will be shown, even restricting the analysis to a very small segment of microvariation, in both languages the modal constructions appear to be characterized by the combination of numerous overlapping and interplaying variants and by different tendencies in language use.

Discourse marker well in natural and political discourses: ambivalence and bifunctionality

Устный модус дискурса невозможно представить без богатого репертуара дискурсивных маркеров, для которых характерна ослабленность денотата, с одной стороны, и наполненность прагматическими функциями — с другой. Для выявления особенностей функционирования прагматических маркеров в политическом дискурсе и моделирования макро- и микрофункций дискурсивных маркеров были проанализированы метатекстовые и межличностные функции маркеров, разработанные в трудах отечественных и зарубежных исследователей, и на их основе, а также с учетом лексикографических источников, представлены макро- и микрофункции дискурсивных маркеров в политическом дискурсе. Проведенный анализ позволил выявить новые функции, которые получают ряд дискурсивных маркеров (you know, I mean), в том числе рассматриваемый маркер well в связи с манипулятивной природой политической коммуникации. Данные функции играют важную роль в создании альтернативной действительности и неопределенности, свойственных политической коммуникации. В исследовании представлен подробный анализ функций маркера well с дискурсивно-прагматических позиций на материале телеинтервью Д. Трампа. It is impossible to imagine the existence of the oral mode of discourse which would not include a rich variety of discourse markers. The distinctive feature of discourse markers is weak denotation on the one hand, and explicit pragmatic functions on the other. To identify peculiarities of pragmatic markers functioning in a political discourse and for the purpose of designing their macro- and microfunctions, in the present paper metatext and interpersonal functions of markers developed in the works of Russian and international researchers were scrutinized. On the basis of the data obtained from the previous researches, as well as lexicographic sources, macro- and microfunctions of discourse markers in a political discourse were designed. The analysis allowed to identify new functions developed by a number of discourse markers (you know, I mean), including the marker well, announced in the title of the paper, due to the manipulative nature of political communication. These functions play an important role in creating alternative reality and uncertainty inherent in political communication. The research presents a detailed analysis of functions obtained by the discourse marker well through the lens of discursive pragmatics based on Donald Trump's TV interview.

Pragmatic markers and events on social media in new habit era of COVID-19 outbreak

The phenomenon of language use in social media is interesting and important because it can describe positive or negative language use. The purpose of the study was to analyze the pragmatic markers and forms of language use on social media in the era of new habits during the COVID 19 outbreak. The research method used a qualitative approach. The results of the study are: (1) religious markers, (2) pronoun markers, (3) interjection markers, and (4) appreciation markers. The form of pragmatics consists of, (1) the form of syntax, (2) the form of discourse, and (3) the form of strategy. Conclusion (1). Positive utterances from speakers are responded to by positive and negative utterances from speech partners, while (2). Negative speech from the speaker is responded to by negative speech from the speech partner. (3). The pragmatic markers and forms of speech by speakers are 50% positive and 50% negative, while the pragmatic markers and forms of speech partners are 30% positive and 70% negative. (4). Positive pragmatic markers and forms are important to be used by speakers and speech partners so that they will have an impact on positive and healthy social media.

Vi snakker sådan: An analysis of the Danish discourse-pragmatic marker sådan

The last three decades have witnessed increasing interest in discourse-pragmatic markers (DPMs), both with regards to their high frequency in spoken discourse and their multifunctionality in interaction. Most studies have centered on English, with studies on Danish restricted to a handful of previous interactional discourse analyses. This paper is a preliminary investigation of the Danish word sådan (commonly glossed as ‘such’ or ‘like this/that’). A qualitative, form-based, discourse analytic approach is undertaken on over 40 minutes of naturally occurring Danish talk to argue that sådan qualifies as a DPM. In service of textual, subjective, and intersubjective macro-functions, sådan illustrates; exemplifies; marks hesitation; approximates a quantity; mitigates, hedges, or softens; and allows self-correction or self-repair. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for sådan’s place in the Danish DPM system and our understanding of DPMs across languages.