Variational pragmatics, responses to thanks, and the specificity of English in Namibia

Abstract

In the framework of variational pragmatics, the focus so far has been on L1-varieties of English, and the present paper introduces this area of research into the wider field of World Englishes. It presents first results from a larger questionnaire study on a number of pragmatic variables in Namibian English (NamE), a variety of English that only recently has aroused the interest of a number of researchers because of its unique history and complex variety status. The study employs methods successfully applied in variational pragmatics and describes the realization of responses to thanks in NamE in comparison to three L1-varieties of English. As the paper shows, NamE differs from these varieties in various ways. It argues that these differences, although possibly being more in degree than in kind, nevertheless index local Namibian solutions in the complex linguistic ecology of the speech community. The results of the study furthermore show that some of the results reported for the L1-varieties need to be reconsidered in view of the Namibian data.

Politeness strategies in Ugandan English: making requests and responding to thanks

“…Nevertheless, what we discern from Schröder and Schneider (2018) and Ouafeu (2009) is the fact that the preferred strategies are shaped by indigenous languages (Ouafeu 2009) or exogenous languages, i.e. the role of Afrikaans in influencing Namibian English in this respect (Schröder and Schneider 2018), while from Farenkia (2013), we see the role of exonormativity at work.…”

“…Compared to the speech act of requests, the speech act of responding to thanks has received far less attention in African Englishes. As far as I can tell, only two African varieties of English have been analyzed, namely Cameroon English (Ouafeu 2009, Farenkia 2013 and Namibian English (Schröder and Schneider 2018). What is interesting in the above studies is two-fold: first, the above African varieties of English display features that markedly differ from L1 Englishes.…”

“…Second, in terms of response strategies, African Englishes display varietal differences, thereby underscoring idiosyncrasies that set each national variety apart. Notably, while the most preferred strategy in Namibian English is expressing pleasure (Schröder and Schneider 2018), according to Ouafeu (2009), Cameroonians mainly use the strategy of acknowledging the thanks (by saying yes). However, Farenkia (2013) gives us different results as regards the strategy that Cameroonians prefer, i.e.…”

“…in a given context. Schröder and Schneider (2018) express concern that it has not yet been widely used in comparing L1 Englishes with L2 Englishes. The few studies where it has been referred to include Farenkia (2013) and Schröder and Schneider (2018).…”

“…Schröder and Schneider (2018) express concern that it has not yet been widely used in comparing L1 Englishes with L2 Englishes. The few studies where it has been referred to include Farenkia (2013) and Schröder and Schneider (2018). As such, the mixture that postcolonial pragmatics underscores and both the macro-social and micro-social variables that variational pragmatics considers as cross-varietal factors in language use and variation underlie how Ugandans make requests and respond to thanks in English.…”