Pragmatic Force Modifiers In English As A Lingua Franca

Against the backdrop of globalization,the number of speakers of non-native English languages has surpassed the number of native English speakers.English as a lingua franca has become a popular research topic in the field of linguistics.Pragmatic force modifiers(PFMs)are usually words or phrases playing certain pragmatic functions in utterances.They do not change the truth condition of sentences but act as an important linguistic mechanism to guide and restrict discourse comprehension.PFMs have recently attracted the attention of researchers from linguistics and applied linguistics,especially those interested in academic discourse.However,research on PFMs in academic lectures given by ELF speakers is still inadequate.Following Nikula’s terminology and Lin’s model of PFMs,the present study attempts to fill this gap by focusing on the distributions and functions of PFMs in English-medium academic lectures given by ELF speakers,seeking to characterize the use of PFMs in academia shaped by speakers of different first languages.The academic lecture corpora used in this study are derived from Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English(MICASE)and English as a Lingua Franca in Academic setting(ELFA).The results show that the ELF speakers use significantly more PFMs than native English speakers,especially certain modal verbs.In contrast,native English speakers use significantly more colloquial softening modifiers.The significant statistical discrepancies between the two groups suggest a more moderate pragmatic force in academic lectures by ELF speakers and a higher level of personal involvement,interactivity,and informality in academic lectures by native English speakers.The internal comparison in ELFA shows that You know,sort of together with the other two I-expressions,I think and I mean,are overtly marked to a greater extent in interactive lectures.The significantly more frequent use of these expressions may be connected to intense interaction between participants.ELF speakers attempt to express their personal ideas and evaluations explicitly in interactive lectures.In terms of the functions of PFMs,A detailed study of PFMs in the ELFA corpus identified five especially prominent functions,including “indicating self-correction”,“marking elaboration and contradiction”,“highlighting the main points”,“modifying reported speech”,and “clarifying possible ambiguities”.However,in indicating self-correction,PFMs are frequently used by ELF speakers to signal lexical amendment,whereas they are more often used by native English speakers in MICASE corpus to reformulate a sequence rather than engage in the simple lexical search.In clarifying possible ambiguities,PFMs are used by ELF speakers to clarify possible ambiguities even in situations where they are not prompted by others.Although this deviates from the standard or native use of the expression,it does not cause any confusion in the interaction.As English speakers of the Outer Circle,communicative efficacy plays a crucial role in communication for ELF speakers.They are aware of the potential of PFMs and can use them appropriately to achieve different pragmatic purposes in order to ensure mutual understanding and achieve the desired communicative effect.This study has implications for correct examination of the international status of the English lingua franca.In addition,the findings of this study provide some guidance for English teachers and English learners to use this linguistic mechanism correctly in their teaching and learning.