A study of interlanguage pragmatics: Compliment responses by learners of Japanese and English as a second language

The purpose of this study is to identify the sociolinguistic variables that may affect the types of Compliment Responses (CRs) given by learners of Japanese and English as a second language. To investigate interlanguage CRs, this study compares learner data with baseline data taken from native Japanese and American English speakers. The sociolinguistic variables examined were the targets (Family versus Self) and topics (External versus Internal) of compliments. The variables were combined into four target-topic categories: Family External, Family Internal, Self External, and Self Internal.; A total of 60 informants participated in the study, of which 12 were American native speakers of English (AAs), 17 were native speakers of Japanese (JJ), 14 were Japanese learners of English (ESL); and 17 were American learners of Japanese (JSLs). Each informant had a 30 to 60 minute conversation session with a female friend, or conversation leader, who was a native speaker of the language in which the conversation was conducted.; The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. All data were tape-recorded, narrowly transcribed, and coded accordingly to Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness types: Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness, Off-Record, and Do-not-Do-FTA (Face Threatening Act).; For overall politeness types, CRs of the learners were found to approximate those of the native speakers of the target languages. A detailed examination of the sociolinguistic variables of CRs and the "dispreferredness" structure in discourse, however, revealed problems among learners. It was noted in the baseline data that the most significant difference was between the JJs and the AAs in Negative Politeness for the Family External CRs. Both JSLs and ESLs used pragmatic transfer from their respective L1s in the Family variable. In the Self variable, the JSLs overgeneralized the Japanese formal CRs of Refusal.; The study also investigated the correlation between politeness types of CRs and the intensity of the compliments, as well as aspects of complimenting sequences. Only among AAs did Positive Politeness CRs correlate with the increased intensity of the compliments, while ESLs seemed embarrassed by exaggerated compliments. The Japanese tend to prefer longer sequences than Americans.