Yes (Rom. Da). Usages and functions in L2 proficiency examinations
A view from Romanian
Andra Vasilescu | University of Bucharest, Romania | Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti Institute of Linguistics, Romania
The article analyses a Romanian corpus of intercultural dialogues recorded in natural settings during language proficiency examinations and discusses the usages of the frequently occurring word yes (Rom. da). The framework is provided by the Mixed Game Model (Weigand 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018, among others) intersected with the socio-cognitive approach to intercultural communication (Kecskes 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, among others). Beyond the analysis of a single lexical unit in a limited collection of texts, the author aims to demonstrate how a particular word of the lexicon becomes a culturally-socially-cognitively-discursively-rhetorically situated utterance that acquires specific functions when it is used by interlocutors who negotiate their communicative agendas to come not only to mutual understanding but also to achieve their convergent-divergent institutional purposes.
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