Set within the framework of the newly established field of variational pragmatics (Schneider and Barron, 2008), this study investigates pragmatic variation between two different regional varieties of English, namely American English and Singaporean English. Specifically, the speech act of compliment responses is compared. The data were collected through written discourse completion tasks (DCT) and responses were analysed and coded using an adapted version of Holmes’ (1988) categorization system for compliment responses (CRs). The CRs come from a total of 40 participants and a total of 320 compliment responses were analysed. The DCT was supplemented by an introspective-recall with six participants. The findings demonstrate that the preferred strategy for both groups is in the order of accept, evade and reject. Even so, the Singaporeans use more reject strategies and less accept strategies than the Americans do. Further, the Americans employ more combination strategies than the Singaporeans. The Singaporeans however, employ more non-verbal and paralinguistic cues than the Americans. The results also show differences in the two varieties’ attitudes to and perceptions of compliment responses. In addition, the study suggests that compliments in Singapore might be undergoing a change. The findings are particularly important for pedagogical purposes.

This study investigates how Inner Circle and Outer Circle English varieties are perceived by EFL students at two separate schools in Sweden, each with varying levels of linguistic diversity among their student bodies. The language attitude data is collected by way of verbal-guise tests followed by discussion segments. The results suggest that Inner Circle Englishes are broadly viewed more positively than Outer Circle Englishes, in particular where semantic qualities in the status category are concerned. Further, heavily accented Outer Circle speakers were evaluated to have a good sense of humor but low attractiveness by students of both schools. The school with greater linguistic diversity rated the speakers in the study lower across the board, and also rated the RP speaker in particular significantly less favorably than the school with lower linguistic diversity. The students at the more linguistically diverse school further seemed to ascribe a poor sense of humor to the Inner Circle English speakers, which was not the case with the other school which took part of the study. These results affirm that Inner Circle English accents tend to carry with them a greater sense of status than Outer Circle English accents, and further point towards the possibility that linguistic diversity in the classroom may affect how different English varieties are viewed.