Fridays, 14:00 – 16:00 s.t. in room U1.69, building 23.21
May 15 – July 3, 1998
Prof. Dr. Richard F. Young
Email: rfyoung at wisc dot edu
Web: http://www.wisc.edu/english/rfyoung
Office hours: 13:00 – 15:00 Thursdays in room 01.70 building 23.21
Phone: 811-3066
Gass, S. M., & Neu, J. (Eds.). (1996). Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (1995). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Pragmatics is the study of language as action and of the social contexts in which linguistic action takes place. Cross-cultural pragmatics is the study of linguistic action carried out by language users from different ethnolinguistic backgrounds.
In this seminar, we will begin by discussing two theoretical approaches to pragmatics: speech act theory and politeness theory. Following this introduction, we will examine in detail research on the production and interpretation of speech acts across cultures.
One group seminar presentation of one or more articles from the readings.
Regular attendance and participation in seminar discussions.
The requirements for a kleine Schein plus one 20-30 page paper to be handed in before September 30, 1998.
| Date | Topic | Readings from Textbooks | Additional Readings |
| May 15 | Introduction | ||
| May 22 | Speech act theory | Scollon & Scollon Chapter 2 | Austin (1962) Searle (1979) Levinson (1992) |
| May 29 | Politeness theory | Scollon & Scollon Chapter 3 | Brown & Levinson (1987) Fraser (1990) Goffman (1967) |
| June 5 | Conversational inference | Scollon & Scollon Chapter 4 | Grice (1969) Horn (1988) Sperber & Wilson (1995) |
| June 12 | Topic and face | Scollon & Scollon Chapter 5 | Cai (In press) Young (1994) |
| June 19 | Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics | Chapters by Cohen, Houck & Gass, and Beebe & Cummins in Gass & Neu | Bardovi-Harlig & Hartford (1993) Blum-Kulka, House & Kasper (1989) Kasper & Dahl (1991) Wolfson, Marmor & Jones (1989) |
| June 26 | Expressing solidarity in a second language | Chapters by Ebsworth, Bodman & Carpenter; Nelson, El Bakary & Al Batal; Geis & Harlow; and Maeshiba, Yoshinaga, Kasper & Ross in Gass & Neu | |
| July 3 | Performing face-threatening acts in a second language | Chapters by Murphy & Neu; Boxer; Goldschmidt; and Koike in Gass & Neu |
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Hartford, B. S. (1993). Refining the DCT: Comparing open questionnaires and dialogue completion tasks. Pragmatics and Language Learning Monograph Series, 4, 143-165.
Beebe, L. M., & Cummings, M. C. (1995). Natural speech act data versus questionnaire data: How data collection method affects speech act performance. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 65-86). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). The CCSARP coding manual. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House, & G. Kasper (Eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies (pp. 273-294). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Boxer, D. (1995). Ethnographic interviewing as a research tool in speech act analysis: The case of complaints. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 65-86). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cai, G. (In press). Texts in context: Understanding Chinese students' English compositions. In C. R. Cooper & L. Odell (Eds.), Evaluating writing (2nd ed., ). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Cohen, A. (1995). Investigating the production of speech act sets. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 21-43). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ebsworth, M. E., Bodman, J. W., & Carpenter, M. (1995). Cross-cultural realization of greetings in American English. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 89-107). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Fraser, B. (1990). Perspectives on politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 219-236.
Geis, M. L., & Harlow, L. L. (1995). Politeness strategies in French and English. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 129-153). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Goffman, E. (1967). The nature of deference and demeanor. In E. Goffman (Ed.), Interaction ritual: Essays in face-to-face behavior (pp. 47-95). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Goldschmidt, M. (1995). From the addressee's perspective: Imposition in favor-asking. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 241-256). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Grice, H. P. (1989). Logic and conversation. In H. P. Grice (Ed.), Studies in the way of words (pp. 3-143). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Horn, L. R. (1988). Pragmatic theory. In F. J. Newmeyer (Ed.), Linguistics: The Cambridge survey (Vol. 1, Linguistic theory: Foundations, pp. 113-145). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Houck, N., & Gass, S. M. (1995). Non-native refusals: A methodological perspective. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 45-64). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kasper, G., & Dahl, M. (1991). Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 215-247.
Koike, D. A. (1995). Transfer of pragmatic competence and suggestions in Spanish foreign language learning. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 257-281). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Levinson, S. C. (1992). Activity types and language. In P. Drew & J. Heritage (Eds.), Talk at work: Interaction in institutional settings (pp. 66-100). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Maeshiba, N., Yoshinaga, N., Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (1995). Transfer and proficiency in interlanguage apologizing. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 155-187). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Murphy, B., & Neu, J. (1995). My grade's too low: The speech act set of complaining. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 191-216). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Nelson, G. L., El Bakary, W., & Al Batal, M. (1995). Egyptian and American compliments: Focus on second language learners. In S. M. Gass & J. Neu (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 109-128). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning: Studies in the theory of speech acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1995). Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Wolfson, N., Marmor, T., & Jones, S. (1989). Problems in the comparison of speech acts across cultures. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House, & G. Kasper (Eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies (pp. 174-196). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Young, L. W. L. (1994). Crosstalk and culture in Sino-American communication. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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