Pragmatic variation: the interplay of micro-social and macro-social factors

Anne Barron, Klaus P. Schneider

University of Bonn, germany

Themed-panel

'Taboo or not taboo?': swearing and profane language use in speken Irish English Fiona Farr
A socio-pragmatic study of discourse features in a Northern English dialect Heike Pichler
Adolescents and identity Ronald K S Macaulay
Investigating pragmatic variation Anne Barron, Klaus P. Schneider
Relational Work and Constructing Identity: Expressions of Gratitude in British and New Zealand English Radio Phone-Ins Sabine Jautz
Social and cognitive factors in pragmatic variability Mai Kuha, Elizabeth M. Riddle

Over the past few years, variational pragmatics (VP) has emerged as a new field of linguistic inquiry at the interface of pragmatics and dialectology (cf., e.g., Barron 2005a, 2005b; Schneider 2005; Schneider & Barron, forthcoming b). Conceived of as the study of intra-lingual variation on the pragmatic level of language, VP addresses a research gap previously identified, but not systematically analysed (cf., e.g., Schlieben-Lange & Weydt 1978; Kasper 1995; Wolfram & Schilling-Estes 2006: 93-101). So far, VP has been mainly concerned with macro-social factors, such as region, socio-economic class, ethnicity, gender, and age, and their systematic impact on language use (cf., e.g., Schneider & Barron forthcoming a). However, while macro-social factors shape identities, micro-social factors define relationships and, thus, create and change social reality locally, i.e. on the discrete bottom level. Indeed, early findings in VP have highlighted the possible importance of micro-social variation in the study of intra-lingual pragmatic variation (cf., e.g. Barron 2005b). It would seem, therefore, that this area of research is ripe for investigation, particularly since researchers in the areas of cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics have found micro-social factors, such as power and social distance, to influence inter-lingual variation (cf., e.g., Blum-Kulka et al. 1989; Trosborg 1995).

The present workshop focuses on intra-lingual macro-social and micro-social variation on the pragmatic level of language. It addresses the interplay of individual macro-social and micro-social factors and also patterns of interaction between these macro-social and micro-social factors.

In particular, the following questions will be addressed:
- How many macro-social factors should be distinguished?
- How many micro-social factors should be distinguished?
- Are there factor hierarchies?
- Which pragmatic variables are affected by macro-social factors? Which variants exist?
- Which pragmatic variables are affected by micro-social factors? Which variants exist?
- How can the interaction of macro- and micro-social factors best be studied?

In this workshop, research-in-progress papers will be presented which report on on-going empirical, contrastive, corpus-based investigations into social and/or situational variation at the level of pragmatics. All papers deal with some or all of the above questions and will be circulated among contributors prior to the workshop.

Key references

Barron, A., 2005a. Variational pragmatics in the foreign language classroom. System 33 (3), 519-536.

Barron, A., 2005b. Offering in Ireland and England. In: Barron, A., Schneider, K.P. (eds.), The Pragmatics of Irish English. Berlin, NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 141-176.

Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., Kasper, G., 1989. (eds.), Cross Cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies. Norwood. NJ: Ablex.

Kasper, G., 1995. Wessen Pragmatik? Für eine Neubestimmung fremdsprachlicher Handlungskompetenz. Zeitschrift für Fremdsprachenforschung 6 (1), 69-94.

Schlieben-Lange, B., Weydt, H., 1978. Für eine Pragmatisierung der Dialektologie. Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik 6 (3), 257-282.

Schneider, K.P., 2005. ‘No problem, you’re welcome, anytime’: Responding to thanks in Ireland, England, and the U.S.A. In: Barron, A., Schneider, K.P. (eds.), The Pragmatics of Irish English. Berlin, NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 101-140.

Schneider, K.P., Barron, A., forthcoming a. Where pragmatics and dialectology meet: Introducing variational pragmatics. In: Schneider, K.P., Barron, A. (eds.), Variational Pragmatics. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins.

Schneider, K.P., Barron, A., forthcoming b. (eds.) Variational Pragmatics. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins.

Trosborg, A., 1995. Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, Apologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Wolfram, W., Schilling-Estes, N., 2006. American English. Dialects and Variation. 2nd revised edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell.