A Pragmatic Study of Congratulation Strategies of Pakistani ESL Learners and British English Speakers

Abstract

People usually express their feelings and emotions positively to others when they have happy occasions. However, the ways of expressing congratulation may vary because the expressive speech act “congratulations” is not the only way to express happiness and share others their happy news. The present study investigates the congratulation strategies of Pakistani ESL learners and British English speakers under the influence of social distance variable. For this purpose, 120 participants were recruited, and who were further divided into four different groups: 30 British English speakers, 30 Pakistani ESL learners in the elite class, 30 Pakistani ESL learners of the middle class, and 30 Pakistani ESL learners in the lower class. For data collection, a Discourse completion test (DCT) was used as a tool. The findings reveal that the most frequently used types of congratulation strategy are IFID followed by overlapped strategies (a combination of two), an offer of a good wish, expression of happiness, request for information, encouragement, expression of surprise, and suggestion of celebration, while other types of strategies are not used by the participants. The study reveals the existence of positive and negative pragmatic transfer in the use of congratulations by Pakistani ESL learners. The findings further show how the middle and lower class of Pakistani ESL learners use a more elaborated form of CRs as compared to Pakistani ESL learners of elite and British English speakers. The findings may help in understanding the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects of Pakistani ESL learners as compared to British English speakers.

Comparing congratulatory speech in Javanese and Sundanese: influence of culture on strategies

“…In English, a study conducted by Malik et al, (2021) This study aims to compare the expressive speech act of congratulating crossculturally between two languages, Javanese -particularly Surabayan Javanese (SJ) and Sundanese -particularly Priangan Sundanese. SJ, a sub-dialect spoken in Surabaya, features unique informal elements different from the Standard Variety in Surakarta/Jogja.…”

Analysis of Congratulation Strategies by Swahili Speakers in Response to Happy Occasions on Facebook Status Updates

“…Lastly, Malik et al (2021) conducted a pragmatic study of congratulatory strategies of Pakistani ESL learners and British English speakers. The study involved 120 participants: 30 British native speakers of English, 30 Pakistani advanced speakers of English, 30 Pakistani speakers of English in the middle class and the 30 Pakistani English speakers in the lower class.…”