Browsing by Subject "Pragmatics"
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ItemThe roles of uh/um in conversational management and implications for teaching English conversation(Assumption University Press, 2010) Berendt, Erich A. ; Assumption University. Graduate School of EnglishThe ubiquitous uh/um (with alternate spellings of er, ah) in English conversation have had limited analysis in spoken discourse, generally being included under the undifferentiated label "hesitation expressions''. This paper first reviews how these utterances are represented in a variety of dictionaries, mostly for English as a Second Language users. Research in theirfunction in spoken discourse is examined in terms of the interactive functions they have in spontaneous dyadic interaction as well as casual story telling and informal tutorials. The analysis isframed by the dominant exchange structure processes (Berendt 1988, 2006). Three strategic discourse functions have beenfound in the data samples: preparatory expressions, tur'n keeping and emphasis of key expressions, providing important oral signals for managing the flow of a conversation. These function as vital signals to give coherence in the negotiation of interactive meaning. The data includes spontaneous conversation/ chatting, casual narratives, group discussion, informal tutorial lecture and argumentative complaints. Implications of these strategic signals for managing and developing spontaneous speech are discussed for second language learners with suggestions for robust conversational management.
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ItemSay what?: Filipino ESL learners’ semantic formula in expressing complaintsComplaining is one of the difficult tasks one has to do because when one complains, one does not only express some displeasure but also expects some form of repair. Hence, it is important for language learners to be taught how to effectively do so. Despite this, the teaching of the speech act of complaint has been taken for granted: either very little is included or it is absent in the language classroom instruction. This study attempts to examine how Filipino ESL learners structure their complaints. Featuring 18 situations calibrated on three social variables ( interlocutors’ social power and social distance, as well as the complainable acts’ degree of severity), the discourse completion task elicited respondents’ written expression of complaints, which were then analyzed using Schaefer’s (1982, as cited in Celce- Murcia & Olshtain, 2000) framework for analyzing the semantic formula of complaints. Results of the study provide a baseline data on respondents’ language of complaining, which provides many pedagogical implications and serves as a springboard for the development of classroom resource materials leading to an informed and judicious teaching of pragmatics.