Cognitive Science Program

Interlanguage refusals: Linguistic politeness and length of residence in the target community (2004)
J César Félix‐Brasdefer
Language learning, 54 (4), 587-653

Abstract

Using role play and verbal‐report data, this study investigates the sequential organization of politeness strategies of 24 learners of Spanish and whether the learners’ ability to negotiate and mitigate a refusal was influenced by length of residence in the target community. Refusal sequences were examined throughout the interaction (head acts, pre‐ and postrefusals) and across conversational turns. Results showed more frequent attempts at negotiation and greater use of lexical and syntactic mitigation among learners who had spent more time in the target community and also revealed a preference for solidarity and indirectness, which approximated native Spanish speaker norms. It is suggested that the variables of proficiency and length of residence should be considered independently. Finally, learners’ perceptions of social status are discussed.

Pragmatic development in the Spanish as a FL classroom: A cross-sectional study of learner requests (2007)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Intercultural pragmatics, 4 (2), 253-286

Abstract

This study investigates the development of requests from the beginning of foreign language instruction to advanced levels of proficiency in face-to-face interactions. Data were collected from three learner groups (American learners of Spanish)(45 learners [15 per group: beginning, intermediate, advanced]). Open role plays were used to collect data in four request situations. Data were analyzed for request head acts (direct, conventional indirect, non-conventional indirect), the request perspective, and internal and external modification. Findings indicate that the beginner group produced the largest number of direct requests. They, thus, showed little competence in situational variation. These direct requests were often realized by means of verbless requests, statements of need, imperatives, and requests with an infinitive used as a main verb. In contrast, a strong preference for conventionally indirect requests was …

Data collection methods in speech act performance (2010)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical and methodological issues, 26 41

Abstract

This chapter takes a speech-act perspective and examines the degree of validity and reliability of three data collection methods used in speech act research: discourse completion tasks, role plays, and verbal reports. Various formats of these instruments and the type of data they produce under experimental conditions are reviewed and illustrated with examples taken from learners and native speakers. In addition, ways for refining the instrument by focusing on the contextual information of the situation are discussed. This chapter shows how role-play data can be analysed sequentially and across multiple turns in controlled settings. It also highlights the significance of using verbal reports as a means of validating experimental data by gaining access to the learners’ cognitive and sociocultural perceptions during speech act performance. It concludes with practical recommendations for refining the instruments used in speech-act research.

Declining an invitation: A cross-cultural study of pragmatic strategies in American English and Latin American Spanish (2003)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Multilingua, 22 (3), 225-256

Abstract

This study investigated the preference for and use of politeness strategies (direct and indirect) by native speakers and advanced non-native speakers of Spanish when declining an invitation (role-play) in three levels of social status (equal and unequal [higher and lower]). Thirty subjects participated in the study (15 males and 15 females): 10 Latin American speakers of Spanish (SPN SPN), 10 Americans speaking Spanish (ENG SPN), and 10 Americans speaking English (ENG ENG). The variables of gender, education, age, and Spanish dialect were controlled. Significant differences were observed between the SPN SPN and the ENG SPN groups in six strategies: Alternative, Set Condition, Hedging, Promise of Future Acceptance, Solidarity, and Positive Opinion. Results suggested that there is a high degree of interlanguage variation in the use of and preference for refusal strategies among the ENG SPN group …

Linguistic politeness in Mexico: Refusal strategies among male speakers of Mexican Spanish (2006)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Journal of Pragmatics, 38 (12), 2158-2187

Abstract

This study investigates the linguistic strategies employed by monolingual native speakers (NSs) of Mexican Spanish of one community in Mexico in refusal interactions in formal/informal situations. The study focuses on three aspects of politeness: (1) degree of formality; (2) politeness systems and strategy use; and (3) politeness and the notion of face in Mexico. Twenty Mexican male university students participated in four role-play interactions; each participant interacted with two NSs of Spanish, with one NS in formal situations and with a different interlocutor in informal situations. The production data were supplemented by verbal reports to examine speakers’ perceptions of refusals. The findings show that in this community politeness is realized by means of formulaic/semi-formulaic expressions employed to negotiate face (Watts, 2003). An analysis of the refusal interactions indicates that among these speakers, the …

Politeness in Mexico and the United States: A contrastive study of the realization and perception of refusals (2008)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
John Benjamins Publishing. 171

Abstract

This book explores the issue of politeness phenomena and socially appropriate behavior in two societies, Mexico and the United States, in three different contexts: refusing invitations, requests, and suggestions. In addition to a state-of-the-art review of the speech act of refusals in numerous languages, the book provides a rigorous analysis of data collection methods utilized to examine speech act behavior at the production and perception levels. Many examples of native speaker interactions illustrate the similarities and differences observed in the realization patterns and the perception of refusals by Mexicans and Americans in formal and informal situations. The data are analyzed in terms of refusal sequences and pragmatic strategies which are strategically used to carry out relational work during the negotiation of face. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses are interpreted in light of the notions of face, politeness, and relational work in Mexico and the United States. This publication will be of interest to researchers and students in pragmatics and discourse analysis, cross-cultural communication, and sociology.

Indirectness and politeness in Mexican requests (2005)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Selected proceedings of the 7th Hispanic linguistics symposium, 6678

Abstract

The notions of indirectness and politeness play a crucial role in the negotiation of face during the realization of speech acts such as requests. A request is a directive act and a pre-event which initiates the negotiation of face during a conversational interaction. According to Brown and Levinson (1987), requests are intrinsically face threatening because they are intended to threaten the addressee’s negative face (ie, freedom of action and freedom from imposition). Following their model of politeness, while a request may be realized by means of linguistic strategies such as on record (eg, direct and unmitigated) or off record (eg, hints, irony), a compromise may be reached by the speaker using indirect requests. According to Searle, in indirect speech acts “the speaker communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by way of relying on their mutually shared background information, both linguistic and non-linguistic, together with the rational powers of rationality and inference on the part of the hearer”(1975: 60-61). Thus, in order to minimize the threat and to avoid the risk of losing face, there is a preference for indirectness on the part of the speaker issuing the request to smooth the conversational interaction. It has been observed that higher levels of indirectness may result in higher levels of politeness. According to Brown and Levinson (1987) and Leech (1983) direct requests appear to be inherently impolite and face-threatening because they intrude in the addressee’s territory, and these authors argued that the preference for polite behavior is indirectness. Leech suggested that it is possible to increase the degree of politeness by using more …

The language of service encounters (2015)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Cambridge University Press.

Abstract

Service encounters are ubiquitous in social interaction. We buy food and everyday items in supermarkets, convenience stores, or markets; we purchase merchandise in department stores; or we request information at a visitor information center. This book offers a comprehensive account of service encounters in commercial and non-commercial settings. Grounded in naturally occurring face-to-face interactions and drawing on a pragmatic-discursive approach, J. César Félix-Brasdefer sets out a framework for the analysis of transactional and relational talk in various contexts in the United States and Mexico. This book investigates cross-cultural and intra-lingual pragmatic variation during the negotiation of service. The author provides a broad review of research on service encounters to date, and analyzes characteristics of sales transactions, such as participants' roles, pragmatic and discourse functions of relational talk and address forms, the realization of politeness, and changes in alignment from transactional to relational talk.

Perceptions of refusals to invitations: Exploring the minds of foreign language learners (2008)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Language awareness, 17 (3), 195-211

Abstract

Descriptions of speech act realisations of native and non-native speakers abound in the cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics literature. Yet, what is lacking is an analysis of the cognitive processes involved in the production of speech acts. This study examines the cognitive processes and perceptions of learners of Spanish when refusing invitations from a person of equal and higher status. Twenty male native speakers (NSs) of US English who were advanced learners of Spanish as a foreign language participated in two refusal interactions with two NSs of Spanish. The perception data were collected through retrospective verbal reports immediately after the role-play task. Results showed that these reports were instrumental in gathering relevant information about learners' cognitive processes with regard to: (1) cognition (attention to information during the planning and execution of a refusal), in particular …

Pragmatics & Language Learning (2016)
J César Félix-Brasdefer and Kathleen Bardovi Harlig
National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Abstract

Research on instruction in second language (L2) pragmatics has made fundamental contributions to the teaching of pragmatics in an L2 and a foreign language (FL) context and has shown the benefits of instruction versus exposure in various aspects of pragmatics (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Bardovi-Harlig & Griffin, 2005; Kasper & Rose, 2002 [chap. 7]; Koike & Pearson, 2005; Rose, 2005; Rose & Kasper, 2001). One of the goals of the aforementioned research is to inform teachers of various ways of implementing effective teaching materials and strategies to enhance the learners' pragmatic competence, which includes the ability to negotiate speech acts such as requesting or refusing at the discourse level (Bardovi-Harlig & Hartford, 2005; Cohen, 2005; Kasper, this volume). Teaching learners how to negotiate speech acts in an L2 does not mean that they have to become nativelike, but rather that they develop an awareness of the (non) linguistic repertoire associated with a particular speech act and the norms of interaction of the target language that can allow them to make their own choices of what to say and how to say it. However, teaching materials and strategies used to improve learners' pragmatic competence in the classroom do not often address pedagogical considerations for the negotiation of speech acts from a conversation-analytic perspective (Bardovi-Harlig & Mahan-Taylor, 2003; Cohen & Ishihara, 2004; Fujimori & Houck, 2004; C. García, 1996, 2001; Hinkel, 2001; Rose, 1994). The ability to negotiate speech acts is part of universal pragmatic knowledge which comprises both pragmatic and discourse abilities. This means that adult L2 …

Natural speech vs. elicited data: A comparison of natural and role play requests in Mexican Spanish (2007)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Spanish in Context, 4 (2), 159-185

Abstract

This study investigates issues of reliability and validity in pragmatics research and examines the extent to which role-play data approximate naturally-occurring discourse with respect to the content and frequency of requests in Mexican Spanish. The data were gathered from naturally-occurring conversations and field notes in a wide array of contexts and included requests from males and females in formal and informal situations. The results of the current study indicate that natural data represent the most valid way of observing different aspects of speech-act (verbal and non-verbal) behavior in social interaction, as there are various types of request forms that cannot be generated if one follows the role-play path. However, open role plays, if constructed with sufficient contextual information, may offer some advantages over natural data in that they have the potential of eliciting interactional data for research purposes …

La mitigación en el discurso oral de mexicanos y aprendices de español como lengua extranjera (2004)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Ariel. 285-302

Abstract

El presente estudio investiga la distribución y la función pragmática de los mitigadores léxicos y sintácticos en el discurso oral de mexicanos y aprendices de español como lengua extranjera en situaciones formales (desigualdad) e informales (igualdad). Setenta sujetos universitarios de sexo masculino participaron en el estudio: 20 hablantes nativos de español de México, 20 anglo-hablantes aprendices de español como lengua extranjera (nivel de proficiencia avanzado) y 20 hablantes nativos de inglés americano (grupo control). Cada sujeto participó en seis dramatizaciones y respondió negativamente a dos invitaciones, dos pedidos y dos sugerencias: tres situaciones con un interlocutor de estatus igual y tres con un interlocutor de status superior. Los datos del español fueron recogidos en una universidad estatal de la región central de México y los datos de los dos grupos de anglo-hablantes se recogieron en una universidad estatal del medio oeste de los Estados Unidos. Los datos se analizaron conforme a la distribución de los mitigadores léxicos y sintácticos que ocurrieron en todo el intercambio conversacional. Métodos estadísticos descriptivos e inferenciales se emplearon en el análisis. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas en el uso de rechazos mitigados: los mexicanos emplearon un grado mayor de mitigación más frecuente que los aprendices. Los rechazos mitigados en español mexicano incluyen formas gramaticales complejas (ej. tiempo condicional," se" impersonal, expresiones modales, uso del subjuntivo). También se observó que la preferencia de los mitigadores léxicos y sintáctico se ve condicionada …

Validity in data collection methods in pragmatics research (2003)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Theory, Practice, and Acquisition. Papers from the 6th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium and the 5th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese, 239-257

Teaching pragmatics in the foreign language classroom: Grammar as a communicative resource (2012)
J César Félix-Brasdefer and Andrew D Cohen
Hispania, 650-669

Abstract

This article focuses on the teaching of pragmatics in the Spanish as a Foreign Language classroom and examines the role of grammar as a communicative resource. It also aims to highlight the importance of teaching pragmatics from beginning levels of language instruction, with the spotlight on speech acts at the discourse level. After the concept of pragmatic knowledge, as one component of communicative language ability, is reviewed, this article will evaluate proposed pedagogical models for the teaching of pragmatics. We will then present ways for teaching grammar as a communicative resource through a look at the pragmatic functions of grammatical expressions used to express communicative action, such as the conditional, the imperfect, tag questions, impersonal expressions, and adverbials. The importance of classroom input and the role of pragmatic variation when teaching pragmatics in the classroom …

Pragmatic variation across Spanish (es): Requesting in Mexican, Costa Rican and Dominican Spanish (2009)
J César Félix-Brasdefer
Intercultural pragmatics, 6 (4), 473-515

Abstract

The current study focuses on pragmatic variation at the regional level and examines the similarities and differences in the realization of requests in three varieties of Latin American Spanish: Mexico (Oaxaca), Costa Rica (San José) and the Dominican Republic (Santiago) in three symmetric situations (–Power) with different degrees of distance (+/–Distance). Experimental data of 54 male participants (18 participants per group) were collected in comparable situations in situ. The 162 interactions were classified according to the request head act: direct, conventionally indirect (CI), and non-conventionally indirect (NCI) strategies. Request head acts were analyzed across the interaction. Specifically, the data were analyzed for initial (first) and post-initial requests, as well as for three types of downgraders, namely lexical, syntactic and prosodic downgraders. The results showed a preference for conventional indirectness …