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Explicit and implicit dimensions of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic competence

  • Darcy Sperlich EMAIL logo , Jaiho Leem and Eui-Jeen Ahn
Published/Copyright: February 7, 2019

Abstract

Implicit and explicit knowledge use in second language acquisition has been rigorously researched in areas such as syntax, however our understanding of how these knowledge constructs affect learner pragmatics is not well understood. Through an interlanguage pragmatic perspective we aim to understand how implicit and explicit knowledge intertwines with pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence. This is investigated by testing for L1 politeness transfer in Korean learners of French regarding their acquisition of tu and vous, which provides a new perspective as past research focuses on Anglophone learners. By triangulating data from two test types, results show that the learners have difficulty with vous but not tu, attributed to negative language transfer of L1 politeness values. Moreover, learner variation of tu/vous use can be linked to the explicit/implicit status of their pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge, showing that the implicitization of their sociopragmatic knowledge is a challenging hurdle towards native-like tu/vous use.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the audience at PACLIC 30 and the reviewers for their thoughtful comments, Michel Paradis for answering our questions, Madame Berangere Lesage for her French language support, and the participants for their participation. A Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan R.O.C.) grant (105-2914-I-151-004-A1) awarded to the corresponding has partially supported this research.

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Appendix

Note that the instructions were presented in Korean to the participants. [19]

DCT target items

Please read the prompt and write a FULL answer (i. e. write a sentence). The character is David, he is a 21 year old university student.

  1. David est perdu dans Paris. Il veut aller à la Tour Eiffel. Il veut demander son chemin à un monsieur en costume. Qu’est-ce qu’il dit ? (Target vous)

  2. David est à l’arrêt de bus à Paris. S’il veut demander l’heure à une vieille dame juste à côté de lui, qu’est-ce qu’il dit ? (Target vous)

  3. David rencontre son ami par hasard dans un supermarché, et il veut lui demander qu’est-ce qu’il a acheté. Qu’est-ce qu’il dit ? (Target tu)

  4. David vient juste de rentrer à la maison, et il s’aperçoit qu’il a laissé son portable à l’école. Il appelle son ami qui est encore à l’école. Qu’est-ce qu’il dit ? (Target tu)

PECT target items

Please read the prompt first, and then read the answer. The character is David, he is a 21 year old university student. If you think there are any problems with the answer you may correct it. If you think the answer is OK, then leave it as it is.

  1. David voit que sa sœur est fatiguée et a faim. Il veut lui dire qu’il va sortir pour acheter des plats à emporter. Il dit :

    Est-ce que vous voulez que je sorte et que j’achète quelque chose à manger ? (Vous incorrect)

  2. David voit que son ami a l’air préoccupé. Il veut lui demander à quoi il pense.

    À quoi pensez-vous ? (Vous incorrect)

  3. David est dans une bijouterie, pour choisir une montre. Il veut qu’un des vendeurs lui donne des explications pour se décider. Il dit :

    Qu’est-ce que vous me recommandez ? (Vous correct)

  4. David se rend compte que son film préféré vient de sortir. Il appelle son ami(e) et il lui demande s’il/elle l’a déjà vu. Il dit :

    Tu as vu le film ? (Tu correct)

  5. David est dans la rue et il ne peut pas trouver la poste. Alors il demande à un passant :

    Est-ce que tu sais s’il y a une poste près d’ici ? (Tu incorrect)

  6. David est sur la plage à Nice. Il voit un surveillant de baignade et il lui demande si l’on peut nager sans danger aujourd’hui :

    Tu penses qu’il n’est pas dangereux de nager aujourd’hui ? (Tu incorrect)

Published Online: 2019-02-07
Published in Print: 2021-09-27

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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