{"title":"Disagreement by Chinese speakers of English: evidence of pragmatic transfer","authors":"Weihua Zhu , Jun Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2022.101487","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Little research on pragmatic transfer has examined disagreement by Chinese speakers of English using naturally occurring conversations. This study uncovers the patterns and frequencies of disagreement in L2 English, L1 English, and L1 Chinese, and the evidence of pragmatic transfer, by analyzing naturalistic conversations. R is employed to compute frequencies, calculate proportions, and perform Chi-square tests and one-sample Z-tests. Results show a significant difference in the use of disagreement between L1 English and L2 English but no significant difference between L2 English and L1 Chinese, indicating negative pragmatic transfer. Strong disagreement significantly outnumbers weak disagreement in non-L1 English data, suggesting that strong disagreement may be normative in mundane conversations in some regions of China. This study can inform teaching and learning L2 English.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"93 ","pages":"Article 101487"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0388000122000274","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Little research on pragmatic transfer has examined disagreement by Chinese speakers of English using naturally occurring conversations. This study uncovers the patterns and frequencies of disagreement in L2 English, L1 English, and L1 Chinese, and the evidence of pragmatic transfer, by analyzing naturalistic conversations. R is employed to compute frequencies, calculate proportions, and perform Chi-square tests and one-sample Z-tests. Results show a significant difference in the use of disagreement between L1 English and L2 English but no significant difference between L2 English and L1 Chinese, indicating negative pragmatic transfer. Strong disagreement significantly outnumbers weak disagreement in non-L1 English data, suggesting that strong disagreement may be normative in mundane conversations in some regions of China. This study can inform teaching and learning L2 English.
期刊介绍:
Language Sciences is a forum for debate, conducted so as to be of interest to the widest possible audience, on conceptual and theoretical issues in the various branches of general linguistics. The journal is also concerned with bringing to linguists attention current thinking about language within disciplines other than linguistics itself; relevant contributions from anthropologists, philosophers, psychologists and sociologists, among others, will be warmly received. In addition, the Editor is particularly keen to encourage the submission of essays on topics in the history and philosophy of language studies, and review articles discussing the import of significant recent works on language and linguistics.