A corpus study of identity expression : assessing the discrepancies between disagreement performance in L1 and L2 English

Abstract

Our identity expression is firmly intertwined with how we communicate. Our ability to follow the sociocultural rules of our linguistic environment is crucial to who we are perceived to be. As such, pragmatic competence is a critical component of identity expression. Yet, this is an area of language that has been overlooked in language teaching and has posed challenges to second language speakers as a result. This prompts a question of whether identity expression is hampered in a second language as compared with the mother tongue. This study explores identity expression through examining the factors involved in pragmatic acquisition and their implications on the abilities of near and non-native English speakers to perform disagreement as compared with native speakers. Native speakers were found to demonstrate not only the widest range of pragmatic strategies, but also the widest variety of utterances to signal each strategy, many of which were idiomatic. This suggests not only that native speakers possess a deeper pragmatic competence and greater likelihood of faithfully expressing their identities, but also that pragmatic acquisition heavily relies on immersion in the target speech community.