English

This paper focuses on contrastive pragmatics in the realization of the speech act of requests in Hiberno-English and Russian in conversational and institutional settings.  A qualitative analysis was conducted to investigate how each language differs in realizing requests in each setting and to identify commonalities and differences between them.  An original written discourse completion task (WDCT) was completed by 30 Hiberno-English and 30 Russian native speakers.  The WDCT consisted of five request situations in the two settings and each situation differed in terms of social distance, power difference and/or the level of imposition (Leech, 1983; Brown & Levinson, 1978, 1987) so as to investigate the influence of these factors on the choice of request strategy.  The WDCT generated data of 600 responses which were analysed using an altered version of the CCSARP coding categories (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984).  Additionally, a blend of paradigms concerning politeness theories was used to describe and explicate marked differences between the request strategies of the two test groups.  Overall, the results demonstrated that the Hiberno-English participants favoured conventionally indirect head acts in both settings while the Russian participants showed a slight preference for direct head acts in the conversational setting but preferred conventionally indirect head acts in the institutional.  The results indicated that Russian speakers make a clear distinction between conversational and institutional settings.  Conversely, high levels of social informality characteristic of Irish people were indexed in both settings.  Hence, the results of this paper question the universality of pragmatic norms.

This paper discusses various types of pragmatic transfer and gives useful illustrations of such occurrences.  It argues the importance of the role of the EFL teacher in the acquisition of pragmatic competence.  It also presents a teaching methodology for increasing students' awareness of socio-pragmatically appropriate use of language.

This thesis broadly investigates the development of L2 pragmatic competence of English language study abroad learners at B1, B2, and C1 level. It also tests the validity of the CEFR descriptors for “sociolinguistic appropriateness” (CoE, 2018) against statistically analysed learner data. More specifically, the speech act of requests was chosen as the focus for this cross-sectional study which explores the influence of proficiency level and sociocultural variables on the exponents employed. Regarding the design of the study, an original five-question WDCT was used to elicit requests from 50 participants in each test group. This generated data of 750 request responses overall. The data were analysed using a quali-quantitative approach whereby the responses were firstly coded using a slightly altered version of the renowned coding categories delineated by Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984). Thereafter, statistical analysis was carried out using chi-square and binomial tests between groups and request situations to test the effect of proficiency level and sociocultural variables respectively on the employment of exponents. The significant results were then mapped to the CEFR descriptors for “sociolinguistic appropriateness” by using six hypotheses based on same. Three of those hypotheses stipulated that the number of exponents available increases in line with proficiency level, while the others referred to how C1 and B2 level learners adjust their use of language to the context but B1 level learners do not. Overall, all groups employed the same exponents. Naturally, the quality of language increased in line with proficiency level. However, the B1 group indexed their resourcefulness in drawing on their comparatively restricted linguistic repertoire to perform the same exponents as the other groups. Also, it was found that proficiency level did not have a profound impact on exponents. There were a few notable exceptions such as the B1 group’s reliance on can and please compared to the C1 group’s preference for would (you mind). In addition, there was some evidence of developing multi-strategy requests as proficiency level improved, but this was apparent in some request situations, not all. Furthermore, all groups responded in strikingly similar ways to the sociocultural variables of power difference, social distance, and the level of imposition. For instance, all groups were able to mark formality with address terms and greetings according to the context. Also, all groups recognised the need to use grounders in high imposition requests. Differences in how the groups adjusted their language according to the context in certain request situations shed light on the development of rhetorical logic (O’Keefe, 1988) and demonstrated an enhanced ability to attend to face-work in a range of contexts on the part of the C1 group. In addition, the results refuted the three hypotheses based on the developmental progression in exponents as suggested in the CEFR descriptors for “sociolinguistic appropriateness”. Also, the hypothesis that the B1 group does not adjust language according to the context was refuted. Hence, revisions to the CEFR descriptors for “sociolinguistic appropriateness” were presented based on the results. Moreover, a proposal regarding a means to expand the scales and descriptors was put forth to reflect the wealth of literature on (L2) pragmatics. In explaining the results, it was deduced that the study abroad nature of the participants was an important factor since the results refuted the findings of many studies on EFL learners, for instance. The multidisciplinary approach adopted in the thesis showed how collaborative research across the fields of pragmatics, ILP, and the CEFR would be conducive to developing a more holistic understanding of L2 pragmatic competence.

... Soon after this, Laski is named as the original recipient of the genealogy in May 1583, before being bitterly characterized as "the ... & Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester (Manchester, UK: Charles Simms, 1851); Nicholas H. Clulee, John Dee's ...

This short MA essay examines the bodies of cross-dressing women saints in Ælfric's Lives of Saints. The essay argues that it is through the theme of hiding, veiling and revealing that the body is expressed in the saints’ lives of Eugenia and Euphrosyne. The body, for both saints’ lives, has the aim of fulfilling a spiritual goal: saints’ lives disagree with the notion that women can only serve Christ through masculinisation of their bodies of performing the role of ‘female saint’. Instead, Eugenia and Euphrosyne show us that a desire to serve Christ cannot be reduced to a gendered concept of the body, but the de-sexed body is a powerful and useful tool to serve Christ