As a developmental aspect in non-structural factors of pragmatic transfer, learners‘ level proficiency relates to the occurrences of pragmatic transfer.
Learners with low-level proficiency are considered to make more numbers of pragmatic transfer, while learners with high level proficiency are considered to
have the ability to classify which are transferable and not.
77
However, noticing that level of proficiency alone cannot assure learners‘ development of L2
pragmatic knowledge, Kasper proposes that length of stay in L2 community can be further examined as developmental aspect in the investigation of pragmatic
transfer since it may increase learners‘ familiarity with L2 contexts.
78
C. Speech Act of Thanking
The realization of speech acts is the scope of the term ‗pragmatics‘ in the notion of pragmatic transfer which is proposed by Kasper. According to Austin,
speech acts are defined as ‗utterances that do things‘.
79
Austin exemplifies that uttering ‗I name this ship Queen Elizabeth‘ when smashing the bottle is an
instance of speech act in which the utterance is a part of doing an action of naming.
80
By noting the example, speech acts are utterances which do not describe, report or state that someone is doing an action, but speech acts are
utterances which become parts of doing actions. Using the terms ‗illocutionary acts‘ and ‗speech acts‘ interchangeably, there
are five types of speech acts in Searle‘s conception: representatives, directives,
77
Ibid. pp. 219-220.
78
Gabriele Kasper 1992, op.cit. p. 220.
79
J. L. Austin, ―How to do things with words,‖ in Dawn Archer and Peter Grundy., editors, The
Pragmatics Reader New York: Routledge, 2011, p. 19.
80
ibid. p. 19.
commissives, expressives and declarations.
81
Searle argues that speech acts of thanking are categorized as expressive illocutionary acts which are made by
speakers when they believe that the act doing by the hearers in the past is beneficial for the speakers.
82
The taxonomy of illocutionary acts which are proposed by Searle is adopted in the present study.
By arguing that gratitude is expressed as response of some beneficial action which is done by another person, Coulmas proposes situations that require
gratitude as the response: thanks ex ante for a promise, offer, invitation; thanks ex post for a favor, invitations afterwards; thanks for material goods gifts,
services; thanks of immaterial goods wishes compliments, congratulations, information; thanks for some action initiated by the benefactor; thanks for some
action resulting from a requestwishorder by the beneficiary; thanks that imply indebtedness; and thanks that do not imply indebtedness.
83
Gratitude is not simply expressed by stating the illocutionary verb ‗thank‘. Most of NSs of American English tend to express speech acts sets or indirect
speech acts sets, like uttering the lack of necessity such as ‗Oh, you shouldnt have …‘ , to express their gratitude.
84
As Austin stated, all regular utterances are ‗performative‘, either the utterances consist of performative verbs such as: I
promise
that I shall be there or do not consist of any performative verb such as: I shall be there.
85
It can be concluded that ‗Oh, you shouldnt have …‘ is
81
Stephanie Weijung Cheng 2005, op.cit. pp. 9-10 .
82
Miriam Eisenstein and Jean W. Bodman 1986, op.cit, pp. 167-168.
83
Eli Hinkel 1992, op.cit. pp. 5-6.
84
Miriam Eisenstein and Jean W. Bodman 1993, op.cit., p.67.
85
Geoffrey N. Leech 1983, op.cit.,p.176 .
categorized as performative utterance or speech act which is a part of doing action of thanking even it does not contain any verb ‗thank‘.
Accomodating the expressions of gratitude which are made by NSs of American English and Chinese, Cheng builds a thanking taxonomy which is then
adopted in the present study to categorize expressions of gratitude which are made by AEs, INs and ELs. Cheng‘s thanking taxonomy is presented as follows
86
: 1.
Thanking There are three subcategories which are classified as thanking strategy:
a by using the word thank
In this subcategory, people express thanking by only using the word ‗thank‘
in English, or any other words from the other languages that have similar meaning.
87
The examples are
88
: in English
: thanks, thank you, thank you very much in Chinese
: xièxiè thank you
b by thanking and stating the favor
In this subcategory, besides simply expressing thanking with the word ‗thank‘ or any other words from the other languages which have similar
meaning, the favor being thanked is also mentioned.
89
In English, the examples is: thank you for your help.
90
c by thanking and mentioning the imposition
86
Stephanie Weijung Cheng 2005, op.cit. pp. 40-49.
87
Ibid. p. 40.
88
Ibid. p. 41.
89
Ibid. p. 41.
90
Ibid. p. 41.
In this subcategory, besides thanking, the imposition which is caused by the favor is also mentioned.
91
The example is
92
: in English
: thank you so much for letting me borrow it those extra days
2. Appreciation
Appreciation has two subcategories:
a by using the word appreciate without elaboration
In this subcategory, people express appreciation by using the word ‗appreciate‘ in English or any other words in other language which have
similar meaning wit h ‗appreciate‘ such as: ganxìe in Chinese without
elaboration to another words.
93
The examples are
94
:
in English : I greatly appreciate your help; I appreciate it
b by using the word appreciate and mentioning imposition caused by the
favor In this subcategory, besides simply expressing appreciation by using the
word ‗appreciate‘ in English or any other words in other languages that have similar
meaning with ‗appreciate‘, the imposition reasoned by the favor being thanked is also mentioned.
95
The example is
96
: in English
: I really appreciate your time and effort
91
Ibid. p. 41.
92
Ibid. p. 41.
93
Ibid. p. 42.
94
Ibid. p. 42.
95
Ibid. p. 42.
96
Ibid. p. 42.
3. Positive feelings
Positive feelings strategy has three subcategories: a
by expressing a positive reaction to the favor giver hearer This kind of positive feeling is made when people express positive reaction
or compliments to the favor giver hearer.
97
The examples are
98
: in English
: You are a life saver; I‘m so grateful for your help
b by expressing a positive reaction to the object of the favor
This kind of positive feelings is made when people express positive reaction or compliment to the object of the favor. The examples are
99
: in English
: This book was really helpful; Your notes is very clear c
by expressing a positive reaction to the outcome of the favor This kind of positive feelings is made by expressing positive reaction the
outcome or the result of the favor which the thank giver speaker will achieve in the future.
100
The example is
101
: in English
: Ill keep you posted on what happens
4. Apology
Apology strategy has three subcategories:
a by using only apologizing words i.e., sorry or apologize
97
Ibid. p. 43.
98
Ibid. p. 43.
99
Ibid. p. 43.
100
Ibid. p. 43.
101
Ibid. p. 43.
In this subcategory, people express apology by only using the word ‗sorry‘ or ‗apologize‘ in English, or any other words from another language that
have the same meaning with ‗sorry‘ or ‗apologize‘, such as: the word
‗duìbuqi in Chinese.
102
The examples are
103
: in English
: I‘m sorry; I apologize
b by using apologizing words i.e., sorry or apologize and stating the favor
or the fact In this subcategory, besides
using apologizing words such as ‗sorry‘ in English or any other words in other language which have the same meaning
with ‗sorry‘, the favor or the fact is also mentioned.
104
The examples are
105
: in English
: Im sorry for the short notice; I‘m sorry for the delay
c by using apologizing words i.e., sorry or apologize and mentioning the
imposition caused by the favor In this subcategory, besides using apologizing words, the imposition which
is caused by the favor is also mentioned.
106
The examples are
107
: in English
: I apologize for the inconvenience; I‘m sorry to take up your
time; Sorry it took me so long to get it back to you. d
by criticizing or blaming oneself
102
Ibid. p. 44.
103
Ibid. p. 44.
104
Ibid. p. 44.
105
Ibid. p. 44.
106
Ibid. p. 45.
107
Ibid. p. 45.
In this subcategory, apology which is stated is in the form of criticizing or blaming oneself.
108
The example is
109
: in English
: I‘m such a klutz
e by expressing embarrassment
The example is ‗it’s so embarrassing‘ in English.
110
f by using the Chinese phrase buhayoisi embarrassed
g by using the Chinese phrase buhayoisi 不好意思 and stating the favor
h by using the Chinese phrase buhayoisi 不好意思 and mentioning the
imposition caused by the favor i
by using Chinese expressions other than buhayoisi 不好意思 to show embarrassment
5. Recognition of imposition
Recognition of imposition has three subcategories: a
by acknowledging the imposition This kind of subcategory is expressed by acknowledging the imposition.
111
In English, the example is: I know you didn‘t have to allow me extra
time.
112
108
Ibid. p. 45.
109
Ibid. p. 45.
110
Ibid. p. 45.
111
Ibid. p. 46.
112
Ibid. p. 46.
b by stating the need for the favor
In this subcategory, imposition is recognized by directly or indirectly stating how the speaker need for the favor.
113
The examples are
114
: in English
: I really wanted to do my best on this, and this week has been so hectic. indirect ; I usually try not to ask for extra
time, but this time I need it. direct
c by diminishing the need for the favor.
This subcategory is expressed by diminishing directly or indirectly the need for the favor.
115
In English, the example is: You didn‘t have to do that.
116
6. Repayment
There are three subcategories which are categorized as repayment strategy. a
by offering or promising service, money, food or goods In this subcategory, people try to state repayment of the favor by offering or
promising service, money, food or good to the hearer.
117
The example is
118
: in English
: Can I buy you dinner and a beer for this? b
by indicating hisher indebtedness
113
Ibid. p. 47.
114
Ibid. p. 47.
115
Ibid. p. 47.
116
Ibid. p. 47.
117
Ibid. p. 47.
118
Ibid. p. 47.
In this subcategory, people try to express repayment by reaffirming and indicating hisher indebtedness to the favor giver hearer.
119
In English, the examples are: I owe you big time.; I owe you one.
120
c by promising future self-restraint or self-improvement
People express repayment by promising future self-restraint or self- improvement.
121
In English, the example: It won‘t happen again.
122
7. Other
Other strategy has four subcategories: a
Here statement Here statement is generally expressed when someone wants to give
something to someone else.
123
In English, the examples are: Here‘s your
book.; Here you go.
124
b Small talk
Small talk is utterance which is used to establish or enhance the intimacy or social bound between the speaker and hearer.
125
119
Ibid. p. 47.
120
Ibid. p. 48.
121
Ibid. p. 48.
122
Ibid. p. 48.
123
Ibid. p. 48.
124
Ibid. p. 48.
125
Ibid. p. 48.
c Leaving-taking
Leaving taking is generally expressed when someone wants to leave someone else.
126
In English, the example: Have a nice day
127
d Joking
In English, the example: Thats what you get for driving a truck. Just joking.
128
8. Alerter
Alerter strategy has three subcategories: a
Attention getter In English, the examples are: hey, hi, wow, whoa, oh, well, oh my god, by
the way, you know.
129
b Title
In English, the examples are: Professor, Dr., Mr. Sir.
130
c Name including first names, surnames or endearment terms
In English, the examples are: John, Mary, Smith, Johnson, honey, dude, buddy, man, pal.
131
126
Ibid. p. 49.
127
Ibid. p. 49.
128
Ibid. p. 49.
129
Ibid. p. 49.
130
Ibid. p. 49.
131
Ibid. p. 49.
D. Rationale of Using Open-Ended DCT
