Speech act variation in British and American English

Abstract

Comparisons of British English and American English in the past have concentrated on similarities and differences at the phonetic, semantic, and syntactic level, while overlooking variation at the socio-cultural level. This paper examines how cultural differences are reflected in five speech acts: requesting, thanking, apologizing, complimenting, and greeting. After a report of a preliminary study of interviews with eight Americans and four Britons regarding cross-cultural speech act differences, the paper analyzes compliment data collected in both Great Britain and the United States. Results show that despite sharing an essentially common linguistic system, the rules for complimenting differ significantly cross culturally. Given the current trend of teaching language and culture simultaneously and given that American and British dialects serve as models of language instruction throughout the world, .t is argued that consideration be given to such differences by English-as-a-Second-Language textbook writers, teachers, and students. (Author/LB) ******************* ***** ****** ***** ************************************ * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS ERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY r-r\\E;cLc(y TO THE EDUCAIIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC). U.& DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Othce 04 Educational Reaserch sod t1sprovaiw4 EDUCATIONAk RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) &Aria document hes boon mixoduced as fvcoved from U. Person os owns:84os+ on9mating It CI Male( chancrof have Wen nude to qnprort rVoduchon wattle Powts %new opomons stated In 1hFs dOcu mint do mi nectstaNy re01.4. 00.ckeI OF RI poslhon os pace Speech act variation in British and American English

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