Requests in American and British English
A contrastive multi-method analysis
Author
This volume encompasses a thorough examination of the use of request strategies on two contrastive dimensions. On the cross-cultural dimension, it compares the use of British and American English request strategies in naturally occurring informal conversations. The conversational data are retrieved from the International Corpus of English (ICE) and the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English. On the methodological dimension, it systematically compares request strategies and their frequency distributions in the conversational data to questionnaire-based requests. Highlighting various instrument-induced effects, the volume challenges the validity of one of the most widely used and accepted data collection tools in pragmatics research, the DCT.
The extensive data analysis contained in the volume includes a wide range of linguistic variables including mitigating and aggravating modification strategies and their interaction with head act directness levels. While it focuses on the first-pair part, the book also offers an analysis of request responses from a cross-cultural perspective.
The findings of the study contribute new insights to research on requests, politeness, variational pragmatics, and general research methodology.
The extensive data analysis contained in the volume includes a wide range of linguistic variables including mitigating and aggravating modification strategies and their interaction with head act directness levels. While it focuses on the first-pair part, the book also offers an analysis of request responses from a cross-cultural perspective.
The findings of the study contribute new insights to research on requests, politeness, variational pragmatics, and general research methodology.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 265] 2016. xvi, 264 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Abbreviations | pp. ix–x
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List of Tables | pp. xi–xiv
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List of Figures | pp. xv–xvi
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Chapter 1. Introduction | pp. 1–6
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Chapter 2. Theoretical framework | pp. 7–82
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Chapter 3. Methodology: Database, data collection, and data analysis | pp. 83–116
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Chapter 4. Results I: Requests in AmE and BrE informal conversations | pp. 117–172
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Chapter 5. Results II: Requests in non-elicited conversations and DCTs | pp. 173–226
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Chapter 6. Conclusion | pp. 227–238
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References | pp. 239–252
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Appendix | pp. 253–260
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Index | pp. 261–264
“For those who are interested in language function this is a very compact, direct and well-reasoned monograph that provides extremely useful insights into the variation that exists in the realisation of requests across British and American English. Though the differences revealed are small, the endeavour itself is very useful and to be commended.”
Rebekah Wegener, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in Languages in Contrast 17:2 (2017)
“Requests in American and British English is a fascinating study on requests from cross-cultural and methodological perspectives. It gives a wider, more general perspective on requests, and it is a model of advocating naturally occurring data in pragmatic studies. Considering its far-reaching implications for different research studies, the volume is highly recommended to scholars of pragmatics and those interested in language politeness, variational pragmatics and research methodologies.”
Yanhong Zhang, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, in Discourse Studies Vol. 19, No. 5 (2017)
“Flöck’s book is a thought-provoking, well-structured and systematic work, highly recommendable to all researchers interested in requests, cross-cultural pragmatics and data gathering instruments. Her study will surely contribute to a deeper understanding of these three aspects by offering new insights to all of them.”
Carmen Maíz-Arévalo, in Kalbotyra Vol. 70 (2017)
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009030: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Pragmatics