From observation to elicitation: An ethnographically grounded approach to pragmatic variation in Namibian English

Abstract

Efforts to theorise pragmatic variation in (new) varieties of English have primarily been made in the area of Variational Pragmatics (VarPra) (Barron and Schneider, 2009; Schneider, 2021) and Postcolonial Pragmatics (PP) (Anchimbe and Janney, 2017; Anchimbe, 2018). In this contribution, we will illustrate how criticism voiced in PP can be addressed within a VarPra framework. Taking the pragmatics of Namibian English as our primary research object, we will present an ethnographically grounded and data-driven approach to the investigation of speech acts and related concepts, following principles laid down in Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006, 2014; Charmaz and Thornberg, 2020). We will detail the development of a research tool specifically designed for the Namibian context, describing how a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) questionnaire was devised in close cooperation with Namibian research partners and the Community of Practice under investigation, thereby avoiding ethno-centrist bias and guaranteeing ecological validity. This centrally includes a systematic and synergistic combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, allowing us to adhere to the principles of contrastivity and comparability central to VarPra while properly taking into account the emic perspective of the post-colonial language community in question. We believe that the methodology proposed could function as a blueprint for systematically introducing pragmatic inquiry into World Englishes (WE) research.