Native-Like Performance of Pragmatic Features: Speech Acts in Spanish

What is it about?

The study demonstrates how a Spanish corpus can be used to investigate what nonnatives (NNSs) do to communicate their intentions like natives (NSs). Three advanced NNS of Spanish revisited videotapes of them performing complements, apologies and refusals collected in a corpus of data from NSs and NNSs five years earlier. The subjects responded to questions about their language learning, learning style preferences and strategies for performing these speech acts. What makes pragmatics fascinating is that NNSs’ handling of specific communicative acts with commensurate language forms can impact the interaction – sometimes dramatically. The subjects achieved excellence in pragmatic performance in both similar and differing ways. Regarding learning style preferences, two of the subjects were more impulsive and extroverted, the third being more reflective and introverted. Regarding performance strategies, while all three were skillful at adopting the behaviors of the local Spaniards (e.g., facial expressions, clicks, physical contact practices, colloquial language and cursing), they differed in reported strategies for achieving nativelike behavior. At times, the subjects did not perform like NSs in the corpus. Innovative suggestions are provided regarding usually untaught pragmatic behaviors that can benefit even beginning learners of Spanish. Especially learners wishing to adopt local speech community behaviors may welcome instruction regarding pragmatic features.

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