This study investigates refusals of requests and offers utilised by speakers of Iraqi Arabic and British English, as well as by Iraqi learners of English. It aims to identify the strategies of refusal employed by these three groups of speakers, as well as any differences between them. 60 subjects participated in this study. 20 Iraqi Arabic Speakers (IAs), 20 Iraqi Learners of English (ILEs), and 20 British English Speakers (BEs). The elicitation method adopted for the data collection consisted of a discourse completion test (DCT) and a series of open-ended role plays. In both cases, the scenarios employed varied systematically along the following parameters: social status, social distance, rank of imposition and gender. The data obtained by both methods were categorised into a number of strategies. An attempt was made to provide a comprehensive description of the nature of refusal strategies used by the subjects. The strategies identified were categorised following the Beebe et al (1990) scheme of refusals. In addition, they were classified according to the (im)politeness superstrategies posited by Brown and Levinson (1987) and Culpeper (1996). The results indicate that the choice of refusal strategies reflects characteristics of Iraqi versus British English culture. These results are as follows: 1. Although both groups of subjects displayed sensitivity to the social factors referred to above, the relative influence of each factor differed from one group to another. Thus, Iraqi Arabic Speakers (IAs) and Iraqi Learners of English (ILEs) varied their refusal strategies mainly according to status and distance, while British English Speakers (BEs) did so mainly according to status and gender. Besides, the responses of the three groups were influenced by the degree of imposition.2. The application of refusals employed by the three groups differed according to the eliciting method, namely, the DCT and the Role-Play. Consequently, various refusal strategies collected via the Role Play did not appear in the data collected by the DCT and vice versa. 3. Certain strategies employed by Iraqi speakers of Arabic were nonexistent in the data of British English speakers and vice versa. 4. The study of the interlanguage of Iraqi learners of English as a foreign language also confirmed the hypothesis that there is evidence for pragmatic transfer in the order, the frequency and the content of semantic formulae used.

How does cultural and linguistic background influence communication style? This topic is examined through the [I + verb] belief construct before the expression of an opinion. Since opinions carry inherent notions of speaker belief, these constructions may at first appear superfluous. However, [I + verb] forms may actually fulfill various pragmatic functions depending on prosodic variation. Unfortunately, there is little congruent data on universality vs. cross-linguistic variability of pragmatic-prosodic mappings (prosodic variation as a cue to pragmatic interpretation) of [I + verb] belief constructs before an opinion. Thus, a Proof of Concept perception test was first implemented, followed by a production task investigating the effect of sociolinguistic background on a speaker's frequency of usage for various [I + verb] forms in expressing opinions, and how this relates to perceived speaker confidence. Usage of various forms and functions of this construct was analyzed and compared between native Mandarin (CHI) and English (US) speakers, as well as EFL Mandarin speakers. The Proof of Concept task supported hypotheses overall, suggesting a possible universal pragmatic-prosodic mapping for [I + verb]. In addition, while as predicted sociolinguistic background did not have a significant effect on universality of pragmatic-prosodic mapping in terms of confidence rating, it did have an observable effect on semantic interpretation of 'speaker confidence', thus indicating that sociolinguistic background may play a role in influencing these interpretations. Results from the production task supported predictions that frequency of functional [I + verb] usage corresponded to culturally specific attitudes of each culture. Based on confidence rating calculations for each [I + verb] variation from pragmatic-prosodic mapping of the perception task, it was determined that Native US individuals were most confident in expressing self-opinions but least confident in expressing opinions of others whilst Native CHI individuals were most confident in expressing opinions of others and least confident in expressing self-opinion, with the EFL group in the US more closely mirroring the Native US group and the EFL group in China more closely mirroring the Native CHI group. Additionally, going against theories of previous research, Time immersed in a new L2 environment and L2 proficiency did not significantly influence performance. Through investigating pragmatic-prosodic mappings of [I + verb] forms vs. functions, this study aimed to demonstrate the bi-directional link between language, thought and culture. By understanding and familiarizing oneself with the root of pragmatic differences, there is hope to better understand the cause of cross-cultural miscommunications between native and foreign speakers in conversation and to minimize any such discrepancies in pragmatic knowledge and sociocultural norms.

The aim of this thesis is to compare linguistic means of expressing politeness in Czech and in Danish. The term politeness covers both norms defining socially acceptable behaviour and strategies that speakers use to achieve their goals and avoid conflicts. After defining the term politeness, I briefly introduce the most influential theoretical approaches to politeness since the 1960s. The second chapter brings an overview of linguistic means of expressing politeness in Czech and in Danish. The last, most comprehensive part of the thesis is concerned with selected areas typically connected to politeness, i.e. greetings and forms of address, expressing thanks and reacting to them, orders, bans, and requests. In Czech, a polite request usually contains the particle prosím (please). This word has no equivalent in spoken Danish; however, Danish speakers can make use of other expressions, such as particles godt, nok, lige and vel, or the expression vil du være sød/venlig (would you be so kind). They can also use some of the conventional means of expressing a request indirectly. Many of those strategies are common to both languages, especially formulating the requests as a question, perhaps in a negative form. Polite requests in Czech are characterized by the use of conditional, Danish requests typically...

Quels sont les constituants d’une participation réussie à une discussion en langue française ? Après avoir enregistré des discussions de groupe autour de sujets polémiques entre apprenants de niveau avancé en français, en Australie, un panel de francophones de leur âge a évalué vingt extraits de ces discussions en termes de réussite des échanges, et en prêtant attention à certains aspects intersectionnels de leurs comportements tels que l’entraide, la domination et leur contribution à l’avancée du débat, ces critères ayant été dégagés d'une analyse comparative des définitions de la réussite et de l'échec d'une discussion, telles que données par ces participants. Ces évaluations ont ensuite été analysées pour déterminer lesquels de ces aspects corrélaient le plus avec la réussite globale de l’échange. En situant ce projet dans une perspective pragmatique interculturelle et interactionniste, nous avons effectué une analyse multidimensionnelle des échanges jugés les plus réussis et les moins réussis afin d’identifier les stratégies intéractionnelles contribuant au succès ou à l’échec des échanges en français. Nous nous sommes notamment intéressé aux phénomènes et comportements présents dans les extraits jugés les plus réussis et absents des extraits les moins réussis, avons analysé les pistes audio des enregistrements pour accéder à une représentation visuelle de leur atmosphère sonore, avons analysé les comportements non-verbaux des participants,et avons effectué une micro-analyse de la transcription de ces mêmes extraits. Les résultats de ce projet offriront une meilleure compréhension de l'ancrage culturel des stratégies interactionnelles contribuant à la réussite ou à l'échec d'une discussion et serviront de base potentielle à l’enseignement de compétences interactionnelles en français langue seconde. / What constitutes successful participation in discussion in French? The project combines qualitative and quantitative methods to determine what behaviours constitute successful participation in French debate among learners of French. After group discussions on polemical topics among advanced learners of the language were recorded in Australia, a group of French age-peers judged the exchanges on their relative success and on aspects of interactional behaviour including the extent to which participants advanced debate, dominated and/or supported each other. These aspects were identified prior to the evaluation through a comparative analysis of definitions of a successful and a failed discussion as provided by the participants. The Francophone assessments of the recordings were then analysed to determine which of these aspects correlated with the overall success of the exchange. Building on these results, and drawing on the principles of cross-cultural pragmatics, a multidimensional interactionist analysis of the most and least successful exchanges was undertaken to identify interactional strategies contributing to the success or failure of the exchanges. This involved focussing on the various phenomena and behaviour observable in the discussions judged most successful but absent in the least successful discussions, analysing the waveform representations of the audio-recordings to determine the sound atmosphere, analysing non-verbal behaviour, and undertaking a detailed micro-analysis of the transcription of these exchanges. Results showed that advancing debate through advancing and challenging opinions was most likely to lead to the Francophones judging the discussions as successful. The most successful discussions showed participants adopting a wide range of interchangeable interactional positions in which all could successively take the lead in discussion, and consistently questioning and elaborating opinions, thus placing a clear emphasis on the co-construction of ideas. Least successful discussions as seen by the Francophones showed greater concern for facework strategies and followed a stable pattern of opinions being offered in turn but not negotiated, leading to agreement rather than debate. The sound and visual atmosphere of the discussion was also directly connected to the success of the discussion: the non-verbal behaviour analysis showed that participants in successful discussions displayed an increased use of hand gestures and maintained visual contact between the participants while the waveform analysis underlined situations of brouhaha as a recurring component of the most successful discussions. The project departs from previous studies by focusing on discussion in French as a multilayered cultural practice and therefore undertaking a multidimensional analysis to ascertain the elements that correlate with its success or failure. The findings of the project will provide a better understanding of the cultural specificity of different interactional styles, and of the cultural anchoring of interactional strategies contributing to the success or failure of a discussion. It will serve as a potential basis for teaching interactional skills and pragmatic competence in French as a second language.

Politeness is viewed as an admirable trait by most people, yet what it means to be polite is arguably a controversial issue when it comes to using English, as people of different ages, education levels, and proficiency levels use English daily, and may have different views on politeness. These observations raise questions about whether there are certain universal pragmatic rules, or if pragmatic rules are primarily language- and/or culture-specific. The current study situates itself within the fields of cross-cultural pragmatics and English as a lingua franca and is intended to explicitly address how social distance impacts English users’ views of politeness and appropriateness in English today. The study addresses this issue by investigating how speakers of English perceive appropriateness in certain speech acts, specifically requests and compliment responses, and how they justify or explain their reasoning concerning this. The study employs a mixed-method approach to data collection, where data was collected through two steps: first, a questionnaire distributed online and, second, a set of follow-up interviews with questionnaire respondents. In total, 79 respondents contributed to the questionnaire and, out of these, eight participated in follow-up interviews. Through this dual method of data collection, the intention of the study was to provide some insight into societal perceptions on politeness today from two different perspectives. To that end, the analysis of data takes a two-fold approach: by using T-tests, the statistical relevance of the questionnaire findings is analyzed, and through an inductive analysis of the interview findings, a more in-depth view of the issue at hand is offered as a complement to the initial survey results. By providing insight to the societal perceptions of the pragmatics of English through two different perspectives, the findings of the study could inform and inspire further studies concerning pragmatic norms and, by extension, research focused on the teaching of English.