Pragmatic markers in the spoken interlanguage of Macedonian learners of English

Kusevska, Marija (2019) Pragmatic markers in the spoken interlanguage of Macedonian learners of English. International Journal Knowledge, 31 (6). pp. 1671-1676. ISSN 1857-923X

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Abstract

The study presented in this paper is a part of the research project “Developing cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics research and its practical implications”, which is currently being implemented at Goce Delchev University in Shtip, Republic of Macedonia. It investigates the use of pragmatic markers by Macedonian learners of English. Speakers use them to achieve smooth flow of speech and help their interlocutors decode the meaning of their utterances appropriately. We pose two research questions: 1. Do Macedonian learners of English use pragmatic markers in their speech? 2. Do they use the same pragmatic markers as native speakers and with the same frequency? The analysis was carried out on a research corpus compiled for this purpose. The participants were 72 students of English at the Department of English language and literature, Goce Delchev University, Shtip. All students sat the Quick Placement Test and their proficiency level in English was determined. Students with B2 level and above were chosen to participate in the project. Five topics were selected: problems with dogs in our cities, living and working abroad, tattoos and piercings, how much time to spend with a girlfriend/boyfriend, and talking on the phone while sharing time with friends. The preliminary selection of the pragmatic markers to be studied was made on the basis of previous studies of the use of pragmatic markers by native and non-native speakers of English. The following pragmatic markers were selected: and, but, I think, like, yes, yeah, so, just, okay, well, kind of, sort of, actually, I mean, only, you know, anyway, you see, and listen. The results showed that Macedonian learners of English use the same pragmatic markers as native speakers albeit some of them are used with different frequency. The benefits of this research are twofold. First, it gives evidence about how Macedonian student use English for their communicative purposes and how well they can manage conversation. Second, the data collected in this project will be used as a starting point for creating an electronic corpus of the English interlanguage of Macedonian learners.
Key words: pragmatics, pragmatic markers, frequency, function, language corpus
Field: Humanities

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Humanities > Languages and literature
Divisions: Faculty of Philology
Depositing User: Marija Kusevska
Date Deposited: 20 Jun 2019 07:20
Last Modified: 20 Jun 2019 07:20
URI: https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/id/eprint/22129

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