Abstract

This study investigates the production and perception of apology responses (ARs) of English-using Pakistanis (L2), British English speakers (Native speakers of the target language), and Pakistani Urdu speaker (L1) under the influence of social distance variables. For data collection, two instruments are used; a discourse completion test (DCT in English and Urdu) and a scale response questionnaire (SRQ in English and Urdu). Findings signal that three groups tend to use more Acceptance strategies with the interlocutors of social distance than the close and neutral level respondents, moreover, close and distant level participants tend to favor the use of Acknowledgement ARs than neutral social distance participants, besides, the Evasion category demonstrates that BritE speakers of close social distance prefer the use of Evasion (EV) ARs more often than EuP and PakU. Further, at neutral and distant levels, three groups tend to use a similar proportion of EV strategies. The least number of ARs interacting with social distance factor is used in Rejection category. The close social distance level participants of three groups (EuP, BritE, and PakU) tend to prefer the use of more Rejection strategies than the participants of neutral and distant social distance levels. The SRQ results indicate the operation of negative pragmatic transfer where English-using Pakistanis have assigned the similar values in Situation1 and Situation4 as the PakU group participants have allocated. Generally, both EuP and PakU group approximated the target culture’s sociopragmatic knowledge, both groups assessed the speaker’s close and distant social relation quite significantly equal a pattern that indicates development towards the target culture’s sociopragmatic norms while still under the influence of the L1

摘要

这项研究调查了在社交距离变量的影响下，英语使用者巴基斯坦人（L2），英国英语使用者（目标语言的母语者）和巴基斯坦乌尔都语使用者（L1）的道歉反应（AR）的产生和感知。为了收集数据，使用了两种工具。话语完成测试（DCT，英语和乌尔都语）和量表应答问卷（SRQ，英语和乌尔都语）。调查结果表明，三类人比亲密和中立水平的受访者更倾向于使用社交距离对话者的接受策略，此外，相较于中性和社交距离的参与者，亲密和遥远级别的参与者更倾向于使用确认AR。“逃避”类别表明，社交距离较近的BritE演讲者更喜欢使用逃避（EV）AR，而不是EuP和PakU。此外，在中立和遥远的水平上，三组倾向于使用相似比例的EV策略。与社交距离因子互动的AR最少，用于“拒绝”类别。三组（EuP，BritE和PakU）的近距离社交距离参与者比中立和远距离社交距离参与者更倾向于使用更多的拒绝策略。SRQ结果表明负语用转移的操作，其中使用英语的巴基斯坦人在情况1和情况4中分配了与PakU组参与者分配的相似的值。通常，EuP和PakU小组都近似于目标文化的社会实用知识，