PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS: GRATITUDE SPEECH ACT AMONG AZERBAIJANI TURKISH (AZERI) SPEAKERS BASED ON GENDER

Authors

  • Masoumeh Rezaei Department of English Language Teaching, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch, Tehran, Iran

Keywords:

pragmatic, gratitude, speech act, Azerbaijani Turkish (Azeri)

Abstract

This study aimed to fulfill the common gratitude strategies in Tabriz, Iran, Azerbaijani Turkish (Azeri) language. Although numerous scholars have delved into pragmatic realm namely speech acts considering diverse cultures and languages, the investigation on thanking strategies in Turkish (Azeri) language has not been done yet. To achieve this aim, a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) which introduced true life situations was applied. The participants of this study were 78 students, enrolling in differing programs and levels in a university in Tabriz City. The students were both male and female, aging from 19 to 41 years old. The results of the study indicated that ‘Thanking’ and ‘Positive Feeling’ were the most frequently used strategies among all respondents. However, there were significant differences between the overall male and female groups’ use of strategies. In this regard, male Azeri speakers used ‘Apology’, ‘Recognition of Imposition’, and ‘Others’ more than female speakers. On the other hand, female speakers employed ‘Positive feeling’, ‘Repayment’, and ‘Thanking’ more than their counterparts.

DOI

Author Biography

  • Masoumeh Rezaei, Department of English Language Teaching, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch, Tehran, Iran

    Masoumeh Rezaei is an M.A. in Applied Linguistics. She has been teaching English and supervising for about ten years at different levels. She has published and presented in international journals and conference. Her primary research interests are Pragmatics, Technology-Based Investigations, Multilingualism, English Language Learning and Teaching, and Personality Traits.

References

Ahar, V., & Eslami-Rasekh, A., 2011. The Effect of Social Status and Size of Imposition on the Gratitude Strategies of Persian and English Speakers. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(1), 120-128.

Aliakbari, M., & Khosravian, F., 2014. Linguistic Capital in Iran: Using Official Language or Mother Tongue. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 190-199.

Apte, M. L., 1974. 'Thank you' and South Asian languages: a comparative sociolinguistic study. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 3, 67-89.

Bach, K. & Harnish, R., 1979. Linguistic communication and speech acts. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Coulmas, F., 1981. “Poison to your soul:” Thanks and apologies contrastively viewed. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational routine: Explorations in standardized communication situations and pre-patterned speech (69-91). The Hague: Mouton.

Cutting J., 2008. Pragmatics and discourse: a resource book for students, London and New York, Routledge.

Eisenstein, M., & Bodman, J. W., 1993. Expressing gratitude in American English. In G. Kasper and S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Inter-language pragmatics (pp.64-81). New York: Oxford University Press.

Emmons, R. A., 2004. Gratitude. In M. E. P. Seligman & C. Peterson (Eds.), the VIA taxonomy of human strengths and virtues (pp. 553–568). New York: Oxford University Press.

Grief, E. B., & Gleason, J. B, 1980. Hi, thanks, and goodbye: More routine information. Language in Society, 9(2), 156-166.

Harder, P., 1980. Discourse as self-expression on the reduced personality of the second language learner. Applied Linguistics, 1(3), 262-270.

Hinkel, E. (1994). Expressing Thanks in a Second Language1. Applied Language Learning, 5(1), 73-91.

Jiang, W., 2000. The relationship between culture and language. English Language Teaching Journal, 54, 328-334.

Johansen, S. H.., 2008. A comparative study of gratitude expressions in Norwegian and English from an inter-language pragmatic and second language acquisition research perspective. A doctoral dissertation, University of Oslo.

Kumar, I., 2001. Expressions of Politeness and Gratitude: Towards a General Theory. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.

Leech, G., 1990. Principles of pragmatics, London and New York, Longman.

Levant, R. F., & Kopecky, G., 1995. Masculinity, reconstructed. New York: Dutton.

McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B., 2001. Is gratitude a moral affect? In Psychological Bulletin. Vol. 127, No. 2, 249-266. DOI: 10.1037//0033-2909.127.2.249.

Pishghadam, R., & Zarei, S., 2011. Expressions of gratitude: A case of EFL learners. Review of European Studies, 3(2), 140-149.

Rezvani, A. & Özdemir, C., 2010. Inter-language pragmatics in action: Use of expressions of gratitude. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 3, 194-202.

Rubin, J., 1983. How to tell when someone is saying “no” revisited. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 10-17). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Sadock, J., 2004. “Speech Acts.” In L. R. Horn and G. Ward (eds.), the Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Schmidt, R. & Richards, J. C., 1980. Speech acts and second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 129-157.

Searle J. R., 1975. A classification of illocutionary acts, in “Language in Society”, 5(1): 1-23.

Tsutagawa, F. S., 2013. Pragmatic Knowledge and Ability in the Applied Linguistics and Second Language Assessment Literature: A Review. Teachers College Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 1-20.

Watkins, P., 2014. Gratitude and the Good Life: Toward a Psychology of Appreciation. New York, NY: Springer.

Yusefi, K., Gowhary, H., Azizifar, A., & Esmaeili, Z., 2015. A pragmatic analysis of thanking strategies among Kurdish speakers of Ilam based on gender and age. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 211-217.

Downloads

Published

2020-06-05

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2020)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).