JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching

edited by Thomas Tinnefeld

Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

JLLT is an academic organ designed for the worldwide publication of scientific findings which concern the full range between linguistics on the one hand and language teaching on the other. At the same time, it is a basis of discussion for linguists and practitioners of language teaching.

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

JLLT is a refereed journal. All manuscripts, apart from those having individually been requested by the editor, have to be positively evaluated by two referees, this procedure being totally anonymous on both sides (authors and referees). Only then will they be published.

Addressees of JLLT: 

linguists and foreign language methodologists - from university professors to PhD students and teachers at universities and all types of schools;

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young scientists who will find a publication platform for their academic projects which they can open up for discussion so as to get fruitful advice from the community of readers and authors.

Which text types will be accepted? 

articles

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book reviews

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reports about scientific projects and conferences

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reports about innovative study programmes

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reports about Ph.D. projects (for the publication and the protection of intermediate research results) as pre-publications.

The publication process can formally be described as follows: 1. Receipt of a manuscript 2. Pre-screening of the manuscript (editor) 3. Evaluation of the manuscript (editorial board) 4. Positive result: publication of the article on a separate page of the Journal's website. Thus, quick publication of the manuscript (about six to eight weeks after receipt) and availability for the academic world. 5. After receipt of all the parts of the given issue of the Journal: publication of the article in the PDF format, the web page version of the text being kept. Completion of the publication process.

Date of publication: August 26th, 2015

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

Editorial Board (in alphabetical order) Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Baumann - Universität Leipzig, Germany Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Blumbach, M.A. - Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes, Germany Prof. Dr. Didi-Ionel Cenuser - Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania Prof. Dr. Wai Meng Chan - National University of Singapore, Singapore Prof. Dr. Shin-Lung Chen - National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology (NKFUST), Taiwan Prof. Dr. Inez De Florio-Hansen - Universität Kassel, Germany Prof. Dr. Frank Kostrzewa - Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Germany Prof. Tsailing Cherry Liang, Ph.D. - National Taichung University of Technology, Taiwan Prof. Dr. Heinz-Helmut Lüger - Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany Prof. em. Dr. Heiner Pürschel - Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany Prof. Dr. Günter Schmale - Université de Lorraine-Metz, France Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schmitz - Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany Prof. Dr. Christine Sick - Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes, Germany Prof. Dr. Veronica Smith, M.A. - Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Austria Prof. Dr. Bernd Spillner - Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

Table of Contents Foreword to the Issue …………………....…................................................

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I. Articles Hasan Said Ghazala (Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia): Addressing CMT Problems: Toward a Cognitive Stylistic Model of CM Analysis …...................................................................................................

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Katrin Ziegler (Macerata / Italy): Forms and Functions of Reflexive Structures in German ….......................

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Shelley Byrne (Preston (Lancashire), United Kingdom): Examining Successful Language Use at C1 Level: A Learner Corpus Study into the Vocabulary and Abilities Demonstrated by Successful Speaking Exam Candidates …...................................................................

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Julia Davydova (Mannheim, Germany): A Study in the Perception of Native and Non-Native Englishes by German Learners …..................................................................................................

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José María Santos Rovira (Lisbon, Portugal): Cultural Perceptions and Language Attitudes in Second Language Learning - A Survey among University Students in Portugal …..................

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Dechen Zangmo (Thimphu, Bhutan) / Rachel Burke (Newcastle, Australia) / John Mitchell O’Toole (Newcastle, Australia) / Heather Sharp (Newcastle, Australia): Cross-Cultural Methodological Innovation in Bhutan: Teacher Experiences with the Process Writing Approach …....................................

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II. Book Reviews Heinz-Helmut Lüger (Koblenz-Landau): Marc Décimo: Comment la linguistique vint à Paris. De Michel Bréal à Ferdinand de Saussure (= Sciences et Pataphysique, tome 2). Dijon: Les presses du réel 2014. 416 Seiten (ISBN 978-284066-599-1) .............

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Thomas Tinnefeld (Saarbrücken, Germany): Maxi Krause & Per Baerentzen: Spatiale Relationen kontrastiv. Deutsch - Dänisch. Tübingen: Julius Groos 2010, 266 Seiten (Spatiale Relationen - kontrastiv; Bd. 1; hrsg. von Maxi Krause) (ISBN 978-3-87276-900-8) und Maxi Krause & Irene Doval: Spatiale Relationen kontrastiv. Deutsch - Spanisch. (Spatiale Relationen - kontrastiv; Bd. 1; hrsg. von Maxi Krause) Tübingen: Julius Groos 2011. 312 Seiten (ISBN 978-387276-901-5) ….........................................................................................

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Heinz-Helmut Lüger (Koblenz-Landau, Germany): Christine Konecny / Erla Hallsteinsdóttir & Brigita Kacjan (Hrsg.): Phraseologie im Sprachunterricht und in der Sprachendidaktik / Phraseology in language teaching and in language didactics (= ZORA 94). Maribor: Mednarodna založba Oddelka za slovanske jezike in književnosti, Filozofska fakulteta 2013. 173 Seiten (ISBN 978-961-6930-02-4) …....................................................................

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Foreword to the Issue In this issue, which marks the second half of the first decade of JLLT, six academic articles and two book review are presented. The articles incorporate contributions to linguistics, the teaching of syntactic structures, corpus studies, studies on learner perception, and methodological innovation from a cross-cultural point of view. In the subsequent paragraphs, a short overview of these contributions will be given. The first article, a purely linguistic one, by Hasan Said Ghazala (Makkah AlMukarramah, Saudi Arabia) focuses on the latest contributions to the conceptual studies of metaphor from a cognitive, social, cultural and ideological perspective. Any metaphor - being conceptualised in relation to its target and its source domain - reflects the speaker’s attitude, mentality and ideology. The paper investigates failures of the cognitive stylistic model (CMT) in the description of basic functions of the metaphor. Targeting at a solution of the problems described, the author proposes a cognitive stylistic model of analysis of conceptual metaphor which, on the one hand, takes the latest developments into account and, on the other, offers great potential to broaden our horizon with respect to the general study of metaphor in language. In a linguistic study on the teaching of German as a foreign language in Italy, Katrin Ziegler (Macerata, Italy) focuses on the forms and functions of German reflexive structures. The novelty of her article resides in the fact that - unlike traditional, structuralist viewpoints - it follows a functional, i.e. widely pragmatic, approach and delivers a comprehensive study of clauses that represent grammatical relation nexuses. On this basis, various types of German reflexive constructions are described, and the article procures a systematic overview of the complex domain this topic represents.. While the two previous articles represent those in which specific language features are closely examined, the following contributions highlight features that are more abstractly language-related. Following a corpus linguistic approach, Shelley Byrne (Preston (Lancashire), United Kingdom) reports on her findings on the vocabulary and language abilities shown by candidates in English oral exams at the C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The article represents a contribution to research into spoken English grammar, student success, and the description of students’ language development within the framework of the CEFR. The author departs from the assumption that describing learner competence and learner abilities may not be meticulous enough to give reliable information to students as well as test designers and assessors. Bearing this assumption in mind, the author targets at the concrete language use and the abilities shown by students in English oral exams, using a learner corpus of selected C1 exam parameters. By means of these parameters - (among others) vocabulary profiles, word 7

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frequency, lexical chunks and can-do occurrences -, the lexico-grammar a student needs to master so as to obtain a handsome passing score is identified. The two subsequent articles are survey-based studies. The first one is by Julia Davydova (Mannheim, Germany), who presents perceptions of German learners of English with regards to native and non-native Englishes. The study, situated in the domain of language attitudes, stretches out over standard British English, mainstream American English as native varieties, and Indian English (i.e. English as a second language in India) and German English (English as a foreign language in Germany) as non-native varieties. Using a methodological mix of survey, verbal guise test and sociolinguistic interviews, the author provides results according to which British English is most highly evaluated by students in terms of status and prestige. American English, in contrast. is positively judged for its high social attractiveness. These findings confirm those of previous research from a complementary standpoint. Moreover, it could be stated that the native varieties in question were more positively estimated than the non-native varieties. According to the author, these findings are due to an “inferiority complex” whereby non-native speakers evaluate their language much more negatively than native speakers normally do. The corrective measures suggested may of help to teachers and learners. The second survey-related study is the present issue is contributed by José María Santos Rovira (Lisbon, Portugal), who targets at Spanish and the attitudes of Portuguese students towards this language. One of the questions examined is whether students’ attitudes towards Spanish language and culture change in the course of the learning process and lead from attitudes that can be classified as stereotypes, to more realistic estimations. One of the major results of the study was that students’ language attitudes and perceptions are closely related to their learning outcome and the proficiency level they obtain in the target language. In a more regional approach, Dechen Zangmo (Paro, Bhutan), Rachel Burke, John Mitchell O’Toole and Heather Sharp (all Newcastle, Australia) present a study on new cross-cultural methodology in Bhutan, a country where English is a primary language. The authors report on first experiences gained after the adoption of the process-writing approach in Bhutan and provide a comparison of the outcome of this innovative approach with that of traditional education in the country. The present issue is completed by three book reviews, two of which are contributed by Heinz-Helmut Lüger (Koblenz-Landau, Germany). One of these reviews is on Decimo (2014) and the question of how linguistics made its way to Paris, covering the period from Michel Bréal to Ferdinand de Saussure. The other book review is on Konecny, Hallsteinsdóttir & Kacjan (2013) on phraseology from a methodological perspective. The third book review by Thomas Tinnefeld is on Krause & Baerentzen (2010) and Krause & Doval (2011), featuring spatial relations in language from a contrastive point of view German-Danish and German-Spanish, respectively. 8

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As always, editor and editorial board wish our readers an informative reading and cordially thank the authors for their contributions. Thomas Tinnefeld JLLT Editor

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

I. Articles

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

Addressing CMT Problems: Toward a Cognitive Stylistic Model of CM Analysis Hasan Said Ghazala (Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract The term metaphor was traditionally defined in aesthetic and rhetorical terms as the fundamental figure of speech and major form of figurative language. Now this approach no longer holds in the light of the latest monolithic developments of conceptual approaches to metaphor. Yet, dispute is going on about some issues that have not been covered yet by Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) regarding aesthetic and other basic functions of metaphor. The present paper is an attempt to investigate and pay tribute to the latest developments and contributions made by CMT to the conceptual studies of metaphor and its functions and scope, viewing it basically as a matter of cognitive, social, cultural and ideological conceptualization of topics, objects and people. All metaphors are, in principle, reflections and constructions of concepts, attitudes, mentalities, and ideologies on the part of the speaker. Hence, any metaphor is conceptualized in terms of target domain and source domain in different discourses and contexts, literary and non-literary. This means that the aesthetic-rhetorical line of argument - though essential - is left out in favour of a recently developed cognitive conceptualization of metaphor. And this is regarded by some as a major loophole in the CMT. The ultimate objective of this paper is to find out about the CMT partial failure to address some basic functions of metaphor, aesthetic or other. To handle these problems, a cognitive stylistic model of analysis of conceptual metaphor is put forward. It is based on recent cognitive arguments, models and theories. This would open new avenues of analysis, comprehension, interpretation and appreciation of metaphor in language in general. Key words: Metaphor, CMT, conceptual metaphor, cognitive stylistics, conceptualization

1 Introduction Metaphor is the process of 'transporting' qualities from one object to another, a person to another or a thing to a person or animal. Metaphor was originally a Greek word meaning ‘transfer’ (The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993: 1756). Understanding a metaphor as a sort of transport implies that it transports a concept from its normal location to somewhere else where it is not usually used. Conventionally, the term metaphor was defined in aesthetic and rhetorical terms as the fundamental figure of speech and major form of figurative language, or trope. It was analysed and approached in terms of its rhetorical constituent components (i.e. vehicle, image, object or sense) and 13

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types (such as dead, recent, extended or compound metaphors). Now this approach no longer holds in the light of the latest developments in the conceptual and cognitive studies of metaphor. Accordingly, metaphor has received greater attention from an entirely different cognitive perspective of conceptualization and ideologization. The present paper represents an attempt to investigate metaphor from a mainly conceptual perspective, viewing it basically as a matter of conceptualization of topics, objects, and people in cognitive social, cultural, metal, and ideological terms. All metaphors are, in principle, reflections and constructions of concepts, attitudes, mentalities and ideologies on the part of the speaker. Hence, any metaphor is conceptualized in terms of target domain and source domain in different types of context and discourse, both literary and non-literary. This means that the aesthetic-rhetorical line of argument - though traditionally essential - is attended to only cursorily in favour of shifting focus onto its cognitive conceptualization. This shift of focus has exposed the Concept Metaphor Theory (CMT) to criticism for not attending satisfactorily to essential functions of metaphor such as aesthetic, rhetorical and other functions. The ultimate objective of the present paper is to find out about the CMT failure to address some basic functions of metaphor, aesthetic, or other. To handle these problems, a cognitive stylistic model of analysis of conceptual metaphor is put forward. It is based on recent cognitive arguments, models, and theories. This approach would open new opportunities of analysis, comprehension, interpretation and appreciation of metaphor in language in general. To begin with, definitions and comparisons between approaches to metaphor, past and present are introduced.

2 Definitions: Conventional vs. Conceptual Metaphor In the past few years, an enlightening trend in the approaches to the study of metaphor has been established. A surge of tremendous work has yielded numerous explorations about the conceptual metaphor. There has been what Gibbs (2008: 4) describes as an "explosion of research" on metaphor lately, due to “enthusiasm for uncovering the messy reality of metaphor use and the implications of such findings, rather than retreat back to made-up, isolated examples" [in reference to conventional approaches to metaphor] (Gibbs 2008: 4). Hence, in the past twenty years, much has changed in the world of metaphor, which is no longer seen as "an ornamental aspect of language, but a fundamental scheme by which people conceptualize the world and their own activities" (Gibbs 2008: 3). Thus, Semino (2008: 1) defines it as "... the phenomenon whereby we talk and, potentially, think about something in terms of something else". Richie (2013: 8) provides an initial definition of metaphor as "seeing, experiencing, or talking about something in terms of something else". He also points out that metaphor can be defined in terms of what it is not (Richie 2013: 10). On the other hand, Geary (2011) declares that metaphor "shapes the way we see the world". Cameron (2008) points out that metaphors 14

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are used by people in talk to think with, explain themselves to others and organize their talk (also Goatly 1997 / 2011, Glucksberg 2001, and others for detailed definitions of metaphor). Hence, the conventional approaches to metaphor that viewed it in the first place as an aesthetic and rhetorical formal structure of language are no longer in the spotlight of contemporary CMT. Traditional studies on metaphor were conducted within traditional disciplinary frameworks of rhetoric with the aim to locate it more as a part of language and culture than mind, and "a mere decorative device, simply involving the substitution of a literal term for a concept with a nonliteral one (Semino 2008: 9). As Turner rightly remarks, rhetoric degenerated by conceding thought for style and, by declining to attend to mind underlying surface forms of language, it reduced itself to a mere cataloguing of "... kinds of surface word play as if they had no analogues in cognition" Turner (2000: 9). These approaches were unproductive "for traditional scholars defended their 'turf' and methods of analysis as being the best way to understand metaphor", as rightly pointed out by Gibbs (2008: 5). They failed to go through metaphor in depth and consider its conceptual implications and mental representations, and how it reconstructs our thoughts, attitudes and ideologies in a new, insightful way. According to what Turner terms as 'basic conceptual metaphors', it is true that metaphorical ideas are linguistic expressions expressed in words, yet they are themselves conceptual matters, "matters of thoughts that underlie the particular words that express them" (Turner 2000: 17-18). The following section of the present article provides a general account of the types of conceptual metaphor suggested by CMT practitioners.

3 Types of Conceptual Metaphor As Lakoff & Turner (1989) state, cognitive (or conceptual) metaphor theorists do not owe any intellectual debt to their conventional counterparts, as the latter's work is described by them "as entirely misconceived, and present their approach as a radical corrective to the errors of the past" (Semino 2008: 9). This is true despite Semino's objection to it, describing it as 'unfortunate' due to sketchy bits and pieces here and there in the history of metaphor study (Semino 2008: 9). To Gibbs (1994), metaphor is not a distorted literal thought, but a basic scheme by which human experience and the outside world are conceptualized. Newmark, on the other hand, argues that metaphor is a mental process or state that has primarily a cognitive purpose, and an aesthetic purpose in the second place (Newmark 1988: 104). However, he does not apply this idea to practice. Furthermore, his notion of metaphor as an illusion, deception and a kind of lie “where you are pretending to be someone you are not” (Newmark 1988: 104) is dismissed in cognitive stylistics as irrelevant and untrue. It is primitive and misleading for, according to it, metaphor should be seen only in terms of literal vs. non-literal, fictitious vs. factual, and true vs. false language (for further objections, Kövecses 2002 and Davidson 1990 in Nogales 1999: 45). We do not lie when we use metaphors; we make concepts and realities clearer and sharper. 15

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In the light of recent approaches to metaphor, classifying metaphors traditionally into 'dead', 'fossilized', 'cliché', 'mixed or 'standard' is distortive, partial, loose, prescriptive, and therefore of little use. In contrast, the newly defined types of conceptual metaphor are comprehensive and insightful. Studies on conceptual metaphors pay due respect to all types of conceptual metaphor which are set in terms of a conceptualization of the world (as suggested later in the list of the scope of contexts of the metaphor prices are on fire. The contemporary scholarship of conceptual metaphor has revolutionized the whole traditional legacy of metaphor in language and style. Therefore, new types of metaphor are put forward in terms of cognitive conceptualization. Here are a number of them (for a fuller account of other types, e.g, Gibbs 2008, Semino 2008, Richie 2013, Radden 2000, Barcelona 2000, Silaški 2012): 

Primary conceptual metaphors (i.e. Universal metaphors: e.g. purposes are destinatinations) (Steen 2007: 40, Kövecses 2008, and Yu 2008);

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Complex conceptual metaphors (cultural metaphors: e.g. a purposeful life is a journey, actions are motions) (Gibbs 1999, 2003, Kövecses 2005, Ning Yu 2008, and Kintsch 2008);

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Complex (vs. simple) metaphor (e.g. the world is a small village; the universe is a computer) (Kintsch 2008: 130);

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Simple analogy based metaphor (e.g. She shot down all my arguments) (Kinsch 2008: 130);

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Ideology-loaded conceptual metaphors (Semino, 2008: 33, and Deignan, 2008: 290);

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Ideology-neutral conceptual metaphors (e.g. 'emotion metaphors') (Kövecses, 2008, also Semino, 2008: 33);

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Emotion metaphor (of love, anger, etc. e.g. Love is insanity) (Kövecses 2008: 380-382);

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Subordinate / hyponymic metaphor (like the metaphors of basic, or primary emotions including fear, sadness, and lust, compared with master metaphors of love and anger above) (Kövecses, 2008: 380-381);

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Security, cold war, depression, path / journey, war, container, health / illness, religion, sex, etc. conceptual metaphors (Semino 2008: 81-112), Chilton 1996, Mio 1997, Musolff 2004 and Charteris-Black 2004, in Semino 2008: 10);

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Reconciliation metaphors (e.g. building a bridge. (Cameron, 2008 198);

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Deliberate metaphors (e.g. big political picture. (Cameron, 2008: 202);

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Synaesthetic metaphor (a sensory modality described in terms of another: e.g. ' sweet silence, 'guilty feelings') (Shen 2008: 302);

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Monomodal metaphor: either verbal, or nonverbal metaphor (see pictorial metaphor below. (Forceville, 2008: 464-482);

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Multimodal/complex concept metaphor (e.g. emote control pad is swiss army knife) (Forceville, 2008: 464-482);

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Contextual metaphor: an object metaphorized in its visual context (e.g. hair-silk is icecream) (Ster, 2008: 269-274, Forceville, 2008: 464-465);

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Pictorial / visual / non-verbal metaphor: two objects represented in such a way that they look similar (e.g. nokia mobile phone is a matchstick) (Forceville, 2008: 464);

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Hybrid metaphor (subtype of pictorial metaphor): two physical objects merged into a single 'gestalt' (e.g. clogs are running shoes) (Forceville, 2008: 464);

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Integrated metaphor (subtype of pictorial metaphor): a unified object represented in its entirety as to resemble another object even without contextual cues (e.g. A coffee machine's curved shape and a plateau on which the cups are placed represents a servant courteously serving coffee) (Forceville, 2008: 468);

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Verbalized metaphor (contrasted with non-verbalized metaphor) (e.g. exchanging business cards is a knife duel) (Forceville, 2008: 477-478);

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Meta-metaphor / key metaphor: a key metaphorical notion that functions as a backbone of a whole text e.g. 'a battle of metaphors' (as a title of an article indicating a series of related 'war metaphors') (Semino, 2008: 32);

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Literary, etc. conceptual metaphors (e.g. we are the eyelids of defeated caves) (Kintsch 2008).

Obviously, these types need further elaboration. However, they are intended here to stand for a sketchy representation of the complex reticulum of the new corpus of conceptual metaphor today rather than an exhaustive account of its new types. Compared to traditional types, these are primarily deeply conceptual-based types (i.e. master, dominant, culturally sensitive, ideologyloaded, ideology-free, neutral, primary, universal metaphors). More specifically, conceptual metaphors are sets of 'mappings', across conceptual domains, whereby a 'target' domain "is partly structured in terms of a different 'source' domain" (Lakoff and Johnson (1980b) (in ibid.: 5). The Target Domain (TD) is defined as the concept to be described by the metaphor; whereas the Source Domain (SD) is identified as the concept drawn upon, or used to create the metaphorical construction. Thus, in the metaphor Time is money, the target domain (TD) is TIME, and the source domain (SD) is MONEY.

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Conceptual mappings of metaphor have recently resulted in great insights especially at the level of language. Conceptual mapping has proved to be a rich method for discovery. This is declared by Fauconnier & Turner to be a a blooming field of research [that] has as one consequence the rethinking of metaphor. We have a richer and deeper understanding of the processes underlying metaphor than we did previously (Fauconnier & Turner 2008).

Further, according to CMT, metaphor enables us to talk and think about abstract, complex and/or poorly defined areas of experience in terms of concrete, simpler, physical and/or better defined areas of experience. This means that metaphor is a crucial linguistic and cognitive phenomenon (Fauconnier & Turner 2008 : 30, also Simpson, 2004). Hence the next point.

4 Cognitive Stylistics A hugely influential, and updated development in contemporary stylistics is cognitive stylistics (or 'mind stylistics'). It has profoundly affected the direction of the whole discipline in the twenty-first century. Cognitive stylistics is a new approach that regards the mind as the basis for any model of stylistic analysis. Generally, ‘cognitive’ means having to do with knowledge and the mind. Recent cognitive stylistics explores the concept of style as mind. The notion of mind as a mediator between the world and the text has always been important for stylistics. The term, 'mind style' is introduced by Fowler (1977: 76, 103). Mind style has been seen by him as “any distinctive linguistic representation of an individual mental self” (Fowler 1977: 103). More precisely, he defines the term as “cumulatively consistent structural options, agreeing in cutting the presented world to one pattern or another, give rise to an impression of a world-view, what I shall call a ‘mind style’” (Fowler 1977: 76). Boase-Beier has not gone too far from this notion of mind style by distinguishing it “as a textual feature from the corresponding cognitive state which can be attributed to it …” (Boase-Beier 2006: 76). The orientation towards social, mental and psychological backgrounds and surroundings of discourse takes it into a new area. Boase-Beier (2006: 10) points out that cognitive stylistics regards the concept of context as cognitive entity and “involves a concern with social and cultural factors”. Hence, cognitive stylistics views context as a cognitive entity that encompasses knowledge about “text-types, institutions, sociological roles and settings”. It relies on the “interplay of the individual, the cultural and the universal” (Semino 1997 in Boase-Beier 2006 : 73). Phillips (2005, in Boase-Beier 2006: 73) states that “environment shapes the brain”, which is perhaps true of all experiences . On the other hand, individuals vary in the scope of their knowledge, ideologies, political attitudes, social commitments, cultural and historical backgrounds. That is why they have variations in their readings, analyses, understanding and interpretations of texts. Further, individuals vary in their disposition to accept 18

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change and new developments, and this is another reason for their cognitive, mental differences1

5 Cognitive Stylistic Approaches to Conceptual Metaphor "Metaphor is not merely a matter of words but is rather a fundamental mode of cognition affecting human thought and action..." (the author's emphasis) (Turner, 2000: 9). The relationship between cognitive stylistics and conceptual metaphor (which is also termed as cognitive metaphor) is that of overlap and interdependence. Both meet at the point of conceptualization of reality about the world which is made up of cultural, social, ideological and cognitive / mental representations. Black (2006: 103) suggests a pragmatic and cognitive approach to metaphor. She agrees with Cooper (1986) that metaphor is a creative use of language and has a social function in the first place. To her, the principal power of metaphor is to open up new lines of thought, of original thinking. Further, she culturalizes metaphor that readers may understand if they share the same cultural experiences, the ability to reason analogically, and familiarity with the tradition of metaphorical expressions. By appreciating the metaphor, readers demonstrate their belonging to a certain sub-set of the human race. By this, she narrows down the possible universality of metaphor. Black extends her discussion of metaphor to side with Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Lakoff (1987), and Lakoff and Turner (1989), who view metaphor as a part of the human cognitive system. So she perceives metaphors as mainly conceptual, based on concepts (e.g. time is money, death is departure). The conceptual/mental notion of metaphor brings us to the heart of the cognitive stylistic view of metaphor. In cognitive stylistics, metaphor has been reconsidered from a conceptual point of view. A cognitive view of metaphor does not take it as a rhetorical by-product of objective thinking, but as the basis of the human conceptual system. Metaphors may be expressed in language accurately, for human thought processes are fundamentally metaphorical. There are a number of common expressions which demonstrate how metaphors structure our everyday concepts. This is a kind of metaphorical structuring, or conceptualization, of our thinking which is culturally and ideologically determined. Metaphors as such explain how we project our experiences with physical objects in the world on to non-physical experiences such as activities, ideas, emotions or feelings, so as to be able to refer, quantify and identify them; in short, ‘to reason them out’ (see Weber, 1995: 33). Indeed, many examples of dead, or ossified, metaphors structure the conceptualization of everyday reality both culturally and ideationally. Further evidence for this strong interrelation are the functions of conceptual metaphors which interface with those of cognitive stylistics. 1

Also Simpson, 2004. For extensive details about a cognitive approach to style, language and translation and other relevant theories, Simpson, 1993, 2004; Simpson et al. 2002; Stockwell, 2002a, 2002b, 2006; Verdonk, 1999, 2002; Verdonk et al (1995); Weber, 1992, 1996, 2005; Gavins, 2005, 2007; Gavins & Steen, 2003; Black, 2006; Jeffries et al, 2010; and Ghazala, 2011. 19

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6 Relevance of CMT to Recent Cognitive Theories Relevant to cognitive stylistic research is the ambitious theory, the ‘ReaderResponse Theory’ ( especially Iser, 1971f, 1974; Boase-Beier 2006). This theory is derived from the Reception Theory, and Reader Response Criticism which focus on the text-reader relationship, and the reader’s activities in the interpretation of texts. The reader has accordingly been granted an imperial position in the interpretation of texts. His responses to the language of the text determine to a great extent its interpretation and meanings The relevance theory, to start with, is developed by Sperber and Wilson (1986 / 1995), a review of which is done by Blakemore (1992) and Fawcett (1997). Relevance to Sperber and Wilson is a general cognitive principle, for relevance theory is a cognitive theory in the first place. It is concerned with how utterances can be relevant in a cognitive environment of communication. Communication is viewed as the joint responsibility of speaker and hearer. It is a psychological construct, a subset of the hearer’s assumptions about the world. (Black, 2006: 80-101 for more discussion). As to Text World Theory, it is introduced by Paul Werth in reaction to the limited context of reader-response theory. It is an ambitious approach concerned with human discourse processing and context parameters (1994, 1995a, 1995b and 1999) (see also Gavins, 2000 and 2005). Werth argues that a proper engagement with the problems of context is a pivotal foundation for a full understanding of the complexities of texts, real texts in particular, not artificially constructed texts. The reasons for singling out real texts are various, among which is – which is relevant to our discussion of conceptual metaphor frames – that real text requires the reader to be able to draw on stored information from the preceding text and general knowledge. Werth suggests three levels for his text world theory:  Discourse World  Text Worlds and  Sub-worlds The discourse world contains the personal and cultural background knowledge. This baggage of background knowledge is vital to the discourse world, for it has the potential to effect the choice of language used as much as how each participant receives and interprets discourse. The solution proposed to this apparently ungainly context is what Werth terms ‘text-drivenness’ based on Fillmore’s frames, stored as coherent schematizations of experience, based on Schema Theory (1982 and 1985). The second level of text world theory, Text Worlds, is mental representations that bear resemblance to Fauconnier’s mental spaces (1994). ‘Mental Space Theory’, and the ‘Possible World Theories’ which preceded it, are different from Text World Theory. That is, although the text world and all its contents are mental constructs, they are realistic and rich in details as the discourse world 20

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from which they spring. Once the boundaries of text world are defined and discourse is processed, further conceptual layers may be distinguished. These are termed Sub-worlds, the third level of Text World Theory. These sub-worlds are three main types: (i) ‘deictic sub-worlds’; (ii) ‘attitudinal sub-worlds’; and (iii) ‘epistemic sub-worlds’ (Werth, 1999; Gavins, 2000 and 2005; Black, 2006; Simpson, 2004 for further argument, objections, applications and details). All the theories and models proposed by their practitioners fall within the cognitive stylistic approaches to understanding and interpreting language and texts, including metaphor. They represent various brave attempts to establish well-grounded criteria, models and strategies to base and develop their arguments. The common features shared by these theories and models are:  Background knowledge  Bringing together conventional and current approaches  Cognitive stylistic background  Conceptualization  Mental activities  Social, cultural and ideological factors  Centrality of readers' responses and responsiveness  Integrity of models, theories and arguments  Inevitability of individual differences and how to deal with them  Indispensability of individual experience  Comprehensiveness  Persuasiveness  Impressiveness  Courageous tendency to creativity and novelty  Potential contributions  Covering a wide range of cases, or examples in the field concerned  Creating effect on readers  Establishing for future developments, modifications and changes  Establishing evidence for any theoretical claims  Insistence on practice more than theorization Hence, the model of analysis of metaphor suggested below for incorporating aestheticity and other shortcomings of the CMT outlined earlier is based on a number of these common concepts.

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7 Cognitive Scopes of Conceptual Metaphors: NanoMetaphoricity The recent explosion of research on conceptual metaphor has widened its cognitive scope vastly and with variation, ideologically, pragmatically, linguistically, socially, culturally, politically, idiolectally, religiously and situationally. They have opened the door for a wide range of possibilities of conceptualization of metaphor. What has triggered this in me is Semino's provocatively productive example for illustrating her definition of metaphor on the very first page of her book (2008): "The war against drugs", i.e. her suggestion that one implication of this metaphor is the reduction of the number of people who take drugs. This opens the way for other implications possible in the scope of the metaphor concerned (e.g. the reduction of the number of drug traffickers). This scope is sometimes referred to as 'implications', 'context of cotext' (ibid.: ch. 1), 'interpretations' (Sperber and Wilson, 2008), 'interactions', open-ended implicational range (Lakoff, 1993, in Ortony, 1993) scope (but perhaps in a different sense) (Kovecses, 2000, in Barcelona, 2000) 'subtleties' or 'forces' of different types (Gibbs: 2008: 5). Even in talk, Cameron (2008) remarks that the people's choice of metaphor reveals not only their conceptualizations, but also, and more significantly, "their attitudes and values". Gibbs (2008) also says: "Contemporary metaphor studies seek out languagemind-culture interactions. They offer the best hope for understanding the prominence of metaphor in human understanding, yet one that appreciates the subtleties of human meaning-making practices ...". Interestingly, the multifacetedness of mental representations, the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of conceptual metaphor and human cognition and mind (ibid.), its diversifications and potential revitalizations (Goatly, 1997) and, more remarkably, its ideologization within cognitive contexts of different types would make its metaphoric scope really enlightening. Hence, my introduction of 'nano-phoricity' (by analogy to nanotechnology: 'the branch of technology dealing with the manufacture of the tiniest molecules and atoms of objects', Collins, 2000) to indicate the concern of conceptual metaphor studies of today with the tiniest of details of conceptualization of the world. This in some way goes in line with O'Halloran's (2010) objection to the CMT's claim of the singleness of the meaning of metaphor in all texts and contexts (see 8 below). Geary (2011), on the other hand, is fascinated by the many ways metaphors allow us "to communicate thoughts and feelings by analogy to shared knowledge" (see also Kaal, 2012). Therefore, and by way of extending Gibbs' claim of '...the simultaneous presence of neutral, linguistic, psychological and cultural forces" revealed by the analysis of specific metaphors, I put forward some of the potential cognitive conceptualizations of ideological and other implications of one and the same metaphor in a wide range of different texts and contexts 2 2 For a variety of conceptual metaphor mappings, cf. Semino's mapping of the

metaphorical uses of the adjective rich (2008: 191), Fauconnier and Turner's mapping of time is space (2008: 54); Kövecses' mapping of the two emotion 22

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Prices are fire (inconceivable conceptualization of flaming the inflammable abstract (i.e. prices) by the concrete (fire))

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Prices are set on fire (action (of fire-engine extinction) is called upon)

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Beware of prices, they burn you (safety first)

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Keep off prices (precaution recommended)

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Prices are untouchable (warning against physical hurt)

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Prices are unattainable (far-fetchedness)

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Prices are unaffordable (levelling complaints against income)

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Protest against high prices (political attitude)

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Inability to purchase / buy (income problems)

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Government is careless about us (political provocation)

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Low-income public (economic problems)

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Prices were lower (worse living conditions)

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Unexpected rise in prices (frustration)

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Prices are as burning as fire (unusual means of burning)

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Be economical from now on (belt-tightening policy)

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Bitter criticism of prices and those responsible for them (political fiasco)

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Fire attacks prices (war on prices)

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Prices are a victim of fire (vicious attack on innocent prices)

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Prices are fire and fire is a dangerous animal (a combination of metaphors) (politico-economic)

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Feeling of dissatisfaction on behalf of the public (negative signs to politicians)

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People are worried (socio-political unrest)

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Government collapse (political change urgent)

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The government is in enormous trouble (political failure)

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Customers are disappointed (economic fears)

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Customers are helpless (inaction, oppression and lack of power and influence)

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Repercussions of political crisis (political struggle)

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Repercussions of financial crisis (financial problems)

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Political crisis is looming (political instability)

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Financial collapse is lurking (economic instability)

metaphors anger and love (2008: 380), and Yu's mapping of the metaphors of body parts like face (2008: 247). 23

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Symptoms of monopoly (trade and traders corruption)

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Customers rush to buy (fears of political, economic or military crisis to come)

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Customers are required to rush to buy (threats from the worse to come)

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Customers have zero option (surrender; take-it-or-leave-it situation)

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Less commodity is available (fears of selling-out crisis)

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Sellers are greedy (public's socio-cultural dissatisfaction)

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Call for the public to revolt against oppressive regimes (political / military conflict)

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Injustice is prevalent (social corruption and oppression)

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Sense of astonishment (disbelief)

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A prohibited act of monopolization (Islamic / religious culture)

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The Country is in a state of war (prices are no exception; they are on fire, too)

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The fire of war burns everything in the Country (including inflammable prices)

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Blazing prices may cause burns that require to be excised to heal (excision)

Many of these implications are metaphorical entailments and have metonymic connections between the metaphorical target and source, and the implicated proposition (especially 8-14 & 19-24). It goes without saying that the list is tentative and not exhaustive. Further, newly created cognitive contexts and scopes of conceptualization of this metaphor may be appended to those suggested in the list. They are made on the following bases:  dramatization of events (e.g. 1-7) (also Semino, 2008: 31);  bringing together and, at the same time, marking inconceivable conceptualization of an abstract target domain (i.e. prices) into a concrete source domain (i.e. fire);  asserting the newly created conceptualized meaning of the metaphor; (also Semino, 2008: 19, 21-22)  relating that to a more specific contemporary tendency to construct a sharp rise in prices in terms of blazing fire;  a particular patterning of high prices as fire;  cultural implications;  social implications;  contingent, ephemeral contexts (similar to Giora's 'temporal priority of context effects' (2008: 145) (e.g. 40 and 41 are conceptualized over an all-out war in Syria launched by the there dictator against his people for over two years, 2011-2012);  political implications (many examples pointed out above);  ideological implications (all of the above examples);  commonsensical implications (especially 7, 8, 25, 26 and 31); 24

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 simple and clear delineation of poorly and ambiguously complex experience of abstract prices (all metaphors above);  ocal implications (e.g. 40-41);  global / universal implications (especially those of economic, political and common-sense implications); and  idiolectal / individual implications (e.g. 10, 14).  Islamic culture (of prohibition and excision) (e.g. 41 and 44, respectively). Hence, I claim that this example might serve as evidence for the high potential of the scope of the conceptualization of metaphor in contemporary CMT. This really opens new cognitive avenues in thought, meanings, implications, contexts, and ideologies, due to the simple reason that language is a goldfield that never runs out, and human life is ever renewed and developed. The following figure is proposed to highlight a spectrum of potential conceptuali zations suggested by the metaphor Prices are on fire in the widest possible scope of contexts. The arrows stand for this variety of diversification of conceptualized contexts (political, economic, cultural, commonsensical, warfare, financial, social, and other) (Goatly's (1997) notion of metaphoric diversification (in Semino, 2008: 25)) as well as different ideologically conceptualized sparks of fire flying around in all directions off the original source, i.e. the metaphor. Accordingly, the polygonal line of arrows fastening the whole set of the arrows of the spectrum suggests an irregular continuum of these potential ideological implications which can be conceptually transient, contingent, situational, circumstantial, or inconsistent (Figure 1).

8 Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) in the Balance The CMT has recently been under attack, accused of failing to attend to rhetorical and stylistic aspects of verbal metaphor, particularly for work within Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Koller 2004 and Musolff 2004). Critics of conceptual metaphor theory have argued that, while theoretically powerful, the framework has lacked an empirical basis (e.g. Koller, 2004, Steen 1999, Cameron & Deignan, 2003, Low 2003, Semino, 2004, Deignan 2005 (in Semino, 2008: 10)). Indeed, and by way of paying tribute to CMT contributions, Fauconnier & Turner (2008: 53) declare that, over the past few decades, conceptual metaphoric mappings have produced great insights for the study of language and other subjects. Yet, the CMT has been criticized for shortage in answering questions about the stylistic aesthetic, rhetorical, elucidatory, cognitive and other basic values of metaphor (however, Lakoff & Turner 1989; Turner 2000 and other books, and Freeman 1995). Fauconnier & Turner (2008: 64-65), for example, called for revising metaphoric mappings, CMT, and metaphor analysis to be 25

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Figure 1: Ideological mapping potentials (Arrows = diversifications; polygonal arrows = irregular continuum)

able to respond to permanent features of recognition. They have put forward a mode of analysis of these features at five levels: (i) integration networks; (ii) cobbling and sculpting; (iii) emergent structure; (iv) compression; (v) overarching goals other than projection of interference. They successfully applied it to the analysis of the metaphor Time is space. Musolff, on the other hand, suggested a model of analysis of 'political metaphor' and its functions in terms of 'scenarios', with a view to refining 'cognitive metaphor theory' (Musolff 2004: 9-13). He based his argument on an extensive corpus of British and German press articles concerning EU politics between 1989 and 2001. Koller (2003) also suggestes 'clusters' and 'chains' for the multifunctionality of metaphor (Koller 2003: 115-134). Following are some of the questions raised by some of those and other writers like Turner, Musolff, Gibbs (2011) and Cienki (2005) about the shortcomings of CMT. A major question raised by Gibbs (2011) and others concerns the CMT's full preoccupation with the conceptualization of metaphor, thus sacrificing its aesthetic values. The CMT is said to have turned the metaphor into a spiritless mental concept and activity that may deprive the metaphor of its beauty as a constituent part of language which is of special significance and attraction to language users. Although the conceptual origination of metaphor is essentially revealing and its anatomy is quite useful, the process is not merely a matter of 26

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expressing a concept in terms of another concept. So the question that demands a clear answer is: Why do we express a concept in terms of another concept? What we do through metaphor is to conceive a concept out of another, and, as a result, express it in terms of the source (see the definitions above). Metaphor, then, has other equally strong and urgent reasons that may justify its establishment in language. These reasons are based on style, aiming to achieve some stylistic functions and effects emanated by significant stylistic features directed chiefly to readers and language users to achieve the ultimate purpose of the metaphor to conceptualize things in terms of other things. In fact, some metaphor theorists like Musolff, Koller, and Turner have addressed some parts of the functionality of conceptual metaphor in depth. Here, some other stylistic functions of metaphor are addressed with the aim to incorporate them into the CMT. As argued earlier, the most important among the stylistic functions of using a metaphor is to produce an aesthetic effect on language users. Aestheticity is supposed to be the point of departure between metaphor and literalness. For example, the metaphor A relationship is on a shaky foundation, is maps a spatial concept onto an abstract one. Its brilliance lies in its aesthetic difference from the literal way of saying it as A relationship is unstable / unsteady. Or else, why use it in the first place if it does not add an extra point of truth about the two concepts? We mean to say that the comparison between the metaphor and its literal potential need be attended to in the CMT. The CMT explains this metaphor in simple terms as follows: A relationship is a building as a metaphor of business and socio-political origins (Richie 2013: 71). In fact, this explanation distorts the beauty of the metaphor, storming its impressive aesthetic effect that is originally intended to be produced on users. It is true that taking the concepts of the metaphor into pieces may spell it out, but it would disrupt its vividness and splendour for skinning the brain would disclose an ugly picture of the brain and distort its godly beautiful creation to perfection. In a similar fashion, the secret of a gorgeous lady's make-up is in its very makeup of disintegrated chemical ingredients and colours together. The elucidatory metaphor, A relationship is a building seems hard to digest for it peels out the secret of its beauty and, hence, turns it out into a kind of 'ugly duckling'. This insinuates a setback in the dispirited conceptualization of metaphor. Another drawback for the cons of the CMT is its failure to distinguish between conceptual metaphors that symbolize the same sense of the Source Domain concept. For example, the following two examples display two different metaphors of the same sense: One formal and sublime; another informal and insulting / humorous (see also Nash, 1980: 149-51): Writing a book requires Job's patience. Writing a book is a Donkey work.

Both metaphors involve two different conceptualizations of the sense of hard work of the same Target Domain concept (i.e. the hard work involved in writing a book). However they belong to two different Source Domains (i.e. job’s patience, and donkey’s work), not only stylistically, socially and culturally, but also religiously. Social culture draws a distinct line between the formal sublime 27

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and religious connotations of the first, and the informal insulting and / or humorous implications of the second. Generally, people rate the Job's patience' connotations with awe, whereas, donkey connotations are repulsive, even when humorous. Many juxtaposed pairs of formal and informal metaphors cooccur in language, especially with respect to proverbial metaphors, conventional and recent (including technological, political, medical, psychological and other metaphors) (e.g. fast as light / an arrow l an eagle / a storm vs. as quick as the Concorde; etc.). The CMT is required to attend to this problem. A third objection to the CMT (also Semino 2008: 88) is its failure to deal with concept metaphors of the same SD in neutral, positive and negative contexts, which would put infancy acquisition of metaphor specification into question (Richie 2013: 70). Take, for example, the TD, cold: (a) cold call (b) in cold blood (c) cold-blooded (d) cold comfort (e) cold steel (f) leave someone cold (g) (out) in the cold (h) cold war (I) cold warrior (j) cold wave (k) cold person (l) cold-hearted (m) cold feet (n) cold shoulder (o) cold turkey (blunt statements) (p) cold logic (q) cold technology, etc. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1984 and Collins English Dictionary, 2000)

Although cold mainly represents a negative Source Domain (e.g. f-i, l-m, and o), it is not always so. For example, ‘e’ and ‘j’ are rather neutral, whereas ‘p’ and ‘q’ are rather positive. However, ‘c, l and n’ can go either way, depending on the situational context, the speaker, the listener, the personal viewpoint and cultural implications. For example, describing a person as cold can be acceptable to some, but unacceptable to others due to the situation and the personal opinion. Hence, perhaps some criteria (social, cultural, psychological, religious, political, ideological or other) need to be put forward by the CMT to distinguish between the three judgmental categories positive, negative and neutral (or overspecified, underspecified and non-specified (Cruse 1977, 1982 & 1986) (also Semino 2008: 33), for criteria that may reinforce the bias of the implications of metaphor). Metaphorical families like these may lead to think about conceptual metaphor sets by analogy to lexical sets (see Carter, 1987: 118-121). A similar objection is also raised by O'Halloran (2010) against Lakoff & Johnson (1980) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), represented by Lee (1992), who 28

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assume that a metaphor has the same meaning in all texts and contexts. O'Halloran argues that the metaphor's meaning "can be different in different contexts" (O'Halloran 2010, in O’Keeffe et al: 563-676). In a corpus-based case study of the frequency of the metaphorical verb erupted across 260 million newspaper words between 1999 and 2003, O’Halloran adds that metaphorspecification into negative, or positive differs from one register to another (see also Sinclair's 'semantic prosody' (2003), O’Halloran's 'register prosody', Widdowson's 'pretextual metaphorical lexicalization' (2004) (in: O'Halloran, 2010, ibid: 563-676), Barcelona, 1995; Lakoff, 1987; and Turner, 1996). Relevant to the third objection is a fourth question that begs an answer by the CMT concerning the distinction between the ironical and serious sense of the same conceptual metaphors. Here, we do not mean the metaphors that are meant to be so (e.g. double entendres, commercial metaphors, jokes, parodies and humorous puns (e.g. Where do fish learn to swim? In school. (Nash, 1989 & 1985: 141)), but, rather, those metaphors that can be taken either seriously or ironically like (Richie, 2013 71): A big problem A big boss A big shot A big fuss

In normal circumstances, these metaphors are taken seriously. However, they can all be used ironically by implication to mean quite the opposite and, hence, produce a greater effect on readers / addressees, as follows: A little snag / no problem at all! A poor boss / no boss at all! A very-low rank official / a man working for a big shot! A little fuss / no fuss over anything!

On what basis can we draw a thin line between the serious metaphors of the first group, and their ironical counterparts of the second? How can the CMT account for such potentially ironical uses, functions and implications in language in general, and on what bases? These are among the questions that the CMT is probably urged to attend to. A further significant stylistic function of metaphor to be taken care of by the CMT is to achieve greater hyperbolic expressivity of the SD in terms of other concepts perhaps to impress and interest the audience. Here are pairs of metaphorical and literal examples juxtaposed for sharper illustrations: Money talks ↔ money is the most important thing in life. Time is money ↔ time is precious in material terms. Money is the sinews of love / war ↔ no money, no love / war.

The metaphors conceptualize the literal TDs concepts in a brilliant, hyperbolic and expressive way that may impress readers more influentially. Animating money in 1 & 3 is much more impressive and effective to them than the literal, 29

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inanimate statements (on the left), though they are highly exaggerative. As to 2, its expressivity and impressiveness lies in its laconic but expressive and hyperbolic linguistic conceptualization. The power of impressiveness, expressiveness and exaggeration of conceptual metaphor and its readeroriented functions and implications might require further development the CMT as a vital trigger of suggesting it. This might be carried out with special reference to the distortion of the animate-inanimate semantic restriction rules and how vital, vivid, impressive and expressive they can be in creative new conceptual metaphors Perhaps the core reason behind using metaphor is elucidation of the TD in more intense terms and concepts. The most recurrent conceptual metaphors that may achieve this purpose are those of exemplification: e.g. I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear. (Tony Blair, in Semino 2008: 84). Some jobs are (like) jails. (Kintsch 2008: 134) My lawyer is (like) a shark. (Kitsch 2008: 134) He eats (like) a pig (Kitsch 2008: 135) The Sun Newspaper went like a shot. (in Ghazala 1994: 55) Someone is like a bull in a china shop. (in Ghazala 2008: 143)

These metaphors suggest a more intense conceptualization and, hence, clarification of the original TD concepts. Their SDs are profound sharp elucidations of their literal counterparts which usually narrow down the implications and dimensions of sense down to one direct concept. Moreover, they develop the latter into sharply negative and repugnant connotations and implications which cannot be achieved otherwise (especially 1-3). This casts doubt about the claim of the CMT that sensory experiences of infancy provide the basis for conceptual metaphors, expressing more abstract concepts (like desire, love or caring), and for those related to direct physical experience (e.g. hunger, temperature or pain) Richie, 2013: 69). For example, to infants, cold in cold weather may connote a negative thing, yet later when he / she becomes an adult, social, psychological, ideological and other factors reshape and develop his / her experience of life and personal attitudes. These attitudes may be the essence of our reception of the implications of many conceptual metaphors. Now, the question that bids an urgent answer is how the CMT can overcome these shortcomings. The most urgent aspect - and most difficult one - is to find a way out of the most serious accusation to the CMT of sacrificing the aesthetic values of metaphor, which turns it into a dumb metaphor. The first step is to acknowledge this problem, which is already done here and by other CM theorists. Thus, Turner (2000: 9) raises a question about the connections between thought and language and how to work these connections to achieve functions like evoking, inventing, and persuading. The question now is how to bridge the gap between the 'intellectual anatomy', as it were, of the conceptual metaphor and its stylistic (aesthetic and other) aspects and implications. One way of doing this is to set the metaphor against its literal sense in terms of readers' response-centered stylistic criteria like conventional and contemporary standards and values of aestheticity, expressivity, 30

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impressiveness, effectiveness and linguistic / rhetorical powers of persuasion that can be common to many language users. These criteria can be introduced in the form of a cognitive-stylistic model of some kind - script or frame- , whose basis is an idealized cognitive model (ICM) suggested by Schank and Abelson (1977: 43 in Simpson 2004: 40). The ICM represents a 'domain of knowledge' that includes 'roles' (e.g. participants in a football game such as players, referees, coaches) and 'props' (objects like a ball, a pitch, a whistle, a stadium, fans) associated with the said domain. ICMs account for stores of knowledge which readers bring into play when they read, and how these stores are modified as reading progresses and experiences widen and develop. Further, ICMs allow for individual differences in regard to 'roles' and 'props' (i.e. some may add to participants like the linesmen, a fourth referee, substitutes and to objects like goals, cameras, flashlights, or stretchers). According to ICM, experience is prone to refreshment, development, modification and revising with the passage of time and individual potentials. Cook (1994) argues that the main function of certain types of discourse is to effect a change in the schemata of their readers (Cook (1994: 191 in Simpson, 2004: 90). After all, the ICMs are mental, cognitive models that can be triggered even by a minimal syntactic or lexical marker. In cognitive stylistic studies, a model of Artificial Intelligence (AI) known as schema theory represents an important landmark. This theory is a cover term for a collection of cognitive models like schema, and its variations, frame, scenario, and script. Schank and Abelson (1977) developed a script-based model of human understanding and memory (Musolff's (2004) scenarios of political metaphors). A script describes "a predetermined, stereotyped sequence of actions that defines a well-known situation" (Schank and Abelson 1977: 41), which was later termed by Fauconneir & Turner (2002: 171) as 'longterm schematic knowledge' on which they base their model of conceptual integration theory (CIT) that contains 'conceptual blending' and' conceptual integration' (Fauconneir & Turner 2002: 166) as mental spaces of four concepts frames: two input spaces, a generic space and a blended space (also Richie, 2013: 115-117). Scripts are based on expectations and pre-existing knowledge stores, but are subject to development and modification, and fresh incoming information interacts with what we already know, urging us to modify our mental representations. This cognitive process is implicit in the football scenario pointed out above with reference to ICMs which are interconnected with scripts. Hence, scripts allow for new conceptualizations of objects within them. The very nature of these conceptualizations varies from one person to another, and there can be no upper limit to the number of conceptualizations that can be called in for every script (also Simpson, 2004: 89-90). As to metaphor, Richie (2013: 22, 106-107), Gamson (1992), Price et al. (1997), Tracy (1997) (in Richie, 2013: 22, 106-107) and others use an alternative term in the study of conceptual metaphor, i.e. 'metaphor framing'. To Tracy, a framing metaphor can be applied to the way people understand their social interactions, conventions, and social relationships (Tracy 1997: 107). Price et al. (1997: 107), on the other hand, suggest using 'accessible cognitive schemata' in the media to be employed in processing and generating 31

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responses. These schemata originate in personal experience, but they are often influenced by other factors like content, cultural and other conventional and recent implications of a metaphor to help interpret it. Schön (1993, in Richie, 2013: 108) has gone all that far and defines metaphor in terms of framing, and suggests the term, generative metaphor for the process by which frames are transferred from one domain of experience (i.e. the vehicle) to another (i.e. the topic). Following Schön's metaphorical framing, Reddy (1993, in Richie, 2013: 108) argued that language for discussing communication is biased toward what he terms conduit metaphor which frames communication in a way that favours a particular set of solutions for communication difficulties. He puts forward a framework for the conduit metaphor that includes at least four propositions: thoughts are objects: language consists of containers transferred in words by language among individuals; thoughts and feelings, which must be inserted into words; words contain thoughts and feelings, which they transfer to others; and the readers, who would take the thoughts and feelings out of words (for further discussion, Richie 2013: 109-110).

9 Relevance of CMT to Recent Cognitive Theories Relevant to cognitive stylistic research is the reader-response theory (especially Iser, 1971f, 1974, Boase-Beier 2006). This theory is derived from the reception theory, and reader response criticism which focus on the text-reader relationship, and the reader’s activities in the interpretation of texts. Accordingly, the reader has been granted an imperial position in the interpretation of texts. His responses to the language of the text determines its interpretation to a great extent. The relevance theory, to start with, was developed by Sperber & Wilson (1986,1995), reviews of which were done by Blakemore (1992) and Fawcett (1997). To Sperber & Wilson, relevance is a general cognitive principle, as relevance theory is a cognitive theory in the first place. It is concerned with the question of how utterances can be relevant in a cognitive environment of communication. Communication is viewed as the joint responsibility of speaker and hearer. It is a presupposed optimal relevance in the sense that an utterance is relevant enough to the hearer / reader to be worth processing, and that what is said is the most relevant way of saying it. Context is one area where the relevance theory differs sharply from other theories. It is a psychological construct, a subset of the hearer’s assumptions about the world. (Black, 2006: 84, for further reference and discussion). The text world theory was introduced by Paul Werth in reaction to the limited context of the reader-response theory. It is an ambitious approach concerned with human discourse processing and context parameters (Werth 1994, 1995a, 1995b and 1999) (also Gavins 2000 and 2005). Werth argues that a proper engagement with the problems of context is a pivotal foundation for a full 32

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understanding of the complexities of texts, real texts in particular. The reasons for singling out real texts are various, among which are reasons that are relevant to our discussion of conceptual metaphor frames. Furthermore, real text requires the reader to be able to draw on stored information from the preceding text and their general knowledge. He suggests three levels for his text world theory: the discourse world, the text worlds, and the sub-worlds. The first level contains personal and cultural background knowledge. This baggage of background knowledge is vital to the discourse world, for it has the potential to effect the choice of language used as much as how each participant receives and interprets discourse. The solution proposed to this apparently ungainly context is what Werth terms text-drivenness based on Fillmore’s frames, stored as coherent schematizations of experience, based on the schema theory (Werth 1982 and 1985). The second level, text worlds, comprises mental representations that bear resemblance to Fauconnier’s mental spaces (Fauconnier 1994). The mental space theory is different from the text world theory in that all of its levels are constitutionally equivalent. Although the text world and its contents are mental constructs, they are as realistic and rich in details as their origin, discourse world, the higher-order conceptual sphere that is inhabited by an author and a reader (Werth, 1999: 17). Once the boundaries of the text world are defined and discourse is processed, further conceptual layers may be distinguished. These are termed sub-worlds, the third level of the text world theory. These sub-worlds are three main types: deictic sub-worlds, attitudinal sub-worlds, and epistemic sub-worlds (Werth 1999, Gavins 2000 and 2005, Black 2006 and Simpson 2004 for further argument, objections, applications and details). All the theories and models proposed by those and other writers fall within the cognitive stylistic approaches to understanding and interpreting language and texts, including metaphor. They represent various brave attempts to establish well-grounded criteria, models and strategies to base and develop their arguments. The common features shared by these theories and models are:               

background knowledge. bringing together conventional and current approaches. a cognitive stylistic background. conceptualization. mental activities. social, cultural and ideological factors. centrality of readers' responses and responsiveness. integrity of models, theories and arguments. inevitability of individual differences and how to deal with them. indispensability of individual experience. comprehensiveness. persuasiveness. impressiveness. courageous tendency to creativity and novelty. potential contributions. 33

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    

covering a wide range of cases or examples in the field concerned. creating effect on readers. preparing future developments, modifications and changes. establishing evidence for any theoretical claims. insistence on practice more than theorization.

Hence, the model of analysis of metaphor suggested below for incorporating aestheticity and other shortcomings of the CMT outlined earlier is based on a number of these common concepts.

10 A Cognitive Stylistics-Based Model of Analysis of Conceptual Metaphor It is high time now to introduce a proposed model of the analysis of conceptual metaphor that is based on cognitive stylistics. The aim is to incorporate the components of metaphor that are left out of the scope of the CMT into a comprehensive integrative framework that might allow for accounting for these hitherto missing components and would leave the door open for future developments, modifications, changes or individual differences. This model of analysis of metaphor is based on six integrating modules (in boxes) that represent the following planes (from top to bottom):

Figure 2: Incorporative cognitive stylistic-based model of conceptual metaphor

The model is read from top to bottom only. Here are the clues for the shapes, symbols and figures used to guide us through:

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Here are the planes represented by the six integrating modules illustrated in the figure:      

Stylistic functions of metaphor not attended to satisfactorily by CMT. The bases and implications of the stylistic functions of (1). The mental activities and conceptualizations triggered by these functions and implications of metaphor and directed to readers. The different forms of mental activities and conceptualizations of metaphor. The previous module is loaded with cognitive stylistic implications, functions and effects. All the former planes and modules are viewed as a gestalt spectrum representing a comprehensive, integrated cognitive perceptual pattern that is more than the sum of its constituent parts.

The Target Domain (TD) is the literal/physical sense, whereas the Source Domain (SD) leans heavily on the animation of the inanimate TD. Hence, the capitalization of ANIMATION. All the conceptual planes of this model of analysis derive from, centre around and aim at the readers' responses to metaphor.

11 Conclusion This paper has attempted to pay tribute to the huge developments and contributions made by CMT. On the other hand, it has pinpointed some deficiencies concerning major stylistic functions of metaphor that cannot be denied, but the CMT has not attended to them yet. The huge corpus on contemporary conceptual metaphor has indeed been enlightening. Metaphor is a mental process and a significant feature of cognitive stylistics and cognitive theory which concerns itself in the way mental constructs are transferred, especially with the way one mental representation is mapped onto another when reading texts, i.e. the target domain and the source domain. Many types of conceptual metaphor in all fields of knowledge have been analysed cognitively and successfully in an unprecedented way. This has paved the way for new perspectives, avenues, scopes, roles, functions, and implications for metaphor, which can be deservedly described today as a metaphor world. Yet, CMT has failed to address established stylistic functions of metaphor like aestheticity, irony, bias, expressivity, impressiveness, and effectiveness. Therefore, the second part of the present paper has dealt in some detail with how to bridge the gap and compensate for the shortcomings of the CMT in this respect. An incorporative cognitive stylistics-based model of analysis that is reader-response-centred is put forward. Its aim is to integrate an overlapped reticulum of ramified frames and modules for the analysis of the metaphor's cognitive stylistic functions not attended to satisfactorily by the CMT. We declare this model to be tentative and stress that it will need to be refined and 35

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developed by other analysts and specialists in the field.

References Barcelona, Antony (ed.) (2000). Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads: A Cognitive Perspective. New York: Mouton de Guyter. Barcelona, Antony (1995). Metaphorical models of romantic love in Romeo and Juliet. In: Journal of Pragmatics, 24, 667-88. Black, Elizabeth (2006). Pragmatic Stylistics. Edinburgh: University Press. Blakemore, Diane (1992). Understanding Utterances. Oxford: Blackwell. Boase-Beier, Jean (2006). Stylistic Approaches to Translation. St. Jerome Publishing. Manchester, UK & Kinderhook, USA. Cameron, Lynne (2008). Metaphor comprehension and the brain. In: R. Gibbs (2008) (Ed.).The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 197-211. Cameron, Lynne & Deignan, Alice (2003). Using large and small corpora to investigate tuning devices around metaphor in spoken discourse. In: Metaphor and Symbol, 18 (2003) 3, 149-160. Carter, Ronald (1987). Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives. London: Allen & Unwin. Chilton, Paul (1996). Security Metaphors: Cold War Discourse from Containment to Common House. New York: Peter Lang. Cienki, Alan (2005) Image schemas and gesture. In Hampe, Beate (2005) (ed). From Perception to Meaning: Image Schemas in Cognitive Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 421-442. Collins, Harper (2000). Collins York English Dictionary (Millennium edn.). Harper Collins Publishers. Cook, Guy (1994). Discourse and Literature. Oxford University Press. Cooper, David (1986). Metaphor. Oxford: Blackwell. Cruse, D. Alan (1977). The pragmatics of lexical specificity. In: Journal of Linguistics 13, 153-64. 36

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Cruse, D. Alan (1982). On lexical ambiguity. In: Nottingham Linguistic Circular, 11, 2, 65-80. Cruse, D. Alan (1986). Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Deignan, Alice (2005). Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamin. Fauconnier, Gilles (1994). Mental Spaces: Aspects of meaning construction in natural language. Cambridge University Press. Fauconnier, Gilles & Mark Turner (2002). The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books. Fauconnier, Gilles & Mark Turner (2008). Rethinking metaphor. In: R. Gibbs (2008) (Ed.).The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought. (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 53-66. Fawcett, Peter (1997). Translation and Language: Linguistic Theories Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome. Foreceville, Charles (2008). Metaphor in pictures and multimodal representations. In: R. Gibbs (2008) (Ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 462-482. Fowler, Roger (1977). Linguistics and the Novel. London: Methuen. Freeman, Donald C. (1993). According to my bond: King Lear and re-cognition. In: Language and Literature, 2, 1, 1-18. Freeman, Margaret, H. (1995). Metaphor making meaning: Emily Dickinson’s conceptual universe. In: Journal of Pragmatics, 24, 6, 643-66. Gamson, William, A. (1992). Talking Politics. Cambridge University Press. Gavins, Joanna (2000). Absurd tricks with Bicycle Frames in the text world of The Third Policeman. In: Nottingham Linguistic Circular, 15, 17-33. Gavins, Joanna (2005). Text world theory in literary practice. In: Petterson, Bo, Merja Polvinen & Harri Veivo (Eds) (2005). Cognition and Literary Interpretation in Practice. Helsinki: University of Helsinki Press, 89-104. Gavins, Joanna (2007). Text World Theory: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Gavins, Joanna & Gerard Steen (2003). Cognitive Poetics in Practice. London & New York: Routledge. Geary, James (2011). I is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the 37

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Way We See the World. Harper Collins. Geary, James (2011). I is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See the World. Harper Collins. Book Review: In: Metaphor and Symbol 27, 312-314. Ghazala, Hasan (1994). Varieties of English Simplified: A Textbook for Advanced University Students (2nd edition 1999). Malta: Elga. Ghazala, Hasan (2011). Cognitive Stylistics and the Translator. London: Sayyab Books. Ghazala, Hasan (2008). Translation as Problems and Solutions: A Textbook for University Students and Trainee Translators. Beirut: Dar El-Ilm Lil-Malayin. Gibbs, Raymond (1994). The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language and Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gibbs, Raymond (1999). Taking metaphor out of our heads and putting it into the cultural world. In Gibbs Raymond & Gerard Steen (Eds.) (1999). Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 145-166. Gibbs, Raymond (2003). Embodied experience and linguistic meaning. In: Brain and Language, 84, 1-15. Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (Ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press. Gibbs, Raymond (2008). Metaphor and thought: The state of the art. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 3-13. Gibbs, Raymond (2011). Evaluating conceptual metaphor theory. In: Metaphor and Symbol, 48, 8, 529-562. Giora, Rachel (2008). Is metaphor unique? In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 143-160 Goatly, Andrew (1997). The Language of Metaphors. London: Routledge. O'Halloran, Kieran (2010). Investigating metaphor and ideology in hard news stories. In: Hunston, Susan & David Oakey (2010) (eds). Introducing Applied Linguistics: Concepts and Skills. London and New York: Routledge, 97-107. Iser, Wolfgang (1971). Indeterminacy and the reader's response in prose fiction. In: Hillis, Miller (1971) (ed). Aspects of Narrative. New York: Colombia University Press, 1-45. Iser, Wolfgang (1974). The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose 38

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Iser, Wolfgang (1979). The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul). Jeffries, Lesley & Daniel, McIntyre (2010). Stylistics. Cambridge University Press. Johnson, Mark (2008). The neutral theory of metaphor. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 39-52. Kaal, Anna (2012). Metaphor in Conversation. Proefschriftmaken.nl. Kintsch, Walter (2008). How the mind computes the meaning of metaphor: A simulation based on LSA. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 129-142). Koller, Veronica (2003). Metaphor, clusters, metaphor chains: analysing the multifunctionality of metaphor in text. In: Metaphorik.de, 5, 115-34. Koller, Veronica (2004). Metaphor and Gender in Business Media Discourse: A critical cognitive Study. Basingstoke, Hants: Palgrave Macmillan. Kövecses, Zoltẚn (2000). The scope of metaphor. In Barcelona, Antonio (2000) (ed.). Metaphor and Metonym at the Crossroads: A Cognitive Perspective. New York: Mouton de Guyter, 79-92. Kövecses, Zoltẚn (2002). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kövecses, Zoltẚn (2008). Metaphor and emotion. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 380-396. Lakoff, George (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Lakoff, George & Mark Turner (1989). More Than Cool Reason. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Lakoff, George (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In: Ortony, Andrew (1993) (ed.). Metaphor and Thought. (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 202-251. Lakoff, George (2008). The neutral theory of metaphor. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). 39

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Cambridge University Press, 17-38. Leech, Geoffrey (1969). A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. London: Longman. Low, Graham (2003). Validating metaphoric models in applied linguistics. In: Metaphor and Symbol, 18, 4, 239-54) Musolff, Andreas (2004). Metaphor and Political Discourse: Analogical Reasoning in Debates about Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Nash, Walter (1980). Designs in Prose. Longman. Nash, Walter (1985). The Language of Humour: Style and Technique in Comic Discourse. London and New York: Longman. Nash, Walter (1989). Rhetoric: The Wit of Persuasion. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell. Newmark, Peter (1988/1995). A Textbook of Translation. London :Prentice Hall. Nogales, Patti (1999). Metaphorically Speaking. CSLI Publication. Stanford: California. O’Halloran, Kieran (2010). How to use corpus linguistics in the study of media discourse. In: O'Keeffe, Anne & Michael McCarthy (2010) (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. Routledge Handbooks in Applied Linguistics. Abingdon: Routledge, 563–576. Ortony, Andrew (1993). Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oxford (1993). The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary. (2 vols.). Oxford University Press. Philips, Helen (2005). How life shapes the brainscape. In: New Scientist, 12-13. Price, Vincent, David, Tewksbury & Elizabeth Powers (1997). Switching trains of thought: the impact of news frames on reader’s cognitive responses. In: Communication Research, 24, 481. Radden, Gϋnter (2000). How metonymic are metaphors? In Barcelona, Anotnio (2000) (ed.). Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads: A Cognitive Perspective. New York: Mouton de Guyter, 39-105. Richie, L. David (2013). Metaphor. Cambridge University Press. Schank, Roger, & Roger Abelson (1995). Knowledge and memory: the real story. In Wyer, Robert S. (1995) (ed.). Advances in social cognition. Knowledge and memory: the real story. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1-86.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Semino, Elena. (1997). Language and World Creation in Poems and Other Texts. London: Longman. Semino, Elena (2008). Metaphor in Discourse. Cambridge University Press. Shen, Joseph (2008). Metaphor and poetic figures. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 295-307. Silaški, Nadeżda (2012). Metaphoric and metonymic conceptualizations of the head – a dictionary - based contrastive analysis of English and Serbian. In: Linguistics and Literature, 10, 1, 29 – 39. Simpson, Paul (1993). Language, Ideology and Point of View. London: Routledge. Simpson, Paul (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. London & New York: Routledge. Simpson, Paul & Geoff Hall (2002). Discourse analysis and stylistics. In: Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 22, 136-49. Sperber, Dan & Deirdre Wilson (1986/1995). Relevance Theory, Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Blackwell. Sperber, Dan & Deirdre Wilson (2008). A deflationary account of metaphors. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 84-105. Steen, Gerard (2007). Finding Metaphor in Grammar and Usage: A Methodological Analysis of Theory and Research. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins. Stockwell, Peter (2002a). Cognitive Poetics: An Introduction. London & New York: Routledge. Stockwell, Peter (2002b). Miltonic texture and the feeling of reading. In: Semino, Elena & Culpeper, Jonathan (2002) (eds.). Cognitive Stylistics: Language and Cognition in Text Analysis. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins, 73-94. Stockwell, Peter (2006). Language and literature: stylistics. In: Aarts, Bas & Mcmahon, April (2006) (eds.). The Handbook of English Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 742-758. Tracy, Guilford, K. (1997). International trouble in emergency service requests: a problem of frames. In: Research on Language and Social Interaction 30, 315-343. Turner, Mark (l1987/2000). Death is the Mother of Beauty: Mind, Metaphor, Criticism. Christchurch. New Zealand: Cybereditions Corporation Turner, Mark (1996). The Literary Mind. New York: Oxford University Press.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Verdonk, Peter (1999). The liberation of the icon: A brief survey from classical rhetoric to cognitive stylistics. In: Journal of Literary Studies, 15, 3/4, 291-304. Verdonk, Peter (2002). Stylistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press Verdonk, Peter & Jean Jacques Weber (1995). Twentieth-Century Fiction: From Text to Context. Routledge: London and New York. Weber, Jean Jacques (1992). Critical Analysis of Fiction: Essays in Discourse Stylistics. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Weber, Jean Jacques (1996). The Stylistics Reader. London: Arnold. Weber, Jean Jacques (2005). From "Bad" to "Worse": Pragmatic scales and (de)construction of cultural models. In: Language and Literature 14, 1, 45-63. Werth, Paul (1994). Extended metaphor: A text world account'. In: Language and Literature 3, 2, 79-103. Werth, Paul (1999). Text Worlds: Representing Conceptual Space in Discourse. London: Longman. Yu, Ning (2008). Metaphor from body and culture. In: Gibbs, Raymond (2008) (ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition 2010). Cambridge University Press, 247-261.

Author: Hasan Said Ghazala Full Professor of Stylistics and Translation Department of English College of Social Sciences Umm Al-Qura University Makkah Al-Mukarramah Saudi Arabia E-mail: [email protected]

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Forms and Functions of Reflexive Structures in German Katrin Ziegler (Macerata / Italy)

Abstract (English) Morpho-syntactic descriptions of reflexivisation processes in German are usually based on a grammatical approach that considers specific elements in terms of categories (for example, as individual words: nouns, verbs or adjectives) without considering the variable paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of interdependence which link the clause elements. This article, in contrast, adopts a functional approach to the analysis of reflexive structures, in order to provide an in-depth study of clauses as nexuses of grammatical relations. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive description of the various constructions containing German reflexive pronoun sich, and attempts to provide systematic summaries of the complex sets of forms and functions. Key words: Reflexivisation processes, functional approach, clauses as nexuses of grammatical relations

Abstract (Italian) Dietro le descrizioni morfosintattiche dei processi di riflessivizzazione in tedesco sta solitamente una prospettiva grammaticale che osserva i singoli elementi dal punto di vista categoriale (per es., come singole parole: sostantivi, verbi, aggettivi), non considerando invece i mutevoli rapporti di interdipendenza paradigmatica e sintagmatica che correlano gli elementi proposizionali. Nel lavoro presente, invece, si procede ad un’analisi delle strutture riflessive adottando un punto di vista funzionale sotto il quale si esaminano le proposizioni in un modo complessivo e cioè come nessi di relazioni grammaticali. In questo modo è possibile fornire una descrizione unitaria di tutte le costruzioni marcate dalla presenza di sich e tentare sistemazioni organiche degli insiemi complessi di forme e funzioni. Parole chiave: Processo di riflessivizzazione, interdipendenza paradigmatica e sintagmatica, relazioni grammaticali

1 Introduction Drawing on a functional syntactic theory, this article examines reflexive structures in the German language with a view to offering a classification of such structures and a reflection on some of the more challenging aspects inherent to the classification task. Despite the existence of a vast bibliography on the topic, no experimental tools have yet been developed to perform a comprehensive survey of the complex set of forms and functions featuring the reflexive pronoun sich, for the purposes of properly considering their dissimilarities and any potential similarities in their features. 43

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As in the case of other languages, traditional studies of German grammar tend to approach constructions involving the reflexive sich by first considering the verbs with which it occurs (cf. Section 2). As such, reference, for example, is made to ‘properly reflexive’ verbs and ‘inherently reflexive’ verbs. The limitations of this approach are clear, however, if we consider that a single verb can occur in a variety of structures and that, as such, these structures are not necessarily linked to the lexical properties of their individual elements. The verb class approach also fails to elucidate the structural relationships among the different constructions in which sich occurs. This article aims to perform a comprehensive overview of clause structures. To this end, it draws on Relational Grammar (RG) 1, a framework which also provides the formal tools used in this study, favoured because they are both easy to apply and effective in highlighting the relevant issues 2. In line with this approach, this study does not focus exclusively on individual words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) but rather includes descriptions of interdependencies and syntactic correlations, from both syntagmatic and paradigmatic perspectives. As such, clauses are considered as nexuses of grammatical relations.

2 Status Quaestionis In German linguistic studies, ‘reflexive’ verbs are traditionally classified according to the following categories. 3 2.1 Categories of Reflexive Verbs 2.1.1 Verbs Used Reflexively The first category refers to ‘properly reflexive verbs’, the direct or indirect object of which may either be reflexive or any other noun or nominal group. The reflexive pronoun is the direct object (in the case of the accusative) in example (1a), and the indirect object (in the case of the dative) in example (1b): (1a)

Die Frau wäscht sich morgens sorgfältig. [The woman washes thoroughly in the morning.]

1 Cf. Perlmutter (1983b), Perlmutter & Rosen (1984), Dubinsky & Rosen (1987); for

later developments Rosen (1988, 1997, 2012), Davis & Rosen (1988), La Fauci (1988), La Fauci & Mirto (2003). 2 It should be noted that the theoretical framework of RG has not changed over the course of the last 30 years. The grammatical model, however, while only used by Italianists in relation to Romance languages, has evolved in several ways and, as such, provides solutions to many linguistic problems. 3 Terminology for reflexive forms in German is rather unclear and ambiguous. This

article draws mainly on the definitions provided in Duden (2005) and in the Deutsche Grammatik by Helbig & Buscha (1998). 44

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Die Studenten erzählen sich die letzten Neuigkeiten. [The students tell each other the latest news.]

While the reflexive pronoun in construction (1b) is the argument of the verb and, as such, necessarily part of the phrasal structure, the reflexive in sentence (1c) is a ‘free dative’ (an optional constituent): (1c)

Meine Freundin kauft sich ein neues Auto. [My friend buys herself a new car.]

2.1.2 Inherently Reflexive Verbs The so-called lexicalization of the reflexive occurs both in clauses with verbs that are entirely intransitive (sich) ängstigen (2a) and in (anticausative) clauses that have a transitive counterpart (sich) öffnen (2b): (2a)

Meine Katze ängstigt sich sehr bei Gewitter. [My cat is very frightened of thunder storms.]

(2b)

Die Tür öffnet sich leicht mit einem Schlüssel. [The door opens easily with a key.]

2.1.3 Reflexive Forms with a Passive Meaning Reflexive forms with a passive meaning feature the reflexive pronoun sich in combination with intransitive verbs (3a) or verbs that are considered detransitivized (3b): (3a)

Es arbeitet sich gut in der Bibliothek. [One works well in the library.]

(3b)

Das Buch liest sich gut. [The book reads well.]

The impersonal construction (3a) necessarily requires the inclusion of the pronoun es which functions as the formal subject. An adverbial modifier represented in the above examples by the adverb gut - is required in both the personal and impersonal constructions; without a modifier, the sentence is incorrect. 2.1.4 Passive Reflexive Constructions of this kind (containing both passive and reflexive morphology) involve verbs that occur in ‘properly’ reflexive structures (4a) and those that are 45

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‘inherently’ reflexive (4b). It should noted that the passive reflexive is considered a rare variant of the impersonal passive (Plank 1993), which, to date, has received little attention. This aspect will be discussed further in Section 4. (4a)

Es wird sich morgens gewaschen; (Morgens wird sich gewaschen.) [One washes in the morning.]

(4b)

Es wird sich geängstigt bei Gewitter; (Bei Gewitter wird sich geängstigt.) [People are frightened by the thunderstorm.]

Both structures may contain the indefinite pronoun es; its inclusion is, however, not obligatory under certain syntactic conditions 4.

2.2 Four Hypotheses Regarding the Properties of the Reflexive sich Unlike Italian, for example, which has two series of reflexive pronouns referred to as ‘free’ and ‘clitic’, German has only one form of reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns in the first and second persons are identical with personal pronouns; only in the third person (singular and plural) is there a distinctive reflexive form, sich, which has no number distinction and which syncretises the accusative and dative cases. In the context of such a lack of morphological clarity, and using the traditional classification method as a starting point, it is difficult to discern whether any commonalities exist between the various instances in which sich is used, and if so, what these might be. The literature on this subject offers four hypotheses, two of which (the first and last) contradict each other: 

The reflexive is considered a ‘full’ pronoun in all clauses in which it occurs. According to this perspective (Fagan 1992, Steinbach 2002, Bierwisch 2006), sich not only possesses (pro)nominal properties, it also retains argumental status - even in phrasal constructions in which it is not in paradigmatic commutation with the reflexive object. In such cases, it is assumed to have a ‘semantically empty’ theta-role and in the final analysis, the transitivity of all reflexive structures is affirmed. (cf. (1a) (3b)).

4 This term, translated by Fagan (1992: 45) as “place-holder [which] is restricted to

sentence-initial position in main declarative clauses”, describes the specific behaviour of the indefinite pronoun whose specific role in this case is to occupy the first position in the syntactic structure. Es can be omitted, enabling the formulation of sentences such as Morgens wird sich gewaschen instead of Es wird sich morgens gewaschen and Bei Gewitter wird sich geängstigt instead of Es wird sich geängstigt bei Gewitter. The syntactic condition for this omission is that the first position in the clause must be held, if not by the subject, then by another grammatical element such as an adverb or complement. 46

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

In clauses in which the reflexive is not in paradigmatic commutation with a non-reflexive direct object, it is compared with a formal object and therefore, while it retains precise syntactic functions, it does not necessarily have a semantic role (Pittner & Berman 2008). (cf. (2a) (4b)).



The reflexive is considered a syntactic marker of detransitivization and, as such, has pronominal properties which, in some structures, are relegated to the status of residuals (Plank 1986, Hundt 2001). (cf. (2a) – (4b)).



The reflexive is considered an integral part of the verbal morphology (Grewendorf 1984, Everaert 1986, Cardinaletti 1999). Assuming that ‘inherent’ reflexive verbs have reflexive particles linked to them through lexical properties, it is not problematic to assign a ‘semantically empty’ status to the reflexives. The value of the commutation with non-reflexive direct objects is, however, lost. (cf. (2a) – (2b)).

Each of the four hypotheses outlined above provides a different approach to a series of related structural problems including, for example, the issue of the transitivity or intransitivity of individual clauses containing a reflexive pronoun (de Alencar & Kelling 2005). Clearly, an evaluation of the transitive or intransitive nature of constructions using sich will vary according to one’s definition of reflexives as arguments or formal objects, syntactic markers or integral parts of the verbal morphology.

2.3 A description of the Pronoun es in Different Syntactic Contexts The challenge of defining the properties of the reflexive pronoun and, therefore, determining the transitive or intransitive nature of clauses using sich, also entails the problem of establishing a coherent and consistent description of the indefinite pronoun es in impersonal structures containing the reflexive pronoun. As highlighted in the formal representation of constructions (3a), (4a) and (4b), the es form in German grammar is traditionally considered to fulfil the function of both formal subject (3) and so-called place-holder (4a), (4b). This divergent description of the use of the pronoun es in different syntactic contexts, however, gives rise to an incoherent definition of the antecedent of the reflexive pronoun in the structures in question, making it difficult to engage in a uniform formalization of constructions with reflexive morphology. In fact, traditional grammar definitions shed little light on the relationship between the reflexive and passive or between the reflexive and impersonal. As such, the few studies that consider the passive reflexive in which reflexive and passive morphologies converge present contradictory conclusions.

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3 A Relational Perspective The descriptive problems referred to above relate to the perspective from which the matter is approached, and change when that perspective changes. The issue of whether or not to regard sich as a real object, for example - a question obviously linked to whether or not the related structures are considered to be transitive -, is cast in a different light when considered from the perspective of RG. RG starts from the assumption that (…) one cannot speak of sentences or even clauses as being transitive or intransitive. This is a property of syntactic levels, reconstructed as strata in relational networks. For example, it makes no sense to speak of clauses as being transitive or intransitive because many clauses are transitive in some strata and intransitive in others. (Perlmutter 1983a: 151)

Principles which apply to all structures clearly also apply to reflexive structures. According to RG, clauses may be structured across several syntactic levels, and functional commutations may occur between one level and another. Thus, it follows that the same grammatical relation (e.g. predicate, subject, direct object) may be borne by different elements on separate levels (but not by two nominals in a single stratum) (‘Stratal Uniqueness Law’ (Perlmutter 1983b: 92)). 3.1

Notions of RG Formalization

Fundamental to the formal structure of RG is the concept that a nominal element can relinquish its grammatical relation, either by acquiring a new one (revaluation or removal) or by getting syntactically 'lost'. These nominals, no longer able to engage in morphosyntactic operations, are referred to as chômeur. To clarify this point, the stratal diagram below 5 presents the passive structure6 Das Bonbon wurde gegessen von dem Kind (The sweet has been eaten by the child): 5 Stratal diagrams are read from the bottom to the top; the initial stratum is the lowest,

the final stratum is the highest. Symbols The numbers 1, 2, 3 indicate the grammatical relations of subject and object (direct, indirect), respectively, and the abbreviation P stands for Predicate. (Further relations e.g. instrumentalis, locative or temporal are referred to as oblique). It should be noted that the diagrams in this article only include the relevant facts and do not consider, for example, the distinction between the auxiliary and predicative sectors. 6 RG defines four passive forms that are universally valid, irrespective of the great variety of ways the four types are used in different languages (Perlmutter & Postal 1984b: 126-170): • The plain personal passive as in Das Buch wurde oft gelesen (The book has often been read). • The plain impersonal passive as in Es wird hier gut getanzt (One can dance well here). • The reflexive impersonal passive as in Hier tanzt es sich gut (There is good dancing here). • The reflexive personal passive as in Das Buch liest sich gut (The book reads well) 48

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Das Bonbon

wurde gegessen

von dem Kind

1

P

chô

2

P

1

Table 1: RG formalization of a structure containing a plain personal passive

The construction Das Bonbon wurde gegessen von dem Kind (The sweet has been eaten by the child) shows the 2→1 advancement from a transitive initial stratum in which the verb essen ‘initializes’ a subject (the person who eats) and a direct object (that which is eaten). The nominal Das Bonbon acquires relation 1, relinquishing its previous relation. The initial subject, das Kind, has been demoted to the chômeur relation, which means that it fails to control agreement with the verb, and occupies an optional circumstantial role in the clause, introduced by the preposition von.

3.2

The Unaccusative Hypothesis

It will be clear by now that concepts of transitive and intransitive do not apply to clausal structure as a whole, but rather to individual syntactic strata 7. The concept of the intransitive form, meanwhile, can be further broken down in RG, as demonstrated by Perlmutter (1978) in his Unaccusative Hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes a distinction between unaccusative and unergative syntactic levels. According to this perspective, a structure, the final subject of which also has the properties of a direct object - for example the Italian sentence Lea è partita (Lea has left) - constitutes an initial object (the initial level is regarded as unaccusative). A structure such as Lea ha parlato (Lea has spoken), on the other hand, in which the argument only bears characteristics of a subject, must be considered monostratal and unergative 8. 3.3 Medium constructions According to definitions put forth by La Fauci (1988), constructions in which the relations between the final subject and the direct object are in commutative dependence - that is, paradigmatic (La Fauci 2007: 72) - are considered ‘medium’. The characteristic trait of medium constructions is that the final 7 RG defines the individual syntactic strata as follows (Perlmuttter & Postal 1984a:

95), indicating the grammatical relations of subject and object with the the numbers 1 and 2, respectively: a. a stratum is transitive if and only if it contains a 1 and a 2, b. a stratum is intransitive if and only if it is not transitive, c. a stratum is subjective if and only if it contains a 1, d. a stratum is objective if and only if it contains a 2, e. a stratum is unergative if and only if it is subjective and intransitive, f. a stratum is unaccusative if and only if it is objective and intransitive. 49

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subject bears the direct object relation at non-final levels of the clause. Medium constructions are in opposition to so-called 'active’ constructions, in which the only possible dependence between the relations of the subject and direct object is syntagmatic, and never paradigmatic, and in which subjects do not therefore bear the object relation at any syntactic level (La Fauci 2007: 72). The oppositions between the active and medium constructions come under the term diathesis. As well as passive structures, the medium type also includes reflexive structures, which will be discussed further in following paragraphs (cf. Section 4.2). 3.4 The concept of Multi-Attachment A sub-set of structural types - formally characterized by the presence of a syntactic level with ‘multi-attachment’ (henceforth MA) - can be identified within the class of the medium constructions. The MA Hypothesis is a descriptive hypothesis that accounts for “certain clauses with so-called ‘reflexive morphology’” (Perlmutter 1983a: 153). According to this theory, these clauses contain a (non-final) nominal at some syntactic level that simultaneously bears two or more grammatical relations specifically subject and object relations (La Fauci 1992: 45). MA does not occur at the final stratum of the clause. As such, its resolution in a stratum subsequent to that in which it is produced is indicated superficially by the presence of the reflexive pronoun, causing the lower grammatical relation to be cancelled (La Fauci 1992: 45). 3.4.1 Multi-attachment at Initial-P Level Multi-attachment can occur at the initial stratum of a clause, at the first level of occurence of a predicate (initial-P). In the initial MA structure, a single nominal element not only bears two grammatical relations, it also serves two separate thematic roles (La Fauci 1992: 47)9. As demonstrated in the RG formalization below, according to this hypothesis, a classic reflexive structure such as La

8 The properties and behaviour that typify unergative and unaccusative verbs must be

specified on a language-by-language basis. Such properties range from the choice of the auxiliary in compound tenses to the admissibility of certain constructions. In order to identify the two unergative or unaccusative classes in Italian, for example, a series of syntactic tests have been devised (Perlmutter 1978, Rosen 1988) which are highly accurate and which have made it possible to “grammaticalize” unaccusativity in Italian, which is clearer than in other languages. The definition of tests appropriate to German has proven more difficult, and this has resulted in a semantic definition of unaccusativity being favoured (Steinbach 2004). This situation will be discussed further in Section 4.2. 9 It should be noted that this study exclusively relates to structures with a single

semantically active predicate sector and that, as such, causative and other such structures are not taken into account. 50

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donna si pettina10 (The woman combs her hair) involves the presence of a syntactic level with MA at the first level of occurrence of the predicate 11 (Table 2): La donna

si pettina

1

P

1, 2

P

Table 2: RG formalization of a reflexive structure with Multi-attachment at the first level

Rosen points out that MA introduces a specialized pronoun which takes over from the doubly attached nominal one of its two relations - the lower one, normally and perhaps universally. The specialized pronouns born under this condition are reflexive pronouns. (Rosen 1988: 44)

As shown in the above stratal diagram, the predicate pettinare initializes both the subject (she who combs) and the object (she who is combed). In the final syntactic stratum, however, the nominal abandons the object relation, and only bears the subject relation.

3.4.2 Multi-attachment at Non-initial-P Level In cases in which MA appears in non-initial strata of the clause - at levels subsequent to the first appearance of the predicate - “il MA non è correlato col possesso da parte del nominale di ruoli tematici distinti, poiché è l’effetto di un processo squisitamente sintattico” [it is not linked with distinct thematic roles of the nominal because the effect is that of a purely syntactic process] (La Fauci 1992: 47). In structures involving MA in non-initial-P strata, the nominal acquires a new grammatical relation at the advancement level while also retaining the former relation unaltered (retroherent revaluation) (La Fauci 1992: 48).12 In a structure 10 All relevant studies to date have looked at Italian reflexives (Rosen 1988); as such,

the examples used in this article relate to Italian. 11

Rosen (ibid) deals with the Italian clitic reflexive ‘si’ and examines the morphosyntactic differences between the various structures and different syntactic levels in which it occurs. It should be noted that from an RG perspective ‘si’ is considered as a ‘reflexive marker’, “taken to reflect multiattachment” (Blake 1990: 72), whereas the pronoun ‘se (stesso)’ “is treated like other nominals and allotted appropriate initial stratum relations” (Blake: ibid).

12 Rosen states: “

[…] there exist two types of advancement, plain and retroherent. In the [plain] advancement the advancee acquires a new relation and relinquishes its former one. In a retroherent advancement, the advancee acquires a new relation and retains its

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such as Ugo si pente (Hugo repents), an unaccusative or retroherent advancement occurs, as shown in the following stratal diagram: Ugo

si pente

1

P

1, 2

P

2

P

Table 3: RG formalization of a reflexive structure with MA in non-initial-P strata

The unaccusative verb structure does not have an initial subject, and the 2→1 advancement is referred to as retroherent because the MA occurs at a syntactic level subsequent to the first. Rosen (cf. La Fauci 1992: 49) observes that structures with an unaccusative valence can be further subdivided according to their (optional) ability to initialize a subject, and to the retroherent and plain modalities by which the advancement of the initial direct object to the subject relation occurs. 13 As will be demonstrated later in this article (Section 4.2), it is our belief that the classification of structures with MA, proposed by Rosen for Italian, is also applicable to German. Caution must be exercised in this regard, however, as it is difficult to accurately establish the existence of a class of unaccusative verbs in this language.

3.5

The notion of Dummy

Another basic concept in RG is that the final level of a clause always contains the grammatical subject relation (Final 1 Law (Perlmutter 1983b: 100)) which may be present as a dummy.The dummy can occur syntactically as, for example, in the English clause It’s raining cats and dogs and the French Il pleut des cordes, or can be silent, as in the Italian Piove a catinelle14. In German, the former relation besides”. (Rosen 1988: 22) 13 An unaccusative verb such as pentire (to repent) uses the retroherent modality for

the advancement of the initial object, but cannot take an initial subject: Ugo si pente (Hugo repents), *Lea pente Ugo * (Lea repents Hugo(, *Ugo pente (Hugo repents). An unaccusative verb such as riempire (to fill), however, while using the retroherent modality in the same way to advance the initial object in the structure, takes an initial subject in some constructions: Ugo riempie la bottiglia di vino (Hugo fills the bottle with wine), la bottiglia si riempie di vino (The bottle is filled with wine), *la bottiglia riempie di vino *(The bottle fills with wine). By contrast, the verb arrivare (to arrive) never takes an initial subject and the modality to move on the initial object is plain advancement: Ugo arriva (Ugo arrives), *Pia arriva Ugo *(Pia arrives Ugo), *Ugo si arriva *(Hugo arrives himself). 14 See Perlmutter (1983b) and Rosen (1988) on the silent dummy in Italian 52

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dummy is usually expressed syntactically as, for example, in the clause Es regnet Bindfäden. As demonstrated above, however, this element may be silent in some structures and under certain syntactic conditions, as evident from a comparison of the two constructions (4a) Es wird sich morgens gewaschen and (4b) Morgens wird sich gewaschen.15 It should be emphasised here (though it may already be clear), that RG refutes the possibility of taking a generic approach to the notion of subject: this notion must be considered specifically in relation to each language, and broken down in accordance with the significance of multiple syntactic levels. An analysis of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations performed by grammatical functions in the various types of structures indicates that the empirical properties attributed to the notion of initial subject differ from those of the concept of final subject.

4 Syntactic Analysis of Structures with Reflexive Morphology in German In light of the premises outlined above and drawing on the aforementioned tools, this section of the article will seek to present a consistent formalization of reflexive morphological structures in German. This formal description aims in particular to highlight the syntactic conditions under which the passive and reflexive morphologies converge in the passive reflexive structure (4a) – (4b). As mentioned previously, the passive reflexive is considered a (rare) variant of the impersonal passive and has been subject to little analysis to date. Researchers’ apparent lack of interest in this topic can be attributed primarily to the fact that the structure is considered grammatically erroneous; passive and reflexive morphologies are usually found in complementary distribution and, as such, it is not strictly possible to transform a clause with a reflexive verb into a passive construction16. This analysis also aims to provide a uniform, formal account of the pronoun es in its various syntactic contexts. So, while in the construction (3a) Es arbeitet sich gut in der Bibliothek, the indefinite pronoun es is allotted the role of antecedent of the reflexive as it is the formal subject, the presumed lack of a syntactic subject in structures with the passive reflexive makes it difficult to

15 As already stated, in certain syntactic contexts, German traditional grammar clearly

identifies that the indefinite pronoun es has two functions. It states that es can either be the formal subject or the place-holder. RG however, in the grammatical contexts in question, only attributes one function to this element, that of the dummy which syntactically maintains the subject relation in the final level of the configuration. 16 It should be emphasized that the passive reflexive is a construction used

diastratically and diaphasically with growing frequency at the same rate as it is integrated into standard language. 53

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solve the problem of the antecedent in this kind of clause. As mentioned above, the pronoun es does not have the role of subject in this case. What syntactic element serves as the antecedent of sich, then, if the reflexive does not have a subject within the same clause, in this case a passive reflexive? One potential solution is to consider the reflexive, in this case, as a simple detransitivization marker that does not require a co-referring element (Plank 1993: 141-143). Indeed, in many grammatical frameworks17, reflexivization is regarded as a mechanism of co-reference between nouns and pronouns and, as such, the reflexive is considered on the basis of its relation with other co-indexed elements within the same clause or the same domain. An analytical approach of this kind, however, does not highlight the interdependence between the reflexive and the passive, or between the reflexive and the impersonal. The MA hypothesis, on the other hand, enables the identification of shared features - for example the fact that reflexive and passive constructions both have a final subject which is (also) a direct object at some level of the structure (La Fauci 1988: 15-27). What we wish to suggest here is that German reflexive structures can be described in terms of the MA hypothesis; specifically, all relevant reflexive constructions are characterized by a (non-final) syntactic stratum with MA. Moreover, the constructions in question can be further classified as structures with MA at initial-P level and structures with MA at non- initial-P level.

4.1

Structures with MA at Initial-P Level

Let us consider the hypothesis of an MA at the first level of appearance of the predicate for properly reflexive structures, as in the following example: Die Frau

wӓscht sich

1

P

1, 2

P

Table 4: RG formalization of a structure with MA at initial-P level

17 As Rosen states:

According to one classic transformational view (e. g. Lees and Klima 1963), Reflexivization is a rule sensitive to coreference between two nominals, among other conditions. But if the Multiattachment Hypothesis is adopted together with the idea of pronoun birth, the result is that the concept of coreference would not figure at all in the conditioning on Reflexivization (Rosen 1988: 44).

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The nominal Die Frau, initialized due to the valence of waschen as the subject and direct object, relinquishes the relation of object at the final stratum and only bears the relation of subject. It follows that the final stratum of the clause is intransitive, as it only contains argument 1. As stated previously (La Fauci 1992: 47), a structure with an initial MA implies both that a single nominal element bears two distinct grammatical relations, and that it has two thematic roles - as agent and patient. The resolution of the MA at the final level of the structure causes the reflexive pronoun sich to ‘inherit’ the lower grammatical relation (Rosen 1988: 44) from the doubly initialized nominal. As such, its direct-object properties are clearly accounted for, highlighted by the accusative case marking. In example (1b), the grammatical relations also involve an indirect object (Table 5), represented by number 3 in the stratal diagram, which is typically marked in German by the dative case and which, like the subject, participates in the syntactic process of production and resolution of the MA: Die Studenten

erzӓhlen sich

die letzten Neuigkeiten

1

P

chô

1,2

P

chô

1,3

P

2

Table 5: RG formalization of a structure with MA at initial-P level involving an indirect object

In the case of properly reflexive structures involving an indirect object relation 18, we propose that MA occurs at the first level of appearance of the predicate. The verb erzählen initializes the nominal die Studenten as subject and indirect object, and as agent and beneficiary; the 3→2 advancement causes the initial 2 die Neuigkeiten to become a chômeur, thus preventing it from advancing further; and the MA 1, 2 is resolved in the final stratum with the cancellation of the direct object relation. As such, the structure is intransitive, as it only contains the subject relation. The reflexive pronoun in this case inherits the lower relation, and in fact has the properties of an indirect object, something which is apparent, among other things, from the dative case marking.

18 This article adopts La Fauci’s proposal regarding analogous romance constructions (La Fauci 1988: 83-84), which assumes the presence of an intermediate level with MA [1, 2] for the resolution of MA in reflexive constructions with a direct object. One advantage of this approach is that it explains why it is impossible to make these structures passive. The assumption of an intermediate stratum, and therefore of a 3→2 advancement, “omogeneizza, per effetto della risoluzione del seguente MA 1,2 sotto questo rispetto proposizioni riflessive con MA 1,3 e proposizioni riflessive con MA 1,2” [ harmonises reflexive clauses with MA 1,3 and reflexive clauses with MA 1,2 leading to the resolution of the MA 1,2 that follows] (La Fauci ibid: 83). 55

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Let us now consider the hypothesis of an MA at initial-P level in the case of the so-called passive reflexive construction (4a):

Es

Pro

wird sich gewaschen

1

P

2

1

P

1

P

1, 2

P

Table 6: RG formalization of a structure with MA at initial-P level and dummy 2→1 advancement

The structure represented in the table includes a syntactic level with initial MA due to the valence of the verb waschen, which initialises a subject (he who washes) and a direct object (that which is washed) confluent on the same element, ‘Pro’ (“unspecified empathy focus” (Rosen 1988: 1986)). The resolution of the MA, then, occurs in the following stratum of the configuration and manifests in the appearance of the reflexive pronoun sich at the final level of the construction. The dummy es which occurs at a non-initial level of the syntactic scheme 19 is initially attributed to relation 2, as RG specifies (‘Nuclear Dummy Law’ (Perlmutter 1983b: 101)) that es can only bear subject or direct object grammatical relations. Similarly, in constructions involving the impersonal passive, a transitive level is created in the stratum on which the dummy appears, thus enabling the 2→1 advancement of the dummy itself. This advancement is responsible for the passive morphology in the passive reflexive. Nominal direct objects in conjunction with MA 1, 3 in the initial stratum, as in the clause Es werden sich die Gesichter gewaschen, (They / people wash their faces] (Table 7), can also be found in the passive reflexive: Es

Pro

die Gesichter

werden sich gewaschen

chô

P

1

chô

P

1

chô

P

1, 2

chô

P

1, 3

2

P

1 2

Table 7: RG formalization of a structure with MA 1,3 at initial-P level 19 Es can only occur in post-initial strata, otherwise it would defy the ‚Stratal

Uniqueness Law‘. 56

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In the initial stratum of the stratal diagram, Pro bears the 1, 3 relations simultaneously. The nominal die Gesichter is allotted the relation of direct object, but loses this function with the advancement of Pro to 1, 2 relation. The MA relation, in the stratum subsequent to that in which it first occurs, is marked superficially by the presence of sich. The dummy es, which bears the direct object relation, occurs at a non-initial level of the syntactic representation. Similarly, in constructions with an impersonal passive, a transitive level is created in the stratum on which the dummy occurs, enabling the 2→1 advancement. This type of advancement is responsible for the passive morphology in the passive reflexive.

4.2

Structures with MA at Non-Initial-P Level

We will now analyse structures with MA at non-initial levels of the clause, specifically at levels subsequent to the first appearance of the predicate, with reference to example (1c), a so-called ‘anti-passive’ structure (Postal 1977):

Meine Freundin

kauft sich

ein neues Auto

1

P

chô

1, 2

P

chô

1

P

2

Table 8: RG formalization of a structure with MA at non-initial-P level

Just as in a passive construction, the initial level of an anti-passive structure is transitive due to the valence of the verb kaufen, which initializes the subject meine Freundin and the object ein neues Auto. In anti-passive demotion, however, there is no 2→1 advancement in the final stratum, as occurs in passive promotion. Instead, the direct object is subject to a removal process as a result of a syntactic level in which one nominal bears two grammatical relations - and becomes a chômeur. In both anti-passive constructions - such as Meine Freundin kauft sich ein neues Auto - and properly reflexive constructions (La Fauci 1992: 47) - such as Die Studenten erzählen sich die letzten Neuigkeiten - German direct objects that have become chômeurs are distinguished by the accusative case. This does, however, not mean that they continue to fulfil the role of argument (in fact, these structures cannot be passivized). The constructions (2a) - (2b), meanwhile, are both initially unaccusative; they both contain final subjects that have the properties of a direct object at some level of the syntactic stratal diagram 57

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Meine Katze

ängstigt sich

1

P

1, 2

P

2

P

Table 9: RG formalization of a structure with MA at non-initial-P level and subsequent retroherent advancement

Let us consider the hypothesis that structures of this kind contain unaccusative verbs without initial subjects 20; in this case, the nominal Meine Katze bears relation 2 at the initial level. The subsequent advancement is retroherent, and therefore nominal 2 acquires relation 1 without relinquishing its previous relation. The MA is then resolved according to the rules, and the reflexive sich appears in the final stratum of the clause. Construction (2b), the so-called anticausative construction, can be similarly represented: Die Tür

öffnet sich

1

P

1, 2

P

2

P

Table 10: RG formalization of a structure with MA at non-initial-P level and subsequent retroherent advancement

We propose that the German anticausative structure in example (2b) contains a verb - (sich) öffnen - that can initialise either the subject of a transitive clause 20 The diagnostics of German unaccusative structures is anything but straightforward. Steinbach states that the diagnostics for unaccusativity in German yield no clear evidence for the claim that unaccusativity in German must be encoder (sic!) in syntax […] unaccusative verbs differ from unergative verbs at least in their semantics and selectional properties. Typical unaccusative verbs select a semantic argument which has protopatient properties as opposed to typical unergative verbs, which select a semantic argument with proto-agent properties. (Steinbach (2004: 182-183) Semantically, the verb ängstigen with a reflexive marker describes an event that is not controlled by its protagonist, expressing a state of being or feeling that does not depend on the will of the person involved in the action. A verb of this type can be considered unaccusative and can therefore syntactically initialize an object, in this case the nominal meine Katze. It should be noted that in German, unlike in Italian, it is somewhat difficult to base the distinction between classes of unaccusative or unergative verbs on syntax. A series of diagnostic tests exist to define the different properties of the two sub-groups. For example, unaccusative verbs cannot be found in impersonal passive structures, nor can they be nominalized (Grewendorf 1989, Haider 1985, Primus 1999, Abraham 2005). 58

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Der Hausmeister öffnet die Tür leicht mit einem Schlüssel (The caretaker opens the door easily with a key) or a direct object in the transitive structure Die Tür öffnet sich leicht mit einem Schlüssel (The door opens easily with a key). As such, German anticausative structures can be represented stratally in a manner similar to constructions containing so-called inherently reflexive verbs, as the verb (sich) öffnen initializes the nominal Die Tür in relation 2. The mode of advancement of the initial object to subject relation is retroherent; an MA occurs in a subsequent stratum of the configuration and is then resolved in the final level of the clause. There are also causative verbs whose corresponding anticausatives do not take sich in the intransitive clause, for example the verb schmelzen (to melt). In the transitive construction Die Sonne schmilzt das Eis (The sun melts the ice), the causative verb initializes a subject; in the unaccusative structure Das Eis schmilzt (The ice melts), meanwhile, the same anticausative verb initializes a direct object with subsequent plain advancement. As such, there is no reflexive marker. The MA Hypothesis in Relational Grammar facilitates a unitary account both of German structures with atonic reflexive pronouns that have a transitive counterpart, and of those that, at least in the modern language, do not. Using RG, the various reflexive constructions can be compared without reference to diachronic data, based on the valence of their verbs and considering the modalities of syntactic advancement - retroherent or plain. This also offers an explanation as to why, in identical transitive constructions such as Die Sonne schmilzt das Eis and Der Hausmeister öffnet die Tür, the conditions for the presence of the reflexive morphology only partially occur in the anticausative version. Structures (3a) – (3b) both feature a 2→1 advancement, either from an initial transitive stratum or from a non-initial stratum of the configuration (3a). Both constructions also feature retroherent advancement: Das Buch

Pro

liest sich

gut

1

Chô

P

…

1, 2

Chô

P

…

2

1

P

…

Table 11: RG formalization of a structure containing a reflexive personal passive

The structure features 2→1 advancement from the initial transitive stratum, in which the grammatical relation 1 is borne by Pro because the verb lesen initializes a subject (the person who reads) and a direct object (that which is read). The advancement is retroherent. The nominal Das Buch acquires relation 1 without relinquishing its previous relation. The MA produced in this way is 59

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resolved by cancelling the lower grammatical relation (Blake 1990: 89). Pro becomes a chômeur, but serves the semantic function of agent in the clause. That Pro becomes a chômeur is further confirmed by the fact that this element cannot be added through an agent introduced by the preposition von (by).21 Furthermore, grammar rules relating to middle constructions in German require the presence of an adverbial modifier at the final level of the clause. Syntactic descriptions proposed from an RG perspective in relation to structures such as (3a) - the impersonal middle constructions - are not entirely consistent (Rosen 1988: 98-122). As such, Perlmutter & Postal start from the assumption that a construction containing an Unspecified Human Subject (UHS), as in Es arbeitet sich gut in der Bibliothek “involves a 2→1 advancement from a transitive stratum” (Perlmutter & Postal 1984b: 137) and should, thus, be considered, for all intents and purposes, a passive structure. Likewise, “the advancement from 2→1 in reflexive impersonal passives involves a 2-copy of the advancing nominal” (Perlmutter & Postal 1984b: 137), meaning it contains an MA in a non- initial-P syntactic stratum. The stratal diagram below represents a structure containing a reflexive impersonal passive, as proposed by Perlmuttter and Postal (1984b: 137): Es

Pro

arbeitet sich gut

in der Bibliothek

1

chô

P

oblique

1, 2

chô

P

oblique

2

1

P

oblique

1

P

oblique

Table 12: RG formalization of a structure containing a reflexive impersonal passive

Perlmutter and Postal’s approach of assigning both a 2→1 advancement and a retroherent MA to a UHS structure, such as the German impersonal middle construction, also offers an explanation as to why constructions of this kind are formed exclusively with unergative verbs. Indeed, clauses such as *Es sinkt sich schnell im Meer (One sinks quickly in the sea) or *Es kommt sich gut an mit dem Zug (It’s easy to get there by train) do not exist in German, as the verbs sinken and ankommen are unaccusative verbs that have the phenomenal properties of an object. Such structures would not only feature the 2→1 advancement of the dummy from a transitive stratum, but also the unaccusative 21 Rosen observes that: the two varieties of Passive - plain and retroherent - differ not only in their morphological concomitants, but also in the conditions that govern their appropriateness. One clear fact is that the chômeur of a Plain Passive can be either overt or unspecified (…) whereas the chômeur of a Retro Passive can never be overt […]. (Rosen 1988:86)

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advancement of the initial object to subject relation as in the table below (Table 13): *Es

Pro

sinkt sich gut

im Meer

1

chô

P

oblique

chô

P

oblique

1

P

oblique

1

P

oblique

2

P

oblique

1, 2 2

Table 13: RG formalization of a reflexive impersonal passive containing double advancement

Double advancement is impossible, however, as it breaks the OneAdvancement Exclusiveness Law which does not allow more than one advancement to subject relation in a clause (Rosen 1988: 104, Perlmutter & Postal 1984a). The final example (4b) of a construction with a reflexive pronoun features a variant of the so-called passive reflexive, as it contains an unaccusative verb:22 Es

Pro

wird sich geängstigt

1 2

P 1

P

1

P

2, 1

P

2

P

Table 14: RG formalization of a structure with MA at non-initial-P level and 2→1 dummy advancement

In the sentence Es wird sich geängstigt, the unaccusative verb ängstigen initializes an object, resulting in the occurrence of the MA in a non-initial-P stratum. Nominal 2 is subject to retroherent advancement, and acquires relation 1 without relinquishing its previous relation. The MA is thus resolved according to the rules, and sich appears in the final stratum of the clause. 22 Passive reflexive structures basically involve transitive verbs (as in Es wird sich

gewaschen) or unaccusative verbs (as in Es wird sich geängstigt). The passive reflexive never occurs with unergative verbs (as in *Es wird sich gut gearbeitet). An examination of the corpora (Institut für deutsche Sprache, Hundt 2001, Vater 1995) suggests that the passive reflexive is rarely constructed with unaccusative verbs. The few exceptions are not entirely convincing, and the verbs involved seem to have previously been transitive. (Fagan (1992: 237) for further information regarding the transitive variants of inherently reflexive verbs in German.) 61

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Relation 2 is first allotted to dummy es, which appears in a non-initial stratum of the syntactic representation. As with constructions using the impersonal passive, a transitive level is created in the entrance stratum of the dummy. This transitive level enables the 2→1 advancement, responsible for the passive morphology in the Reflexivpassiv, to occur.

5 The Functional Domain [+MA] in German The above taxonomy of constructions with reflexive pronouns in German enables the grouping of constructions of different structural types in the functional domain [+MA], thus providing a description of all constructions in which sich appears and offering consistent and uniform answers to the questions raised in Section 2 of this article:  With regard to the question of the transitivity or intransitivity of reflexive structures, according to RG, such properties do not relate to the clause structure as a whole; this opposition (bearing in mind the potential distinction between two types of intransitivity) relates to the syntactic configuration and, if this is multi-stratal, to each of its strata. As such, although reflexive constructions are all intransitive in the final stratum, they are nevertheless transitive at some levels of the syntactic configurations;  With regard to the convergence of passive and reflexive morphology in the passive reflexive, this article argues that German reflexive structures should all be analysed as examples of MA. The resolution of the MA in a syntactic stratum subsequent to that in which it is produced is superficially marked by the reflexive pronoun. The reflexive pronoun sich is therefore a systematic signal of the resolution of the MA at the final level of the clause. The MA hypothesis offers an explanation regarding the co-existence of passive and reflexive morphology in the passive reflexive: the MA does not conflict with the 2→1 advancement responsible for passivization, and the presence of a 2, meaning a direct object, is a necessary condition for reflexivization. An area of intersection exists between the passive and multi-attachment domains, centred around transitive verbs. Unergatives that permit passive morphology in impersonal structures are excluded from the reflexive morphosyntax (that requires the presence of a 2, meaning a direct object), and while unaccusatives are not entirely unrepresented, they are not common because, despite being perfectly compatible with reflexive morphosyntax, they conflict, in principle, with passive morphosyntax. It therefore seems reasonable to define the passive reflexive as an extension of the impersonal passive beyond intransitive structures, on account of the element sich, which syntactically marks the presence of an object.

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References Abraham, Werner (2005). Deutsche Syntax im Sprachenvergleich. Tübingen: Stauffenburg. Agel, Vilmos (1997). Reflexiv-Passiv, das (im Deutschen) keines ist. In: Dürscheidt, Christa (Hrsg.) (1997). Sprache im Fokus. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 147-187. Bierwisch, Manfred (2006). German Reflexives as Proper and Improper Arguments. In: Brandt, Patrick & Eric Fuβ (Eds.) (2006). Form, Structure and Grammar: A Festschrift Presented to Günther Grewendorf on Occasion of his 60th Birthday. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 15-35. Blake, Barry (1990). Relational Grammar. London: Routledge. Brinker, Klaus (1969). Zum Problem der angeblich passivnahen Reflexivkonstruktionen in der deutschen Sprache. In: Muttersprache 79, 1-11. Cardinaletti, Anna (1999). Pronouns in Germanic and Romance Languages: An Overview. In: van Riemsdijk, Henk (ed.) (1999). Clitics in the Languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 33-81. Davis, William & Carol Rosen (1988). Unions as Multi-Predicate Clauses. In: Language 64, 52-88. De Alencar, Leonel F. & Carmen Kelling (2005). Are Reflexive Constructions Transitive or Intransitive? Evidence from German and Romance. In: Butt, Miriam & King T. Holloway King, (Eds.) (2005). Proceedings of the LF605 Conference. Dubinsky, Stanley & Carolin Rosen (1987). A Bibliography on Relational Grammar through May 1987 with Selected Titles on Lexical Functional Grammar. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club. Duden (Ed.) (2005). Die Grammatik. Bd. 4. Mannheim: Bibliografisches Institut. Everaert, Martin (1986). The Syntax of Reflexivation. Dordrecht: Foris. Fagan, Sarah (1992). The Syntax and Semantics of Middle Constructions. New York: Cambridge University Press. Grewendorf, Günther (1984). Reflexivierungsregeln im Deutschen. In: Deutsche Sprache 12, 14-30. Grewendorf, Günther (1989). Ergativity in German. Dordrecht: Foris. Haider, Hubert (1985). Von sein und nicht sein: Zur Grammatik des Pronomens sich. In: Abraham, Werner (Ed.) (1985). Erklärende Syntax des Deutschen. Tübingen: Stauffenberg-Verlag, 223-254. 63

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Helbig, Gerhard (2004). Kleinere Schriften zur Grammatik. Sitta, H. et al. (Eds.). München: Iudicium. Helbig, Gerhard & Buscha, Joachim (1998). Langenscheidt.

Deutsche Grammatik. Leipzig:

Hundt, Markus (2001). Formen und Funktionen des Reflexivpassivs im Deutschen. In: Zeitschrift für Deutsche Sprache 2/02, 124-166. IDS (Ed.). Das Institut für deutsche Sprache Mannheim. www.ids-mannheim.de. (1.2.2010) La Fauci, Nunzio (1988). Oggetti e Soggetti nella Formazione della Morfosintassi romanza. Nuova Collana di Linguistica. Pisa: Giardini Editori. La Fauci, Nunzio (1992). Capitoli di Morfosintassi siciliana antica. Tassonomia dei costrutti medi e ausiliari perfettivi. In: A.A.V.V. Studi linguistici e filologici offerti a Girolamo Caracausi. Palermo, 43-73. La Fauci, Nunzio & Ignazio Mirto (2003). Fare, Elementi di sintassi. Pisa: Edizioni ETS. La Fauci, Nunzio & Silvia Pieroni (2007). Morfosintassi latina-Punti di vista. Pisa: Edizioni ETS. Perlmutter, David M. (1978). Impersonal Passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis. In: Proceedings oft the 4th meeting oft the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley, 157-189. Perlmutter, David M. (1983a). Personal vs. Impersonal Constructions. In: Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 1, 141-200. Perlmutter, David M. (Ed.) (1983b). Studies in Relational Grammar 1. Chicago: University Press. Perlmutter, David & Paul Postal (1984a). The 1-Advancement Exclusiveness Law. In: Perlmutter, David M. & Carol Rosen (Eds.) (1884). Studies in Relational Grammar 2. Chicago: University Press, 81-126. Perlmutter, David M. & Paul Postal (1984b). Impersonal Passives and some Relational Laws. In: Perlmutter, David M. & Carol Rosen (Eds.) (1984). Studies in Relational Grammar 2. Chicago: University Press, 126-170. Pittner, Karin & Judith Berman (2008). Deutsche Syntax. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Plank, Frans (1993). Peculiarities of Passives of Reflexives in German. In: Studies in Language 17-1, 137-167. Postal, Paul (1977). Antipassive in French. In: Lingvisticae Investigationes 1, 333-375.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Primus, Beatrice (1999). Grammatische Hierarchien. Studien zur Theoretischen Linguistik. München: Wilhelm Fink. Rosen, Carol (1988). The Relational Structure of Reflexive Clauses. Evidence from Italian. New York: Garland Publishing. Rosen, Carol (1997). Auxiliation and Serialization: on Discerning the Difference. In: Alsina, Alex, Joan Bresnan & Peter Sells (Eds.) (1997). Complex Predicates. Stanford: CLSI, 175-202. Rosen, Carol (2012). Dal giardino della sintassi. Pisa: Edizioni ETS. Schӓfer, Florian (2012). The passive of reflexive verbs and its implications for theories of binding and case. In: Journal of Comparative German Linguistics. Vol. 15, issue 3. Dordrecht: Springer, 213-226. Steinbach, Markus (2002). Middles in German. Amsterdam: Anton J. Benjamins. Steinbach, Markus (2004). Unaccusatives and Anticausatives in German. In: Alexiadou, Artemis & Martin Everaert (Eds.) (2004). The Unaccusativity Puzzle, Oxford University Press, New York, 182-206. Vater, Heinz (1995). Zum Reflexiv-Passiv im Deutschen. In: Popp, Heidrun (Ed.) (1995). Deutsch als Fremdsprache. An den Quellen eines Faches. München: Iudicium, 185-192.

Author: Katrin Ziegler Università degli studi di Macerata Corso Cavour, 2 62100 Macerata / Italy Email: [email protected]

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Examining Successful Language Use at C1 Level: A Learner Corpus Study into the Vocabulary and Abilities Demonstrated by Successful Speaking Exam Candidates Shelley Byrne (Preston (Lancashire), United Kingdom)

Abstract This study situates itself amongst research into spoken English grammars, learner success and descriptions of linguistic progression within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001). It follows previous corpus research which has sought to document the language required by learners if they are to progress through levels and ultimately ‘succeed’ when operating in English. In the field of language testing, for which the CEFR has been a valuable tool, qualitative descriptions of learner competence and abilities may not provide sufficient detail for students, assessors and test designers alike to know which language is required and used by learners at different levels. This particular study therefore aims to identify the language and abilities demonstrated by successful C1 candidates taking the University of Central Lancashire’s English Speaking Board [UCLanESB] speaking exams. Using a learner corpus of C1 exam performance (26,620 words), examinations of vocabulary profiles, word frequencies, keywords, lexical chunks and can-do occurrence were conducted to identify the lexico-grammar required for C1 students to obtain solid pass scores. It was found that vocabulary belonged largely to the first two thousand most frequent words in English, lexis and chunks displayed some parallels with native-speakers, and language relating to can-do occurrence performed a more productive than interactive or strategic purpose. Key words: Learner corpora, spoken grammar, language testing

1 Introduction Success in second language acquisition has been subject to various avenues of investigation. From the examination of individual cognitive and affective characteristics (Cook 2008; Dornyei & Skehan 2003; Ellis 2008; Gardner & MacIntyre 1992; Robinson 2002; Rubin 1975) to the application of learner models or “yardstick[s]” (House 2003: 557), researchers and practitioners have aimed to demystify what makes language learners successful. Another approach in this pursuit has been to explore more deeply the features that language comprises using corpus linguistics, a technique which has often been used to explicate how lexico-grammatical forms differ or correspond in spoken and written discourse (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan 1999, Leech 2000, Conrad 2000, McCarthy & Carter 1995). The compilation of descriptive grammars and various corpora (Biber et al. 1999, Carter & McCarthy 67

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2006, Cambridge English Corpus (CEC) 2012, the British National Corpus (BNC) 2004, and the Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English (CANCODE) 2012), has resulted in enhanced knowledge of spoken and written English features that has not only aided comparison, but has simultaneously provided a source of knowledge for learners. However, the native-speaker (NS) foundations upon which such grammars and corpora are assembled have generated debate and criticism. Despite some learners’ aspirations to conform to native speaker models (Timmis 2002), questions have arisen regarding the applicability of a linguistic model potentially inappropriate, unachievable, conflicting or irrelevant in a world where English as a lingua franca is used often beyond native-speaker contexts (Alpetkin 2002, Canagarajah 2007, Cook 1999, Cook 2008, Kramsch 2003, Norton 1997, Phillipson 1992, Piller 2002, Prodromou 2008, Stern 1983, Widdowson 1994). Research into successful spoken and written language use has therefore begun to place emphasis on learner corpus research centring on language use by nonnative speakers who operate and function as “successful users of English” (Prodromou 2008: xiv) (International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) (Granger, Dagneaux, Meunier, & Paquot 2009), the Vienna-Oxford Corpus of International English (VOICE 2013), and Cambridge English Profile Corpus (CEPC n.d.)). Within the European language provision context, research is also delineating learner success and language use in terms of the proficiency descriptors provided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe [CoE] 2001), a document outlining the wide-ranging competencies of language learners in a variety of language learning settings. In a bid to satisfy its aims of providing a non-prescriptive, adaptable guide for language provision, no illustration is given as to the actual language to be evidenced at different levels (Alderson 2007, Weir 2005). Put simply, while readers can discover what learners should be able to do with their language, less guidance is offered for what language should be used in order to do it. It is this intentional limitation which has stimulated this study focusing on a particular set of speaking exams. As the uptake of CEFR levels and proficiency scales was considerable in the field of language assessment (Little 2007), this study aims to reveal what language is required by speaking test candidates if they are to be successful in C1 level exams. Building upon the findings of a B2 study conducted by Jones, Waller & Golebiewska (2013), it reports on data from a spoken C1 test corpus of learner language in order to answer the following research questions: RQ1 What percentage of the words used by C1 learners come from the first thousand and second thousand most frequent words in the BNC? RQ2a What were the twenty most frequent words used by successful learners at C1 level?

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RQ2b What were the important keywords at C1 level? RQ2c What were the most frequent three- and four-word chunks used by these learners? RQ3 What C1 CEFR indicators are present in terms of spoken interaction, spoken production and strategies?

2 Literature Review The impetus for identifying a spoken grammar of English arose from criticisms towards traditional grammars heavily influenced by the written word and their applicability to the diverse, wide-ranging speakers and contexts encompassed by the medium of informal conversation. Ensuing research, facilitated by developments and findings in corpus linguistics techniques (Leech 2000), prompted the compilation of large spoken corpora including the CEC, BNC and CANCODE. In addition to providing real examples of language for practitioners and learners, such corpora have done much to expand knowledge of written and spoken lexico-grammars and their distinctions. With knowledge of the target language system being integral to success in language learning (Griffiths 2004), an increased knowledge of grammar is believed to do much to raise learners’ potentials to “operate flexibly in a range of spoken and written contexts” (McCarthy & Carter 1995: 207). One area of lexico-grammatical knowledge broadened by corpus linguistics relates to vocabulary, in particular the use of lexical chunks. Vocabulary, learned for its communicative purpose (Laufer & Nation 1995) aids the construction and comprehension of meaning, enhances the acquisition of new vocabulary, extends the knowledge of the world and is fundamental to student performance (Chujo 2004). In terms of success and language learning, it seems crucial that research should aim to identify what and how much vocabulary is needed to achieve a particular purpose (Adolphs & Schmitt 2004). Studies based on the NS corpora above have, however, demonstrated that vocabulary is rarely used in isolation. It is often combined to form prefabricated chunks (Wray 2002), formulaic expressions (Schmitt 2004) or “standardised multiword expressions” (Boers, Eyckmans, Kappel, Stengers & Demecheleer 2006: 246) which can fulfil various linguistic functions including collocations, fillers in speech and idiomatic expressions. Constituting varying proportions of total language use (Erman & Warren 2000, Foster 2001), lexical chunks not only influence the assessment of learner proficiency and success, but they also facilitate spoken production. They reduce memory constraints, they can make students sound more native-like, they can maintain accuracy and they can act as “zones of safety” (Boers et al. 2006: 247; also Wray 2002 and Skehan 1998). With estimations asserting that chunks comprise 32.3% and 58.6% of NS spoken discourse, investigations of learner success should indeed take them into account to ascertain whether they are used and whether lexical chunk instruction may be of benefit to learners. 69

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Returning to the notion of learner success, corpus findings and spoken grammars based on the NS may seem somewhat paradoxical in the pursuit of a “natural spoken output” in the classroom (McCarthy & Carter 2001: 51). Questions have been raised as to whether NS findings can indeed provide appropriate grammatical insights beneficial to the development of ‘natural’ nonnative speech. Although many teachers and learners may endeavour to achieve a native-like standard in English (Timmis 2002), the NS model for many learners can be deemed “utopian, unrealistic, and constraining” (Alptekin 2002: 57) and at times unconducive to the goals of individuals who may operate in English beyond traditional, inner-circle NS contexts (Andreou & Galantomos 2009, Kachru 1992). Recent years have therefore seen an increase in the application of learner corpora to obtain greater insight into proficiency and linguistic achievement during second language learning (e.g. ICLE, VOICE, and CEC). By exposing learners to examples from successful learners of English rather than those of native speakers, it is thought they will be able to consult a model which is more realistic, appropriate and, ultimately, within reach. A further branch bridging the discussion of successful language use and corpus linguistics concerns associations with learner competency descriptors within the CEFR (CoE 2001). In addition to detailing extensively the skills learners possess and cultivate across a wide range of social and educational contexts, the CEFR comprehensively describes communicative language activities and competences. Specifically, in relation to the focus of this study, its six Common Reference Levels and can-do statements outline the abilities of language learners at different stages. However, despite its intentional, non-exhaustive nature (CoE 2001, Coste 2007, North 2006, Weir 2005), it has faced criticism. While some highlight its misuse, its lack of support from second language acquisition theory and its sometimes problematic application caused by vague definitions and vocabulary, others have stressed the absence of actual language use to enhance the understanding of its competency descriptors (Alderson 2007, Fulcher 2004, Figueras 2012, Hulstijn 2007;,Weir 2005). In short, the detailed guidance offered in describing abilities at each of the six levels is not replicated in the form of illustrative linguistic structures and vocabulary to be encountered or mastered by learners. One large-scale study, the CEPC (n.d.) has begun to tackle these issues. Via the compilation of an intended 10 million word (20% spoken, 80% written) learner corpus covering levels A1-C2, the CEPC intends to document the language required by learners to satisfy descriptors at each level. While the present, much smaller study may seem to share aims similar to the CEPC, its context is more focussed. While the CEPC incorporates general and specific written and spoken English language use by learners from across the world, the lexico-grammatical findings in this study will relate only to successful spoken language use in C1 speaking examinations produced by UCLanESB so that test writers, assessors, teachers and students can all be made aware of how language can be used to fulfil CEFR criteria.

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3 Methodology A learner corpus of 26,620 words was constructed, using sample language from the UCLanESB spoken tests at C1 level. Samples were taken from 31 adult candidates (16 males, 15 females) of mixed nationalities who achieved a solid pass score on the test each. Following completion of the speaking tests, conducted in groups of two or three candidates, speakers were given a mark of 0-5 for vocabulary, grammar, discourse management, interactive ability, and pronunciation; a global score was then calculated. It was this global score which was used as a measure for success. As a score of 2.5 equates to a pass, only exams in which both or all candidates achieved a score of 3.5 or 4 were incorporated into the corpus. Students attaining a mark outside this score bracket may not have displayed a solid, successful performance at C1 level and would therefore not assist the aims of the research. Steps were also taken to verify the global scores of exams incorporated into the corpus: all exam assessors had completed UCLanESB standardisation, all exams had been second-marked and the researcher did not take part in any exam, neither as an assessor nor as an interlocutor. To correspond with other general English tests, and to assess an array of speaking skills (O’Sullivan Weir & Saville 2002), the test was divided into three scripted parts (the format description being taken from Jones, Waller & Golebiewska 2013: 32): Part A:

The interlocutor asks for mainly general personal information about the candidates (question-answer form). Candidates answer in turn. This stage lasts for approximately two minutes.

Part B:

Candidates engage in an interactive discussion based on two written statements. The interlocutor does not take part. This stage lasts for approximately four minutes.

Part C:

Candidates discuss questions related to the topic in Part B both together and with the examiner. This stage lasts for approximately four minutes.

The C1 tests were transcribed using the CANCODE transcription conventions (Adolphs 2008) to facilitate analysis. Accessible to prospective readers, and still precise and reliable for illustrating interactions between the candidates and interlocutors, they were conducive to analysis during explorations of data which often involved the omission of interlocutor data. Once transcribed, data were subjected to various analyses. A lexical profile (Laufer & Nation 1995) was first created, using the Compleat Lexical Tutor (Cobb 2014) to identify the percentage of words used, belonging to the first and second thousand most frequent words in the spoken BNC (Leech, Rayson & Wilson 2001) alongside calculations of token-type ratios to allow for preliminary comparisons of lexical repetition. Wordsmith Tools (Scott 2014) software was utilised to calculate word frequency and keyword lists which employed a keyness ratio of 1:50 (Chung & Nation 2004) and the spoken BNC as a reference. To answer the final part of 71

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the second research question, three- and four-word lexical chunks were then sorted according to their frequency via Anthony’s (2014) Antconc software. The final stage involved a qualitative analysis of learner language, using NVIVO software (QSR 2012). This helped to determine the occurrence of relevant, spoken C1 can-do descriptors and the language used to realise them. Relevant speaking descriptors were taken from the production, interaction and strategy use sections of the CEFR (CoE 2001: 58-87).

4. Results and Discussion 4.1 Research Question 1 (RQ1) Research Question 1 was the following one: What percentage of the words used by C1 learners come from the first thousand and second thousand most frequent words in the spoken BNC?

The percentage of words from the first thousand (K-1) and second thousand (K2) most frequent words in English are shown in Table 1 below: Frequency Families Level (%) K-1 Words

607 (58.48)

K-2 Words

236 (22.74)

Types (%) Tokens (%) Cumulative Type-Token Tokens % Ratio 927 (63.71)

19307 (92.25)

285 (19.59)

976 (4.66)

92.25 96.91

14.38

Tab. 1: Percentage of words from the first and second thousand most frequent English words

As can be seen, a cumulative majority of words, 96.91%, originated from the first 2000 most frequent words in English. Although this majority is dominated by words from the K-1 band, in sum, the data still demonstrate that less than one in every twenty words belonged to bands beyond the 2000 word limit. For students to be successful at C1 level, therefore, it is crucial that candidates have knowledge of words originating from the K-1 and K-2 bands, an assertion supported by several writers (McCarthy 1999, O’Keefe, McCarthy & Carter 2007). Further insights into C1 success can also be obtained by examining the coverage provided by word families: groups consisting of headwords, their inflections and derivations (Nation 2001, Nagy et al, 1989). Whilst it is acknowledged that learners require a wide-ranging vocabulary in order to 72

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satisfy long-term learning goals (Nation 2001), much research recognises the need for students to make use of a limited, useful vocabulary, a vocabulary which is continually repeated and recycled in order to satisfy a range of spoken and written functions (Nation 2001, Nation & Waring 1997, Cobb n.d.). Such a useful vocabulary in English is said to mostly comprise the first 2000 word families: in written texts, this figure provides a coverage of approximately 80% (Francis & Kucera 1982, Cobb n.d., Nation & Waring 1997, Nation 2001), whilst in unscripted spoken texts, the percentage coverage rises to 96% (Adolphs & Schmitt 2004) or 97% (Schonell et al, 1956, cited in Adolphs & Schmitt 2004). The data in Table 1 indicate that K-1 word families (58.48%) and K-2 word families (22.74%) only supplied a combined coverage of 81%. This figure, greatly reduced in comparison with the estimations of Schonell et al. (1956) and Adolphs & Schmitt (2004), is, however, somewhat anticipated. C1 learners will not have a vocabulary breadth comparable to that of native speakers, nor will they be able to draw on an equal, or readily available, knowledge of the inflections or derivations belonging to a particular headword. The above deduction could therefore have implications for the expectations placed upon successful C1 learners in relation to CEFR descriptors. With C1 encompassed by the proficient user label in the CEFR (CoE, 2001: 23), it may be easy to assume candidates to be able to employ more advanced lexis. However, with such a high proportion of K-1 and K-2 words and a type-token ratio of 14, which suggests a certain degree of repetition at this level, emphasis might not be placed on the advanced nature of vocabulary, but on the flexibility and frequency with which the first 2000 words can be used as per the C1 level descriptor presented earlier. For instance, although example statements such as the excerpt below do not seem impressive in terms of lexical difficulty (bold type represents words beyond K-2), they do contain vocabulary which i) meets the demands of the task and ii) can be reproduced for use in other parts of the test1: Example: <$3M> Okay can I go first? Okay erm tourism in my country is not really important why because erm my country has a lot of problems like erm there are a lot of things that er need to be atte= attended to before tourism so basically what they are focussing on is not tourism at all they are trying to focus on agriculture and the production the industries and the rest so like tourism is like neglected in my country.

4.2 Research Question 2a: What were the twenty most frequent words used by successful learners at C1 level?

1 Key for samples: $0 = interlocutor, $2M/$3M etc = male candidate, $2F/$3F = female candidate. 73

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Word

Frequency

1

THE

2

Coverage (%) Individual

Cumulative

1071

5.18

5.18

ER

733

3.55

8.73

3

I

718

3.47

12.20

4

AND

590

2.85

15.05

5

TO

581

2.81

17.86

6

ERM

450

2.18

20.04

7

IS

377

1.82

21.86

8

IN

369

1.79

23.65

9

YOU

360

1.74

25.39

10

YEAH

354

1.71

27.10

11

THINK

313

1.51

28.61

12

AND

309

1.49

30.10

13

LIKE

302

1.46

31.56

14

OF

281

1.36

32.92

15

SO

255

1.23

34.15

16

THEY

250

1.21

35.36

17

IT'S

234

1.13

36.49

18

IT'S

230

1.11

37.60

19

THAT

174

0.84

38.44

20

BECAUSE

173

0.84

39.28

Tab. 2: Most frequent words used by successful C1 learners

Upon initial inspection, these word frequency results may seem rather unsurprising. When compared with frequency lists for the spoken BNC (Leech, Rayson & Wilson 2001) and the Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English [CANCODE] (2012), there are many parallels; the C1 list seems typical of what is expected in native spoken language. Discussion here will focus on those entries which are absent in the spoken BNC and CANCODE most frequent 20 words, namely ‘erm’, ‘think’, ‘so’ and ‘because’. Firstly, the CEFR C1 descriptor clearly states its position regarding hesitancy: fluent expression should be executed “without much obvious searching” (CoE 2001: 27). The fillers er and erm, nevertheless, occupy the second and the sixth position, respectively, in the C1 frequency list. This, too, is rather predictable in that of a variety of “performance additions” such as fillers, discourse markers and delays, er and erm are regarded as the most common (Clark & Foxtree 2002: 74). They can also be used to cope with memory demands which can cause uncertainty, delay or inability when answering questions (Smith & Clark 74

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1993), and it can be assumed that learners will have to exploit a much narrower vocabulary to fulfil their linguistic needs, a task potentially increasing the occurrence of pauses. While delaying expressions such as well, what do you call it and how will I put it are found in the C1 data, they are not as flexible as er and erm; arguably, they may neither seem as natural. Ultimately, despite the C1 descriptor, it should be expected that successful C1 students will still use er and erm frequently. Developing from hesitation, it is relevant to discuss how word frequency may be influenced by the nature of the C1 exam and the task demands placed upon candidates. For instance, words such as think, so and because would be expected in an exam which frequently elicits opinions and reasonings in order to assess abilities to “formulate ideas and opinions with precision” (CoE 2001: 27). In the case of think (38th position in CANCODE; 46th position in the spoken BNC), the data and the aims of some vocabulary instruction for giving opinions may conflict. Some exercises make an effort to present learners with alternatives to I think which represented 260 occurrences in the C1 data, such as in my opinion (ten occurrences), I believe (seven occurrences), from my point of view (one occurrence) and as far as I’m concerned or if you asked me (zero occurrences). In the C1 data, these other forms were heavily eclipsed in terms of frequency. This finding raises the question as to whether students should be expected to use these alternative phrases when I think delivers success at C1. It may seem basic, but it is efficient and more target-like when compared with NS corpus data. C1 descriptors also require learners to provide sufficient conclusions to their utterances. A productive can-do statement looks for evidence that C1 learners are able to supply an “appropriate conclusion” to “round-off” their arguments (CoE 2001: 27). In relation to task demands, this can offer some explanation as to why the conjunction so appears frequently in the C1 corpus (in the spoken BNC, this function occupied 274th position). Corresponding to word usage for expressing purpose, as documented in Carter & McCarthy’s Cambridge Grammar of English (2006: 143), a high majority of occurrences of so did involve its use as a subordinating conjunction to introduce “result, consequence and purpose”. Whilst this contrasts greatly from Carter & McCarthy’s (2006) observation that so in NS spoken English is used most frequently as a discourse marker (e.g. so what are we supposed to be doing?), the C1 data show that not only is this usage very frequent, but that this could be a direct result of the demands placed upon students by the exam tasks. Similarly, the high frequency of because in the C1 data should have been foreseeable; students are repeatedly asked for explanations for their opinions. Also, although cos does appear in the C1 frequency data (76th position) and its use is expected in informal speech (Carter & McCarthy 2006), because is used more often to give reasons and extra information in support of opinions in the main clause, as in the following example (words in bold have been discussed in this section):

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Examples: <$11F> I think if you er put a bins and it er has a labels or er write about which one is er for recycling mm people will do right so I think it's a good way to protect the environment. How about you? <$12F> Okay I take your point but erm this is some problem about the bins because erm I often see a lot of people they can't recognise the symbol on the bins because erm they sometimes they walking on the road they just erm keep they eyesight in the street so they can't erm remember the symbol on the bins.

A final finding to be highlighted here refers to a notable difference in the C1 data which contrasts the findings of Jones, Waller and Golebiewska’s (2013) study into UCLanESB’s B2 spoken test data. Despite the arguable value of teaching students high frequency verbs such as go, have and do (Willis 1990) for use as full, auxiliary and delexicalized verbs (Lewis 1993, 1997), such verbs did not appear in the most frequent C1 words seen in Table 2. In fact, go, although still much more frequently used than have and do in the B2 data, only appears in 49th position. Such a finding may initially suggest that C1 students have a greater repertoire of vocabulary that can satisfy similar meanings or functions. Although this would require greater exploration, this conclusion may appear valid in the C1 data, especially when the low occurrence of circumlocution and paraphrase (see RQ3; findings) is considered. The successful C1 students in this study may, therefore, have demonstrated the necessary “good command” of vocabulary to satisfy the CoE’s (2001: 28) C1 descriptor of range.

4.3 Research Question 2b What were the important keywords at C1 level?

Rank

Keyword

Frequency

RC. Frequency

RC %

1

ER

733

90,254

0.09

2

ERM

450

63,095

0.06

3

YEAH

354

83,012

0.08

4

THINK

313

88,700

0.09

5

I

717

732,523

0.74

6

LIKE

302

147,936

0.15

7

IT'S

234

126,792

0.13

8

MAYBE

87

10,023

0.01

9

TOURISM

55

1,461

10

BECAUSE

173

100,659 76

0.1

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HOTEL

82

10,911

0.01

12

SO

254

239,549

0.24

13

COUNTRY

99

27,959

0.03

14

DUBAI

31

141

15

PEOPLE

162

116196

0.12

16

MM

100

34736

0.03

17

YOU

360

588503

0.59

18

UM

32

651

19

REALLY

98

46477

0.05

20

IMPORTANT

89

38721

0.04

Tab. 3: Top 20 keywords used by successful C1 learners Preliminary observation seems to corroborate conclusions from the examination of the frequency lists. Not only do words such as er, erm, think, like, so and because appear much more highly in the C1 frequency lists when compared to the reference corpora lists used, but they also seem to be of particular significance to the success of C1 test candidates. Once again, the implied importance of these words could be a product of test design and the task demands placed on students. It could also be assumed that the keyword ranking of this lexis could be due to their fluctuating usage: their high frequency and usefulness not only corresponds to the nature of the C1 exam, but also to the valuable range of functions the words fulfil for successful candidates. For instance, the cases of think and like may demonstrate the variety afforded, a variety which may help to satisfy criteria relating to C1 expectations of students to be able to use language “flexibly and effectively” (CoE 2001: 27). When exploring Key Word In Context (KWIC) concordance data to discover the way in which these words were used, think and like varied. Unsurprisingly, think was used to give and obtain opinions throughout the exam (the most frequent question asked by students was What do you think?). As the examples below demonstrate, it also was utilised to create hedging phrases, expressions of uncertainty, and it was occasionally modified to add emphasis: Examples: <$7F> Yeah it will help the environment environment I think. <$2M> Erm I really think that this is the most important bit about the hotel er the place where I would spend the night if it's er I really think that if erm the room's totally quiet like the walls are too thick that the sound can't pass over them <$O2> it's perfect for me

In relation to like, it became increasingly apparent, when scrutinising the KWIC data that its use not only altered according to its word class, but also according to the exam section. The data showed that like was used as a lexical verb, a 77

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preposition, and as a filler (as shown below): Examples: <$19M> Er usually I like [verb] light music and pop music. The light music er especially for before I go to bed and pop music for example when I travelling somewhere I usually use my headphones to listen it. <$29M> Well first of all I live in Qatar it's a sm= small country and my neighbourhood is actually in <$G3> it's in Doha so it's like [preposition] any normal neighbourhood in the world <$24M> But for me like [filler] all these are related like [preposition] stress rent smoking and maybe you you have stress because you don't sleep enough.

Like allowed students to provide examples and analogies and it also acted as a filler during voiced pauses (Carter & McCarthy 2006). Although it was predominantly used as a lexical verb in Part A of the exam, its usage in parts B and C changed when it began to be used more as a filler, similar to the way young native speakers use it today (Carter & McCarthy 2006). Since Part B removes the interlocutor’s support and Part C “aims to push candidates towards their linguistic ceiling” (Jones, Waller & Golebiewska 2013: 33), it is anticipated that the occurrence of pauses will increase. However, at C1, perhaps the use of like in this way evidences a mastering or attempts by learners to employ NS filler lexis.

4.4 Research Question 2c What were the most frequent three- and four-word chunks used by these learners?

Table 4 presents the most frequent three- and four-word chunks used by successful C1 students. The chunks in bold also appeared in the top 20 in the spoken BNC’s chunk data (Adolphs & Carter 2013): three-word chunks

four-word chunks

1. [47] I THINK IT

1. [35]I THINK IT’S

2. [41] IN MY COUNTRY

2. [15] WHAT DO YOU THINK

3. [36] I DON’T

3. [11] I AGREE WITH YOU

4. [36] THINK IT’S

4. [11] I DON’T KNOW

5. [35] A LOT OF

5. [11] LOCATION OF THE HOTEL

6. [32] SO I THINK

6. [11] YEAH I AGREE WITH

7. [27] IT’S A

7. [10] IT’S IT’S

8. [25] DO YOU THINK

8. [10] THE LOCATION OF THE 78

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9. [25] OF THE HOTEL

9. [8] DO YOU THINK ABOUT

10. [24] I THINK THE

10. [7] A LOT OF PEOPLE

11. [23] I THINK THAT

11. [7] IN MY COUNTRY IS

12. [23] IT’S NOT

12. [7] SO I THINK IT

13. [22] I AGREE WITH

13. [6] A LOT OF THINGS

14. [22] IT’S VERY

14. [6] I THINK THAT THE

15. [22] YEAH IT’S

15. [6] MOST OF THE TIME

16. [21] ER I THINK

16. [6] THINK IT’S VERY

17. [21] ERM I THINK

17. [6] TOURISM IN MY COUNTRY

18. [20] WHAT DO YOU

18. [6] YEAH IT’S VERY

19. [18] DON’T HAVE

19. [5] A FOUR STAR HOTEL

20. [18] I THINK ERM

20. [5] BUT I THINK IT

Tab. 4: Most frequent three- and four-word chunks

An initial comparison of the C1 results above and the 20 most frequent chunks in the BNC (Adolphs & Carter 2013) and CANCODE (McCarthy 2006) reveal that whilst chunk frequency was relatively low in the C1 data, there is evidence that successful candidates replicate some of the most common chunks typical of NS speech. With regards to the composition of the C1 chunks, the data suggest that they represent another way in which knowledge of the K-1 and K-2 word families can be exploited. A profile using the Compleat Lexical Tutor revealed that 94% of three- and four-word chunk lexis originated from the K-1 band, task-related lexis from the K-2 (e.g. location and hotel) constituted 4%, and erm (2%) was considered off-list. A similar analysis of the BNC’s most frequent three- and fourword chunk lexis determined that 100% of the words came from the K-1 band. To make use of chunks, therefore, no complex, less-familiar vocabulary is needed; although NS chunks may prove problematic for learners to “identify and master” (Wray 2000: 176), the lexis they comprise should correspond to the vocabulary that C1 students already possess. Lexical chunks are also deemed advantageous for their impact on fluency, memory and, particularly, listener perceptions of proficiency (Schmitt 2000, Boers et al. 2006, Wray 2000). Chunks are believed to be stored holistically, their availability demands less cognitive capacity and they can “transform” perceptions even of low-level learners’ fluency (O’Keefe, McCarthy & Carter 2007: 77). The fact that they appear in C1 speech, although less frequently than in B2 speech (Jones, Waller & Golebiewska 2013) may show that they could be a component of successful C1 candidates being judged to be fluent and spontaneous (CoE 2001). Furthermore, they are flexible and perform a range of lexical and functional roles (see RQ 3) and they can, at C1, include fillers. 79

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Although lexical chunks are usually identified through a lack of hesitation (Ellis & Sinclair 1996), C1 students may be able to give the impression of fluency despite the use of vocalised fillers. Ultimately, students who are able to incorporate chunks into their production will be seen as more proficient and more successful to those who cannot (Boers et al. 2006). 4.5 Research Question 3

What C1 CEFR indicators are present in terms of spoken interaction, spoken production and strategies?

A qualitative analysis of the C1 test data aimed to establish which speaking can-do statements were demonstrated for production, interaction and strategy use. Although students received solid pass grades which denoted a certain degree of achievement, it was necessary to see how their exam performance corresponded to CEFR descriptors. The corpus data have already identified the lexis contained in their language, but success also involves learning what the C1 students actually did with their language:

Fig. 1: C1 can-do occurrence across all parts of the exam.

Of 660 can-do instances, approximately 45% related to production. Although the nature of the test did influence this category (there was less evidence of sub80

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theme integrations, conclusions, speculation and outlining of issues in the shorter, less demanding section, Part A), the data suggest that C1 candidates should develop and lengthen their answers to demonstrate productive abilities if they are to be considered successful. Although the CEFR does not specify for which ‘complex subjects’ this should be done, the example statement below does illustrate how this could be achieved. Example: <$3M> Okay erm immediate transport problems in my country would be the fact that <$=> erm the erm <$G?> it would be er like the transportation agency or should I say like erm the people er like that handle transport are not very strict. Erm young people like er people like four years older younger than me like sixteen years olds or fifteen year olds are allowed to drive. Basically it's not allowed in the er law in my country but even if you're fifteen or thirteen they could drive around in a car and if like a policeman should stop you or a road safety person should stop you you could bribe them like really low amounts like anybody could afford it and they will let you go.

It was also pertinent to note that interactive and strategic can-do language occasionally appeared similar across some learners in the sample. For instance, some candidates employed the same lexical chunks, although somewhat low in terms of frequency, to satisfy the demands placed upon them. In order to develop the progress of the exam and invite responses (interaction) the chunk what do you (20 occurrences) was combined with think, admire, feel and reckon. This particular chunk may afford the students a greater degree of fluency and flexibility; it may not require additional processing and it is a chunk which may be adapted via the inclusion of a “slot” or space for numerous words depending on the desired meaning (Schmitt 2000: 400). Students also showed similarity in the way they used language to gain time during the exam. The chunk I agree with (22 occurrences) was judged to be a stalling technique on eleven occasions and a quarter of instances of er I think, erm I think, and I think erm were used as a delaying tactic. Although phrases like let’s say…, what do you call it and how will I put it were found. Perhaps this final finding may support claims that the teaching of chunks should concentrate on multifunctional phrases which can be of maximum benefit and of maximum flexibility at C1. Furthermore, chunks which appear to be lexically important but which additionally have a functional capacity could also be a feature for instruction since chunks offer a degree of efficiency, relevance and familiarity which may help to develop pragmatic competence (Schmitt 2000).

5 Conclusions The findings outlined here have various implications for language pedagogy and success in learning English. Vocabulary used by the C1 learners stemmed mostly from the first thousand words of the BNC. Being successful in speech seems to advocate a fundamental need for students to learn these words. It may also justify Nation’s (2001: 16) claim that such lexis should receive 81

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“considerable” attention since words beyond K-2 do not yield great profit in terms of occurrence. Pedagogy could therefore supplement learners in two ways:  Firstly, as per Nation’s advice, classroom time could be maximised by exposing students to more frequent vocabulary.  Secondly, teachers and successful language learners could impart their knowledge of language learning strategies. These readily available tools for language learning may help learners exploit their target language knowledge, they can extend learning in and out of the classroom and they are themselves believed to be a sign of a successful language learner (Griffiths 2004, Oxford 1994, Oxford & Nyikos 1989). Specific strategies related to guessing word meaning from context, remembering words and using materials such as dictionaries and wordlists may result in greater efficiency for teaching and learning low-frequency vocabulary. Another implication relates to the treatment of vocabulary by learners. Since many learners “rely far more on word-by-word processing” (Foster, Tonkyn & Wigglesworth 2000: 356), pedagogy could make students more aware of the value of learning vocabulary in chunks instead of on an individual basis (Boers et al. 2006). Successful C1 students were able to employ some lexical chunks in their speech. Not only did most of these chunks employ lexis from the K-1 category, but they also assisted in the realisation of some CEFR can-do statements and they may have given the assessor a greater impression of fluency and proficiency. Introducing learners to chunks used frequently by native speakers and successful learners in speech may allow them to take full advantage of their positive effects. If attention is also paid to the way in which chunks can be multifunctional, students once again could apprehend and reach the full potential of their English vocabulary. With regards exam performance, this study could offer C1 learners some valuable advice. Although some students, teachers and indeed some assessors may discourage and disapprove of hesitation, it was found that successful candidates did still exercise delaying techniques. Er and erm were amongst the most frequent words used; phrases such as I think and I agree with you were also used to fill pauses. Although the CEFR places importance on spontaneous and fluent speech at C1, candidates can still pass and be successful despite some hesitation. With regards to the occurrence of can-do descriptors, successful C1 learners evidenced their productive abilities more frequently than interactive and strategic criteria. It is the author’s experience that learners are taught not to give one-word answers; it could also be suggested that practitioners should go beyond this and provide students with relevant examples from learner or native corpora as to how more detailed answers could be achieved. For instance, students may assume that greater complexity is needed to develop ideas. The data, however, demonstrated that productive language often involved the use of simple contractions such as because and so to connect ideas. Finally, it remains to be acknowledged that this study involved a rather small 82

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corpus. Additional research with an increased corpus size is needed. A comparison of C1 data with other levels in the CEFR is also required so that speaking exam success at different stages can be examined and then compared to identify areas of similarity and contrast. Such research could also provide a platform for subsequent investigations which would reveal more about exam performance for the benefit of teachers, researchers, course developers and, of course, students.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Cambridge English Corpus (CEC) (2014). (http://www.cambridge.org/about-us/whatwe-do/cambridge-english-corpus; 30.01.2015). Cambridge English Profile Corpus (n.d.). English Profile: CEFR for English. (http://www.englishprofile.org/index.php/corpus; 30.01.2015). Canagarajah, Suresh (2007). Lingua franca English, multilingual communities, and language acquisition. In: The Modern Language Journal 91, 923-939. Carter, Ronald & Michael McCarthy (2006) Cambridge grammar of English: A comprehensive guide: spoken and written English grammar and usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chujo, Kiyomi (2004). Measuring vocabulary levels of English textbooks and tests using a BNC lemmatised high frequency word list. In: Language and Computers 51, 1, 231-249. Chung, Teresa Mihwa & Paul Nation (2004). Identifying Technical Vocabulary. In: System 32, 2, 251-263. Clark, Herbert & Jean Fox Tree (2002). Using ‘uh’ and ‘um’ in spontaneous speaking. In: Cognition 84, 1, 73-111. Cobb, Tom (2014). Compleat Lexical Tutor. (http://www.lextutor.ca/; 21.05.2014). Cobb, Tom (n.d.). Why and how to use frequency lists to learn words. (http://www.lextutor.ca/research/; 21.05.2014). Conrad, Susan (2000). Will Corpus Linguistics Revolutionize Grammar Teaching in the 21st Century?*. In: Tesol Quarterly 34, 3, 548-560. Cook, Vivian (1999). Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. In: TESOL quarterly 33, 2, 185-209. Cook, Vivian (2008). Second language learning and language teaching. London, Hodder Education. Coste, Daniel (2007). Contextualising uses of the common European framework of reference for languages. In: Report of the intergovernmental Forum: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the development of language policies: challenges and responsibilities, 38-47. Council of Europe [CoE] (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dornyei, Zoltan, & Peter Skehan (2003). Individual Differences in Second Language Learning. In: Catherine Doughty & Michael Long (Eds.) (2003). The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell, 589-630. 84

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Ellis, Nick & Susan Sinclair (1996). Working memory in the acquisition of vocabulary and syntax: Putting language in good order. In: The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A 49, 1, 234-250. Ellis, Rod (2008). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Erman, Britt, & Beatrice Warren (2000). The idiom principle and the open-choice principle. In: Text 20, 1, 29–62. Figueras, Neus (2012). The impact of the CEFR. In: ELT Journal 66, 4, 477-485. Foster, Pauline (2001). Rules and routines: A consideration of their role in the taskbased language production of native and non-native speakers. In Bygate, Martin, Peter Skehan, & Merrill Swain (Eds.) (2001). Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching, and testing. Harlow: Longman. 75-93. Foster, Pauline, Tonkyn, Alan, & Wigglesworth, Gillian (2000). Measuring spoken language: A unit for all reasons. In: Applied Linguistics 21, 3, 354-375. Francis, W. Nelson & Kucera, Henry (1982). Frequency analysis of English usage. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Fulcher, Glenn (2004). Deluded by artifices? The common European framework and harmonization. In: Language Assessment Quarterly: An International Journal 1, 4, 253-266. Gardner, Robert, & Peter MacIntyre (1992). A student's contributions to second language learning. Part I: Cognitive variables. In: Language teaching 25, 4, 211-220. Granger, Sylvaine, Estelle Dagneaux, Fanny Meunier & Magali Paquot (2009. International Corpus of Learner English. (http://www.uclouvain.be/en-cecl-icle.html; 16.06.2014) Griffiths, Carol (2004). Language learning strategies: Theory and research. AIS St Helens, Centre for Research in International Education. House, Julianne (2003). English as a lingua franca: A threat to multilingualism? In: Journal of sociolinguistics 7, 4, 556-578. Hulstijn, Jan (2007). The shaky ground beneath the CEFR: Quantitative and qualitative dimensions of language Proficiency1. In: The Modern Language Journal 91, 4, 663667. Kachru, Braj (1992). World Englishes: Approaches, issues and resources. In: Language teaching 25, 01, 1-14. Kramsch, Claire (2003). The privilege of the non-native speaker. In: The Sociolinguistics of Foreign-Language Classrooms: Contributions of the Native, the Near85

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 native, and the Non-native Speaker, 251-262. Jones, Chris, Daniel Waller & Patrycja Golebiewska (2013). Defining successful spoken language at B2 level: findings from a corpus of learner test data. In: The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 29-46. Laufer, Batia & Paul Nation (1995). Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in L2 written production. In: Applied linguistics 16, 3, 307-322. Leech, Geoffrey (2000). Grammars of Spoken English: New Outcomes of Corpus‐ Oriented Research. In: Language learning 50, 4, 675-724. Leech, Geoffrey, Paul Rayson & Andrew Wilson (2001). Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English: Based on the British National Corpus. London: Longman. Lewis, Michael (1993). The Lexical Approach. Hove: Language Teaching Publications. Lewis, Michael (1997). Implementing the Lexical Approach. Hove: Language Teaching Publications. Little, David (2007). The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Perspectives on the Making of Supranational Language Education Policy. In: The Modern Language Journal. 91, 645. McCarthy, Michael (1999). What Constitutes a Basic Vocabulary for Spoken Communication? In: Studies in English Language and Literature 1, 233-249. McCarthy, Michael (2006). Explorations in Corpus Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McCarthy, Michael & Ronald Carter (1995). Spoken Grammar: What is it and How can we Teach it? In: ELT Journal 49, 3, 207-218. McCarthy, Michael & Ronald Carter (2001). Ten criteria for a Spoken Grammar. In: Hinkel, Eli & Sandra Fotos (Eds.) (2002). New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 5175. Nagy, William, Richard Anderson, Marlene Schommer, Julian Scott, & Anne Stallman (1989). Morphological Families in the Internal Lexicon. In: Technical Report No. 450. Nation, Paul (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nation, Paul, & Robert Waring (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists. In: Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy, 6-19. North, Brian (2006). The Common European Framework of Reference: Development, theoretical and practical issues. (http://www.nationaalcongresengels.nl/cgi-bin/north86

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 ede-wagingen%202007-paper.pdf; 30.01.15) Norton, Bonny (1997). Language, identity, and the ownership of English. In: Tesol Quarterly 31(3), 409-429. O’Keefe, Anne, Michael McCarthy & Ronald Carter (2007). From corpus to classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. O’Sullivan, Barry, Cyril Weir & Nick Saville (2002) Using Observation Checklists to Validate Speaking-test Tasks. In: Language Testing 19, 1, 33-56. Oxford, Rebecca (1994). Language learning strategies: An update. Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Center for Applied Linguistics.

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Oxford, Rebecca, & Martha Nyikos (1989). Variables affecting choice of language learning strategies by university students. In: The modern language journal 73, 3, 291-300. Phillipson, Robert (1992). Linguistic imperialism: African perspectives. In: ELT Journal 50(2), 160-167. Piller, Ingrid (2002). Passing for a native speaker: Identity and success in second language learning. In: Journal of sociolinguistics 6(2), 179-208. Prodromou, Luke (2008). English as a lingua franca: A corpus-based analysis. London: Continuum. QSR International (2012). (http://www.qsrinternational.com/; 21.05.2014) Robinson, Peter (Ed.) (2002). Individual differences and instructed language learning (Vol. 2). John Benjamins Publishing. Rubin, Joan (1975). What the" good language learner" can teach us. In: TESOL quarterly, 41-51. Schmitt, Norbert (2000). Key concepts in ELT. In: ELT journal 54, 4, 400-401. Schmitt, Norbert (Ed.) (2004). Formulaic sequences: Acquisition, processing, and use (Vol. 9). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Scott, Michael (2014). WordSmith Tools. Liverpool: Lexical Analysis Software. Skehan, Peter (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith, Vicki, & Herbert Clark (1993). On the course of answering questions. In: Journal of memory and language 32, 1, 25-38.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Stern, Hans Heinrich (1983). Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching: Historical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Applied Linguistic Research. Oxford University Press. Timmis, Ivor (2002). Native-speaker Norms and International English: A Classroom View. In: ELT Journal 56, 3, 240-249. VOICE (2013): Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English. (https://www.univie.ac.at/voice/page/what_is_voice; 30.01.2015). Weir, Cyril (2005). Limitations of the Common European Framework for developing comparable examinations and tests. In: Language Testing 22, 3, 281-300. Widdowson, Henry George (1994). The ownership of English. In: TESOL quarterly, 28, 2, 377-389. Willis, Dave (1990). The Lexical Syllabus. London: Collins ELT. Wray, Alison (2000). Formulaic sequences in second language teaching: Principle and practice. In: Applied linguistics 21, 4, 463-489. Wray, Alison (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Author: Shelley Byrne Associate lecturer University of Central Lancashire E-mail: [email protected]

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A Study in the Perception of Native and Non-Native Englishes by German Learners Julia Davydova (Mannheim, Germany)

Abstract While advocating an integrative approach to the study of language attitudes, the present study explores perceptions of two native and two non-native varieties by German learners of English. The native varieties chosen for the elicitation of attitudes include standard British English and mainstream American English. The non-native varieties targeted in the study are Indian English, a second-language variety, and German English, a foreign-language variety. Exploiting the method mix consisting of a survey, a verbal guise test, and sociolinguistic interviews, the study brings forth converging evidence consistent with the foregoing research. More specifically, it shows that learners evaluate the standard variety of British English as the one showing high levels of prestige and status. In contrast, mainstream American English is perceived as highly socially attractive. It is argued that the social context (formal vs. informal) guides the acquisition of learners’ evaluations of different native Englishes. On a more general level, however, the native-speaker varieties receive much more favourable ratings than the non-native Englishes. This finding is indicative of “an inferiority complex” (Tan & Castelli 2013), a phenomenon whereby non-native speakers exhibit far more negative evaluations towards their own variety than native speakers would. In this situation, possible remedies are suggested. Key words: Language attitudes, Learner Englishes, L2 acquisition of linguistic perceptions, method mix

1 Introduction Language perceptions or language attitudes are crucial in the study of language because speakers’ social evaluations have been shown to have an impact on how language is put to use in the community and how it changes over time. In his seminal work of the community of Martha’s Vineyard, William Labov demonstrated that the ongoing centralization of /ay/ and /aw/ diphthongs was correlated not only with various socio-demographic characteristics of the community members but more importantly, with their positive or negative evaluations of the local community and its traditional values (Labov 1972: 1– 42). People’s attitudes furthermore play a crucial role in the formation of linguistic stereotypes, which are subsequently manifested as distinctive social meanings in the community. To give one example, native speakers of English 89

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have been shown to harbour negative feelings toward some urban English accents associated with the working class such as, for example, Birmingham English, labelling them as significantly less friendly, interesting or cool (Clark & Schleef 2010: 311). Such linguistic stereotyping is believed to play a key role in the acquisition of language evaluations (imposed norm hypothesis, Ladegaard 1998: 253). For this reason, sociolinguists have joined their efforts with those of specialists in related fields, notably applied linguistics and social psychology, in an attempt to ascertain how native English speakers evaluate different linguistic varieties and, more importantly, how these evaluations are acquired by a community of native speakers. This strand of research has been extremely prolific, having produced a plethora of studies over the past four decades (e.g. Giles 1970, Trudgill & Giles 1978, Zahn & Hopper 1985, Giles & Coupland 1991, Lippi-Green 1997). Still relatively unexplored, non-native Englishes, Learner Englishes in particular, present the researcher with an excellent opportunity to explore learners’ attitudes toward native and non-native English and the channels through which these attitudes may be transmitted in a social environment where English is not the main language of the dominant population group. Together, these issues contribute to the building of second-language acquisition and sociolinguistic theory. That said, the current study sets out to explore attitudes towards native and non-native English by German students at the University of Mannheim (Germany). We focus on English spoken in Germany because previous studies examining this learner variety provide very detailed descriptions of the amount and types of exposure to English by secondary-school and university students (Erling 2007, Grau 2009). The other strand of research has investigated the history of contact with English as well as its major domains of use in the country (Hilgendorf 2007). Moreover, studies examining attitudes towards English in Germany are largely descriptive in nature (Erling 2007, Hilgendorf 2007), and there are to date no studies using experimental data to explore this issue. More specifically, we focus on the differences in the perceptions of native and non-native English by German learners. The native varieties chosen for the elicitation of attitudes include standard British English (BrE) and mainstream American English (AmE). The non-native varieties targeted in the study are Indian English (IndE), a second-language variety, and German English (GerE), a foreign-language variety.1 In this study, we chose to target IndE because it is a variety that is relatively well-known in Germany through job-related experiences and portrayal in the media. GerE was a logical option since it is a form of English with which English learners in Germany have an inherent affiliation. 1 Second-language varieties are varieties spoken in countries where English was introduced during the colonial era and has been widely used in the government, administration, and education, developing, as a result, a plethora of unique but widely accepted features of its own. Furthermore, English plays an important role in informal interactions and everyday encounters in such countries. Foreign-language varieties or Learner Englishes are in contrast spoken in countries where English is primarily regarded as an important lingua franca for international communication and is taught as one of the subjects at schools. In these countries, the knowledge of English is decisive in academic contexts and for communication with foreigners. 90

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The present paper is organized as follows. Firstly, an overview of existing research in Learner Englishes and learners’ perceptions towards different forms of English is provided. Having described attitudes as an object of study, we present the research questions and hypotheses, while discussing the major methodological approach employed here and commenting on its benefits. In the next step, the results of the three case studies will be presented, i.e. a survey, a verbal guise test and sociolinguistic interviews. The paper is rounded off with the discussion of the major findings and their relevance for the field of sociolinguistics and second-language acquisition.

2 Learner English and Learners' Attitudes towards Native and Non-Native English: State of the Art The field of World Englishes has witnessed a steady increase in the studies exploring learner varieties of English over the past few years (Szmrecsanyi & Kortmann 2011, Davydova 2012, Edwards 2014, Kasztalska 2014). The pertinent interest in these forms of language has been mostly motivated by the need for contrastive comparisons from a typological perspective, as in Szmrecsanyi & Kortmann (2011), or comparisons with indigenized English, as in Davydova (2012) and Edwards (2014). Advances in corpus linguistics have produced a plethora of corpus-based studies exploring various types of English. As a result of that development, studies focusing on learners’ speech have gained momentum (see, for instance, Mukherjee & Hundt 2011). In contrast, studies looking at learners’ perceptions of different forms of English are still relatively few (Ahn 2014: 196). For instance, Ladegaard (1998) and Clark & Schleef (2010) explore the perception of various native English accents by non-native speakers, whereas McKenzie (2008a, 2008b) looks at the perceptions of standard and non-standard forms of native English as well as Japanese English by Japanese learners. Several studies look at the differences in the perceptions of BrE and AmE by Chinese learners (Ng & He 2004, Hu 2005, He & Ng 2013). Previous studies report highly positive attitudes toward both AmE and BrE in East Asia. McKenzie (2008b) paints a detailed portrait of learners’ attitudes towards English in Japan, showing that Japanese learners highly favour UK English and US English in terms of status but express “a high degree of solidarity with heavily-accented Japanese speech” (McKenzie 2008b: 75). Studies looking at learners’ attitudes towards English in the European context maintain that standard BrE is a highly prestigious variety, especially when placed against other standard and non-standard varieties of English (DaltonPuffer, Kaltenboeck & Smit 1997, Ladegaard 1998, Clark & Schleef 2010). More specifically, in his study of English learners in Denmark, Ladegaard (1998) shows that standard BrE receives highly favourable ratings on the dimension relating to status and competence as well as aesthetic characteristics, but is actually downgraded with respect to social attractiveness. In contrast, AmE received fairly high ratings for social attractiveness compared to BrE. 91

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Ladegaard concludes that his findings indicate “obvious similarities with social stereotypes found in Anglophone contexts” (Ladegaard 1998: 259). In their study of native and Polish-born adolescents from London and Edinburgh, Clark & Schleef (2010) replicate the finding that standard BrE is the most highly evaluated variety with respect to status that nevertheless receives low ratings on the solidarity dimension. This is, again, consistent with what we know about evaluations of English varieties in native contexts. Overall then, the foregoing researched has yielded some highly interesting findings showing how learners evaluate various native forms of English. Relatively little is, however, known about how learners perceptually differentiate between native and non-native forms of English. More specifically, there are to date no studies investigating how European learners perceive the differences between native and non-native varieties of English.

3 Language Attitudes as an Object of Study Language attitudes are psychological constructs (Garrett 2010: 20) that cannot be observed directly as one can, for instance, observe a water molecule under a microscope. They are essentially perceptions of and judgments about language or its various aspects (phonological features or accents, morphosyntactic structures, and lexicon). As such, attitudes are mental constructs. People’s attitudes toward language have an evaluative component (e.g. This kind of language is appropriate for the use in this specific context) and an affective component (e.g. This variety sounds so cool / funny / sophisticated). The former includes people’s cognitive judgments about the amount of status and social prestige that a given linguistic variety enjoys in the community. The latter is related to empathy and is indicative of the level of social attractiveness and solidarity assigned to specific languages. Some perceptions of language can furthermore be understood as evaluative-affective judgments. These often pertain to people’s evaluations of their own selves as well as the forms of language that they think they speak and identify with. Finally, existing research suggests that attitudes can be experienced both consciously and subconsciously by the speakers. This observation has direct repercussions for the methods through which attitudes can be, and indeed have been, studied. Conscious attitudes can be assessed directly either with the help of a questionnaire or an interview. In such cases, the researcher poses straightforward questions, asking people what they think of a variety X. Unconscious attitudes can be arguably accessed through evoking tacit associations with linguistic forms and varieties. This is achieved through the technique called verbal guise test (VGT).

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4 Research Questions and Hypotheses The present study seeks to discover if there are any differences in the way German speakers of English perceive native and non-native varieties of English including their own. This very general issue yields a set of more specific questions and hypotheses. RQ 1: Do German speakers perceive the differences between mainstream native-speaker varieties / accents in a fashion similar to that attested for native speakers of English? Previous research (Ball 1983, Huygens & Vaughan 1983, Stewart et al. 1985), which tested native speakers’ attitudes towards native-speaker accents, has shown that RP speakers were rated highly on the scales covering social status and prestige, whereas AmE speakers were highly rated for social attractiveness. H1a: German speakers of English will rate the RP accent / standard BrE highly on the scale of social status, prestige, and competence. H1b: In contrast, AmE can be expected to receive higher ratings for social attractiveness and solidarity in comparison to BrE. RQ 2: Can German speakers identify native and non-native accents by region? H2: They can be expected to identify BrE and AmE accents quite well. They can also be expected to be able to localize their own accent. It is furthermore hypothesized that they will be able to classify South Asian / IndE accent given its presence in the media. RQ 3: Will their perception of and attitudes toward non-native Englishes other than GerE be different from their perception of native varieties / accents? Previous research (Tan & Castelli 2013) has demonstrated that native speakers exhibit much higher positive attitudes towards South and Southeast Asian English accents than speakers from South and Southeast Asia who tend to negatively evaluate their own accents. H3: Similarly to native English speakers, non-native German speakers of English can be expected to exhibit a generally positive attitude towards South Asian English, particularly with respect to social attractiveness and solidarity but less so with respect to status, prestige, and competence. The expected findings can be of relevance to the advertising of Indiarelated products to the German consumer that employs the use of IndE voice effects.

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RQ 4: Are speakers’ evaluations of their own variety / accent, GerE, different from their evaluation of other non-native and native varieties? H4: German speakers of English are hypothesized to evaluate their own variety / accent positively on the dimension called ‘identity’. Whether or not they will positively evaluate their own variety / accent on all other dimensions including status, competence, and solidarity is determined in the course of this study as there is no foregoing research regarding this issue.

5 Methods In order to address the issues outlined in the foregoing section, we relied on both direct and indirect approaches to measuring attitudes (Garret 2010). More specifically, two quantitative methods were employed in this study: (i) a survey eliciting conscious attitudes towards a given variety and (ii) a VGT tapping into covert perceptions of speakers towards native and nonnative forms of language. Additionally, attitudes towards varieties of English in question were obtained through qualitative statements about different forms of English. These statements were elicited through sociolinguistic interviews. The method mix used was implemented as an attempt to obtain converging evidence stemming from different cognitive domains (i.e. declarative, conscious knowledge vs. nondeclarative, unconscious knowledge, Percy 2012: 70). Such a procedure, in turn, allows for sound generalizations about learners’ overt and covert perceptions of native and non-native forms of English. Secondly, on a methodological note, the employment of a method mix is crucial as it allows the researcher to look at data from complementary, yet related perspectives (see also Garrett 2010: 201). In a related line of thinking, Labov (1972a) states that sound sociolinguistic knowledge can only be obtained “by convergence of several kinds of data with complementary sources of error” (Labov 1972a: 97, cited in Schilling 2013: 66). The following sections depict the main steps of analysis carried out in each case study. The data used in this project were obtained from students aged between 18 and 25 enrolled in Bachelor and Master Programmes in Language & Business Administration and Language & Media Communication at the University of Mannheim (Germany). Approximately one third of the entire sample population was studying EFL so as to become teachers. All these students were brought up in Germany, having come into first contact with English through a classroom context. All of them had German as their mother tongue. Five speakers included in the survey were brought up bilingually with 94

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German and Turkish2. The data for the survey were obtained from 94 respondents (72% of them being female and 28% male); the VGT data were elicited from 65 respondents (69% of them being female and 31% male); the qualitative data were obtained through sociolinguistic interviews from 24 speakers (70% of them being female and 30% male). By the time the data were collected, all the subjects had been exposed to the English language in an academic setting for at least ten years. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of these students (77% in total) reported having visited an English-speaking country at least three times. Their English language proficiency can be described as upper-intermediate / advanced (B2 / C1 CEFR levels 3, respectively).

6 The Study 6.1 Case Study 1 6.1.1 The Survey The survey elicited learners’ conscious attitudes towards BrE, AmE, IndE, and GerE on the dimensions of (i) status / prestige (evaluative judgments), (ii) social attractiveness / solidarity (affective judgments), and (iii) identity (evaluativeaffective judgments). Each dimension was represented by two statements about each variety (e.g. I think X English is a high-status variety). The respondents had to assess each variety on each dimension by placing a cross somewhere on a 6-point Likert scale, as illustrated in Figure 1: Quickly read the following statements about British English and decide to what extent you agree with each statement. 1. I think British English is a high-status variety. 1 2 3 4 I strongly disagree

5

6 I strongly agree

2. I think British English is prestigious. 1 2 3 I strongly disagree

4

5

6 I strongly agree

3. British English is socially attractive. 1 2 3 I strongly disagree

4

5

6 I strongly agree

2 Similar to monolinguals, these speakers learned English as a foreign language at school and are thus included in the study. 3 CEFR stands for ‘Common European Framework of Reference for Languages’, see also http://-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_ for_Languages, accessed January 20, 2015. 95

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6 I strongly agree

5. British English is a form of English that I speak. 1 2 3 4 I strongly disagree

6 I strongly agree

5

6. British English is a form of English that I strongly identify myself with. 1 2 3 4 5 6 I strongly disagree I strongly agree Fig. 1: Instructions to participants and the Likert scale employed in the survey

The collected data were then fed into the SPSS spreadsheet, checked for outliers, tested for normality (Wilk Shapiro test) and homogeneity of variance (Mauchly’s test of sphericity). After that, it was subjected to repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA), which compared judgment means for each statement across the four varieties studied here.

6.1.2 Results: Emerging Trends and Patterns First and foremost, both native-speaker varieties received higher ratings on all three dimensions studied here, and these differences are statistically significant at p = .000, as reported in Table 1: Statement

Mean Scores BrE AmE GerE IndE Dimension: status / prestige 1. I think X is a high-status 4.50 3.62 2.97 2.21 variety 2. I think X is prestigious 4.36 3.39 2.78 2.00 Dimension: solidarity / social attractiveness 3. X is socially attractive 4.00 4.39 2.87 2.06 4. I use X to express my 2.30 3.58 2.56 1.29 solidarity with others Dimension: identity 5. X is an English that I 2.78 4.25 3.22 1.14 speak 6. X is an English that I 2.55 3.75 2.37 1.47 strongly identify with

F-value D.F.

P-value

70,101 2.8, 254.8 .000 89.126 2.9, 267.9 .000 66.598 2.9, 268.2 .000 46.075 2.7, 252.0 .000

58.545 2.2, 202.2 .000 45.820 1.9, 181.2 .000

Table 1: Repeated measures ANOVAs of survey data comparing mean evaluations of two native and two non-native varieties by German students (N 94)

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A closer examination of evaluation means further reveals some noteworthy patterns. BrE receives higher scores on the dimension called status / prestige in comparison to AmE; the post-hoc comparisons (with Bonferroni adjustment) show that these differences are significant (mean difference 0.88, CI 95% 0.45 to 1.30, p = 0.000 for statement 1 above, and mean difference 0.97, CI 95% 0.59 to 1.33, p = 0.000 for statement 2). This result substantiates Hypothesis 1a, stating that BrE is a variety that enjoys more status and social prestige. In contrast, AmE receives higher ratings on the solidarity / social attractiveness dimension when compared to its British counterpart; the post-hoc comparisons reveal that these differences in means are significant at least with respect to statement 4 above (mean difference .038, CI 95% 0.16 to 0.93, p = 0.361 for statement 3, and mean difference 1.28, CI 95% 0.70 to 1.85, p = 0.000 for statement 4). This finding adds weight to Hypothesis 1b, suggesting that AmE appears to be more socially attractive when compared to BrE. Perhaps one of the most remarkable findings stemming from the survey is the higher ratings received for AmE on the dimension labelled identity. Results unequivocally show that German students believe that the form of English that they speak and strongly identify with is AmE. The post-hoc comparisons show that the mean differences (i.e. AmE vs. another variety) are significant (p < 0.0005) for both statements. Thus, Hypothesis 4 could not be substantiated, as GerE does not seem to be the form of English that German students aspire to speak or strongly identify with. The low prestige of GerE is attributable to the negative associations evoked through puristic public discourse, advising against using typically German expressions in English and strongly encouraging following the native-speaker norms instead (e.g. Littger 2014 and Meyerhöfer 2014). Finally, IndE is a variety that receives the lowest ratings on all dimensions and the mean differences (i.e. IndE vs. another variety) are significant (p < 0.0005) for all six statements. Hypothesis 3 could not be empirically substantiated. Overall, IndE appears to have little prestige and social attractiveness for German learners. Interestingly, these results are consonant with those reported in Bernaisch for Sri Lanka where IndE “generally comes last in the attitudinal ranking” (Bernaisch (2012: 286). This similarity in attitudes is even more striking, given that the German learners tested in this study judged a geographically and socially remote variety of English, whereas Sri Lankans have a much more immediate exposure to IndE. In sum, the survey data yield four main conclusions: (I) BrE is judged as having significantly more status, (ii) AmE is more socially attractive, (iii) GerE is not a form of English that German speakers aspire to speak or strongly identify with, and 97

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(iv) IndE has the least prestige and social attractiveness in Germany. However, one might wonder if these claims will still stand once we attempt to tap into speakers' unconscious beliefs about specific forms of English. These unconscious beliefs are particularly important to tap into because they are free from the social desirability bias, which is sometimes contained in straightforward answers (Garrett 2010: 44–45). In order to tackle this issue, a VGT study was carried out.

6.2 Case Study 2 6.2.1 Verbal Guise Test (VGT) Developed in the 1960s by a team of social psychologists from Canada, the VGT approach is a fairly subtle technique that explores people’s attitudes to language without placing overt emphasis on the target of the investigation, i.e. English varieties or accents. In this case study, students had to listen to recordings of a short text that was read out loud by native speakers of standard BrE, mainstream AmE, educated GerE, and educated IndE. The recordings were obtained from the website of the International Dialects of English Archive, IDEA (http://www.dialects-archive.com/; accessed on June 1, 2015). The text was produced at roughly the same speech rate by each speaker. The speakers were matched for demographic characteristics (male, middle-aged, and middleclass). We also controlled, as far as possible, for the speakers’ voice qualities: The speakers chosen for the VGT experiment were tenors with a light timbre. Perceptions of four accents (standard British, mainstream American, German, and Indian) were elicited indirectly through a semantic differential scale tapping into different attitudinal dimensions (Clark & Schleef 2010: 310, Garrett 2010: 66). As underlying mental concepts can be represented by different semantic features in different communities, we needed to establish the traits that would be meaningful to the judges in the study. Students from the same academic community were asked to describe the four guises in their own words. We also asked the pre-study judges to provide a list of adjectives that closely describe d the German character in order to tap into the concept of German identity. We then selected the most frequently occurring lexical items, carefully checking them against the list of items tested in the previous studies. In groups and in friendship pairs, the judges were then exposed to each guise once and were instructed to rate each speaker in terms of twelve features (adjectival pairs) on the scale consisting of 100 dashes. In contrast to the more traditional 5-, 6-, 7- or 9- point Likert scales, this technique arguably allows for a more differentiated analysis of such complex phenomena as covert attitudes (Clark & Shleef 2010: 305). The VGT task is illustrated in Figure 2:

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Fig. 2: Instructions to participants and the semantic differential scale employed in the VGT

The collected data were entered into an SPSS spreadsheet, where they were checked for outliers. The data were then subjected to the principal component analysis (PCA), a data reduction technique which helped to identify the correlational relationships between individual features and, thus, to establish the major components, the so-called super-variables, in the data. The dimensions of attitudes were elicited through a combination of two statistical procedures: (i) a scree test and (ii) an items-on-factor technique (McCroskey & Young 2006: 381). As illustrated in Table 2, the PCA revealed the presence of four components accounting for 71.27% of the variance, which were labelled status and competence, social attractiveness, identity, and superiority. Within these main domains, individual features cluster together in statistically significant ways; although given the relatively small dataset, these dimensions should be understood in terms of “patterns and tendencies rather than absolutes” (also Clark and Schleef 2010: 308):

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Feature

Component 1

Component 2 Component 3 Component 4

Status and competence

Social attractiveness

Identity

Superiority

1. reliable

.818

-.147

-.112

.012

2. trustworthy

.812

-.069

-.074

.185

3. competent

.806

-.165

-.166

.262

4. educated

.778

.059

.200

.176

5. disciplined

.735

.258

-.030

-.165

6. intelligent

.642

-.048

.360

.325

7. posh

.045

-.082

-.011

.938

8. relaxed

.118

.826

-.079

-.048

9. friendly

.405

.714

-.072

.078

10. cool

.101

.591

-.494

-.051

11. serious

.246

-.552

.527

.132

12. unemotional

.-112

-.115

.914

-.070

Eigenvalue

4.4

2.4

1.05

0.78

36.31

19.63

8.81

6.52

% of variance explained

Table 2: Results of Principal Component Analysis (rotated component matrix, varimax rotation)

Table 2 reveals that the features reliable, trustworthy, competent, educated, disciplined, and intelligent strongly load on status and competence, whereas the feature posh shows a very close association with superiority. In contrast, the features relaxed, friendly, and cool strongly load on social attractiveness. This is consistent with previous findings involving evaluations of native and non-native speakers of English. Finally, the features serious and unemotional pattern together, giving rise to the dimension labelled identity. In the next step, we tested for normality (Wilk-Shapiro test) and homogeneity of variance (Mauchly’s test of sphericity) and compared the mean evaluations of each feature across four accents (twelve calculations in total) by carrying out repeated measures ANOVA. The Bonferroni post-hoc tests were further employed in order to determine which specific contrasts the spotted differences were attributable to.

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6.2.2 Results: Emerging Trends and Patterns Generally, as shown in Table 3, native speakers got much more favourable ratings for all the features that were taken to represent the dimension status and competence and social attractiveness. The repeated measures ANOVA showed a main effect for all these features (nine in total). BrE furthermore received the highest rating in terms of superiority. Taken to represent the dimension identity, the features serious / funny, emotional / unemotional show diverse patterns. Overall, Hypothesis 4 could not be substantiated. Feature 100

Mean scores 0

BrE

F-value

D.F.

Pvalue

AmE GerE IndE

Dimension: status and competence reliable

unreliable

73.40 64.25 54.35 44.94 23.193

2.7, 169.8 .000

trustworthy

untrustworthy 70.97 66.23 55.22 43.86 22.407

2.7, 175.4 .000

competent

incompetent 77.82 63.45 39.71 35.34 71.410

2.5, 163.5 .000

educated

uneducated

78.69 61.03 51.69 41.68 41.957

2.6, 166.8 .000

disciplined

undisciplined 70.88 57.45 60.09 51.16 8.282

2.7, 170.5 .000

intelligent

unintelligent 71.48 64.51 50.87 45.89 30.158

2.7, 171.2 .000

Dimension: social attractiveness relaxed

tense

60.12 68.14 30.60 47.43 26.821

2.7, 172.8 .000

friendly

unfriendly

70.60 72.08 48.97 51.89 18.719

2.7, 176.2 .000

cool

not cool

51.40 66.83 27.77 33.63 38.39

2.6, 169.1 .000

Dimension: identity serious

funny

65.52 44.23 74.05 61.70 17.802

2.5, 159.5 .000

unemotional

emotional

61.45 44.58 72.05 79.56 27.018

2.4, 149.4 .000

41.05 33.09 33.48 28.51 3.225

2.7, 175.6 .028

Dimension: superiority posh

common

Table 3: Repeated measures ANOVAs of verbal guise data comparing mean evaluations of two native and two non-native accents by German students (N 65)

Results reported in Table 3 furthermore point to clearly discernible patterns: (i) BrE receives higher ratings on the dimension status and competence and 101

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superiority when compared to AmE, (ii) AmE receives higher ratings on the dimension social attractiveness when compared to BrE, (iii) GerE receives higher ratings on the dimension status and competence when compared to IndE, and finally (iv) IndE receives slightly higher ratings on the dimension social attractiveness when compared to GerE. With respect to the statistical significance of these data, we report results of the Bonferroni post-hoc tests, focusing on the four trends outlined above. As shown in Table 4, the BrE guise was rated as more reliable (mean difference 9.14, CI 95% 1.01 to 17.26, p = 0.019) in comparison to all the other guises. It is also perceived as somewhat more trustworthy although this difference does not come up as significant in the post-hoc comparisons (mean difference 4.73, CI 95% 4.43 to 13.90, p = 0.985). The BrE speaker is furthermore perceived as more competent (mean difference 14.36, CI 95% 6.63 to 22.10, p = 0.000) and more educated (mean difference 17.66, CI 95% 9.76 to 25.56, p = 0.000), more disciplined (mean difference 13.42, CI 95% 4.09 to 22.75, p = .001) and more intelligent (mean difference 6.96, CI 95% 0.31 to 13.62, p = 0.035) in comparison to AmE. Overall, Hypothesis 1a is substantiated by the results of the post-hoc analyses of our data: Feature

Mean Difference

Dimension: Status and competence

Confidence interval 95% Std. Error P-value Lower bound

Upper bound

BrE as more reliable

9.14

1.01

17.26

2.98

.019

trustworthy

4.73

4.43

13.90

3.36

.985

competent

14.36

6.63

22.10

2.84

.000

educated

17.66

9.76

25.56

2.90

.000

disciplined

13.42

4.09

22.75

3.43

.001

intelligent

6.96

0.31

13.62

2.44

.035

Table 4: The Bonferroni post-hoc tests comparing evaluations of the British accent and the American accent on the dimension status and competence by German students (N 65)

BrE was furthermore higher assessed on the dimension superiority in comparison to AmE, although, as reported in Table 5, this difference is not statistically significant. 102

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Mean Difference

Dimension: Superiority

Confidence interval 95% Lower bound

Std. Error

Pvalue

Upper bound

BrE as more posh

4.9

5.00

14.9

3.66

1.00

Table 5: The Bonferroni post-hoc tests comparing evaluations of the British accent and the American accent on the dimension superiority by German students (N 65)

Importantly, the foregoing results are very much in line with those reported in Bernaisch (2012) and Ladegaard (1998). The former is a survey tapping into attitudes of Sri Lankan English speakers and contrasting four English varieties, i.e. BrE, AmE, IndE, and Sri Lankan English. It reveals that BrE is most highly evaluated in terms of status and competence as it receives the highest ratings for features such as prestige, educatedness, smartness, flawlessness, and sophistication in comparison to AmE (and the other two varieties). Ladegaard (1998) looks at tacit evaluations of standard and non-standard English accents by Danish learners, showing that RP “received the most favourable evaluation on all dimensions relating to status and competence” (Ladegaard 1998: 258). Preliminary comparisons also show that the AmE speaker receives higher ratings on the dimension social attractiveness when compared to BrE, as shown in Table 3. Table 6 reveals further details demonstrating that American accent is perceived as cooler when compared to the standard British accent (mean difference 15.43, CI 95% 4.92 to 25.94, p = 0.001). It is also perceived as more relaxed and somewhat friendlier than the BrE accent although these differences are not significant in the post-hoc comparisons (mean difference 8.01, CI 95% 2.56 to 18.59, p = 0.259 for relaxed and mean difference 1.48, CI 95% 7.40 to 10.35, p = 1.00 for friendly). Although the data show a clearly discernible trend (AmE is evaluated as more socially attractive than BrE), Hypothesis 1b could be substantiated only partially by this dataset. Feature Mean Difference Dimension: Social attractiveness

Confidence interval 95% Std. Error P-value Lower bound Upper bound

AmE as more relaxed

8.01

2.56

18.59

3.89

.259

friendly

1.48

7.40

10.35

3.26

1.00

cool

15.43

4.92

25.94

3.86

.001

Table 6: The Bonferroni post-hoc tests comparing evaluations of the British accent and the American accent on the dimension social attractiveness by German students (N 65) 103

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Interestingly, standard British accent is downgraded on the dimension social attractiveness in comparison to other varieties including AmE in Ladegaard’s (1998) study. In Bernaisch’s (2012) study, BrE is evaluated as less friendly than AmE and Sri Lankan English. On the other hand, the German speaker received slightly better ratings for the adjectival pairs representing status and competence when placed against the Indian guise. The German guise was consistently rated as somewhat more reliable, trustworthy, and competent than the Indian guise. This difference is significant for the feature trustworthy, as indicated by the post-hoc comparisons (mean difference 11.36, CI 95% 2.33 to 20.36, p = 0.006). The differences are, however, not significant for the feature competent (mean difference 4.36, CI 95% 3.6 to 12.3, p = 0.84) and for the feature reliable (mean difference 9.41, CI 95% 1.22 to 20, p = 0.113). Furthermore, the German speaker was rated as more educated, and this difference is weakly significant (mean difference 10.01, CI 95% 0.47 to 20.50, p = 0.069). The German speaker is also rated as more disciplined and intelligent than the South Asian speaker, although the differences are not significant (mean difference 8.938, CI 95% 1.49 to 19.36, p = 0.136 for disciplined and mean difference 4.9, CI 95% 3.4 to 13.39, p = 0.66 for intelligent). A summary of evaluations of non-native speaker accents along the dimension status and competence is given in Table 74. Feature

Mean Difference Confidence interval 95% Std. Error P-value

Dimension: Status and competence

Lower bound

Upper bound

GerE as more reliable

9.41

1.22

20.05

3.90

.113

trustworthy

11.36

2.33

20.36

3.31

.006

competent

4.36

3.6

12.3

2.92

.844

educated

10.01

0.47

20.50

3.85

.069

disciplined

8.94

1.49

19.36

3.82

.136

intelligent

4.9

3.4

13.39

3.08

.664

Table 7: The Bonferroni post-hoc tests comparing evaluations of the German accent and the Indian accent on the dimension status and competence by German students (N 65)

4 One of the commentators noticed that these ratings of the German speaker broadly conform to the cultural stereotypes attached to German people and associated with the German culture. Given that the judges were generally aware of the speakers’ origins (see Variety recognition task), it is not unreasonable to assume that the L1 German raters may have expressed their natural cultural self-perceptions through these ratings. 104

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The foregoing analyses thus reveal a very suggestive pattern, with the German guise being placed slightly above the Indian guise on the dimension status and competence. Overall though, both German and Indian speakers are perceived as having less status and competence when placed against native English speakers. A highly interesting pattern gleaned through the comparisons of tacit perceptions is that the Indian speaker received somewhat better means for social attractiveness in comparison to the German speaker. As reported in Table 8, the post-hoc comparisons show that the Indian speaker was rated as significantly more relaxed (mean difference 16.8, CI 95%, 5.4 to 28.2, p = 0.001). The Indian speaker was also rated as a bit friendlier and a bit cooler than the German speaker, although these differences are not significant (mean difference 2.9, CI 95% 8.8 to 14.6, p = 1.000 for friendly and mean difference 5.9, CI 95% 2.9 to 14.7, p = 0.45 for cool). Thus, the VGT data have yielded at least partial evidence in favour of Hypothesis 3, stating that South Asian English should receive more positive ratings for social attractiveness. This claim, however, only applies to non-native speakers’ comparisons. Feature

Mean Difference Confidence interval 95% Std. Error

Dimension: Social attractiveness

Lower bound

Pvalue

Upper bound

IndE as more relaxed

16.8

5.4

28.2

4.18

.001

friendly

2.9

8.8

14.6

4.30

1.00

cool

5.9

2.9

14.7

3.25

.455

Table 8: The Bonferroni post-hoc tests comparing evaluations of the German accent and the Indian accent on the dimension social attractiveness by German students (N 65)

What is intriguing is that these findings actually parallel those reported in Bernaisch (2012), who has been able to show that IndE “obtains higher ratings for humbleness and friendliness” (Bernaisch 2012: 286), two qualities associated with the expression of solidarity and, by this token, highly socially attrac tive. That said, the foregoing comparisons of non-native guises yield two hypotheses that need to be subjected to further empirical testing through the VGT method. Non-native speakers can be expected to rate their own accents more positively in terms of status and competence in comparison to other non-native accents. In contrast, they can also be expected to give the other non-native variety more positive affective ratings, as an attempt to express their solidarity with other non-native speakers and forms of language that they speak. We will address 105

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this issue in the discussion of sociolinguistic data. 6.2.3 Variety Recognition Task After hearing each guise, respondents were also asked to identify the region where they thought the speaker came from. The task was an open-ended, rather than a forced-choice, question and the informants were instructed to be as specific as possible. Each respondent then tried to localize each speaker from the verbal guise. Evaluating this assignment was no straightforward task. The speaker taken to represent the standard variety of BrE was born in Surrey, a county in the southeast of England and spent the 25 years of his adult life in the city of Brighton, Sussex. The speaker taken to represent mainstream AmE was born in Virginia, spent three years in Washington D.C., 14 years in Philadelphia, and 10 years in New York. The speaker from the German guise was raised in Münster but had lived in Hamburg for more than 10 years by the time of the interview. The speaker from the Indian guise was raised in Mumbai but had lived in the United States for four years by the time of the recording. While evaluating respondents’ answers to the open-end question, we adopted a scale of 0-3, which reflects the level of correctness in terms of region identification. Table 9 further illustrates the methods used in this study to quantify correct identification. Guise example British guise

American guise

German guise

Indian guise

Response

Level of identification

Points awarded

America, Brazil

Incorrect country

0

Britain

Correct but unspecific

1

England

Correct country

2

Southeast of England, London

Correct region

3

England

Incorrect country

0

US

Correct but unspecific

1

US, East Coast

Correct region

2

US, New York

Correct local area

3

Brazil, India

Incorrect country

0

Non-native speaker

Correct but unspecific

1

Northern Europe

Correct region

2

German

Correct country

3

Africa

Incorrect country

0

Non-native speaker

Correct but unspecific

1

Asia

Correct region

2

India

Correct country

3

Table 9: Measuring the correct identification of guises 106

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Table 10 shows the identification values for all four guises. Overall, the task yielded 260 responses (65 responses for each guise). The recognition rates for all varieties are generally very high. Thus, the overwhelming majority correctly identified the British guise as 'British' by indicating that the speaker’s place of origin was either Britain (44.62%) or England (32.31%). Only 10.77% of respondents (7 respondents in total) were able to correctly identify the speaker as coming from southeast England. BrE

AmE

GE

IE

Value

count

%

count

%

count

%

count

%

0

8

12.30

4

6.15

1

1.54

4

6.15

1

29

44.62

51

78.46

1

1.54

1

1.54

2

21

32.31

9

13.85

3

4.62

11

16.92

3

7

10.77

1

1.54

60

92.31

48

73.85

No respons e

-

1

1.54

-

-

Table 10: Identification values for four guises among 65 respondents participating in the VTG study

As for the American guise, 78.46% of respondents correctly believed that the speaker came from the US and 13.85% could furthermore localize the accent to the East Coast area. The non-native guises did not present German learners of English with any specific difficulties as most of the informants correctly identified the country of origin for both German and Indian speakers. Overall, Hypothesis 2 could be substantiated. In sum, the speakers correctly identified the variety of a particular guise, and this type of evidence suggests that overall, the learners associated a specific guise with a specific country, i.e. Great Britain / England, the US, Germany, and India, while providing evaluative and affective judgments of the guise. 6.3 Case Study 3 6.3.1 Sociolinguistic Data The main goal of this case study is to provide qualitative substantiation for the quantitative results, drawing on two complementary approaches to the study of language attitudes. We also attempt to find explanations for the patterns detected in the survey and experimental data. The clear-cut advantage of this approach is that the explanations that the researcher provides while working with sociolinguistic data are deeply rooted in the personal experiences of the 107

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community that speaks the variety under study. In other words, it is always context-related. The qualitative data were collected with the help of so-called sociolinguistic interviews, a data-collection technique that aims at eliciting in-depth discussions of specific questions grouped into modules. These sociolinguistic interviews are part of the Mannheim Corpus of German English (MaCGE) 5. For this study, all the questions clustered around attitudes towards English. The interview schedule included modules on the role of English in the world, English language awareness, experiences with English, uses of English, students’ affiliations with different Englishes, and their own linguistic identity. The speakers were asked to comment on the role of and attitudes toward English in Germany, and on the differences in their perception of BrE and AmE. They were finally asked if they thought non-native speaker varieties such as IndE or GerE were perceived differently than native Englishes. All 24 speakers, recruited for this case study, were interviewed in pairs by two female student assistants, each interview lasting approximately one hour. The recorded data yield 12 hours of spontaneous speech material. The following conclusions could be drawn from the examination of quantitative data: (i) native Englishes have far better evaluations on all dimensions than nonnative Englishes, (ii) BrE is revealed as a highly prestigious variety in terms of its social status, (iii) AmE is socially attractive to German learners of English, (iv) IndE often evokes stigmatized connotations, and (v) GerE is a variety about which German learners apparently have ambivalent feelings, as revealed by neither very high nor particularly low mean scores. Relying on the work with sociolinguistic interviews, we explain in what follows what motivates the patterns obtained through quantitative data. In their discussions, speakers refer to BrE as a sophisticated, educated, intelligent, posh, and a highly prestigious form of English. Some speakers believe this is largely due to the English values and traditions, and their literature. This is illustrated in (1) through (6): (1) MaCGE/GE002: But British English is considered to be this sophisticated (,) better in inverted commas than the American English or any other types or varieties of English (.) 5 The corpus is compiled as part of the DFG-funded project DA 1678/1-1 “Deter-

minants of sociolinguistic variation in the ESL/EFL English: Evidence from two academic communities”. 108

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 (2) MaCGE/GE001: I think it’s also linked to literature (,) we think that British English is more literal language (,) and we often connect it with kind of literature like Victorian literature (,) very eloquent literature and for American we think […] American English developed so late we don’t have a culture around it (.) (3) MaCGE/GE004: But I still believe that British English has its prestige (,) it’s a very high prestige (,) MaCGE/GE003: it’s sophisticated and posh (,) MaCGE/GE: 004: Yeah, definitely (,) definitely (!) (4) MaCGE/GE020: British English is more official (,) it sounds like they are saying something important (,) […] (5) MaCGE/GE018: […] the British English I learned is the Oxford English (,) which is really like (,) well the perfect English (,) sort of […] (6) MaCGE/GE008: England as a society also has quite good standing in Germany with its values and traditions (.)

AmE is in turn described as cool, laid-back, and easy-going, partly because this is how informants experienced the Americans in face-to-face communication, and partly because, according to the informants, this is the image of the US and American English projected through the media. Excerpts from discussions of AmE are presented in (7) through (12). (7) MaCGE/GE103: Americans (,) usually easy-going (,) like, ‘Yeah, we can do that!’ and like always really nice (,) it’s like their way of treating people (.) (8) MaCGE/GE006: What it stands for the country behind (.) America is still perceived maybe as the new world with countless (,) numerous opportunities (,) it’s got everything and so it’s the cool country (,) the cooler language (.) (9) MaCGE/GE016: When I was a little girl I thought like, ‘Wow! You have to go there. All the celebrities live there. And you are gonna be famous when you’re there and whatever.’ (10) MaCGE/GE015: I think also that young people always think that America’s cooler than Britain is (.) And that’s because (,) I don’t know (,) how it’s portrayed across media and everything (.) Because of all the celebrities (,) because of all (,) if you ask people they probably think that they are all from America (.) (11) MaCGE/GE019: American English is more socially attractive (,) I would say (.) MaCGE/GE020: I agree and British English is when you want to impress somebody (.) (12) MaCGE/GE023: And then of course the American accent is more seen like the cool thing because the cool movies (,) cool music (,) and everything comes from the US mostly (.) So I think it’s true that it’s the cool English […]

Interestingly, while discussing IndE, informants almost universally reported that they perceived it as a funny form of English. The reason why it is perceived as funny is the portrayal of IndE in the global media, as testimonies in (13) through (15) reveal. 109

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 (13) MaCGE/GE006: Indian English sounds funny (,) Interviewer: Why (?) MaCGE/GE005: Because it’s funny (laughs) MaCGE/GE006: The Germans do not perceive it as one of the English languages (,) it’s either American or British (.) (14) MaCGE/GE008: Especially concerning Indian English (,) it is always being made fun of (.) Interviewer: Why (?) MaCGE/GE008: I am not sure about that (,) because it sounds funny to most of the people and there are examples in pop culture (,) for example this guy from Big Bang Theory […] they are always presented as funny figures (,) they are not taken seriously (.) (15) MaCGE/GE016: I mean we make a lot of jokes about like (,) what is his name (,) Kajel Lana (,) has this role being Indian person (,) raji (?) or I don’t know (,) so he speaks funny and then when we hear it somewhere else (,) we kind of reflect and associate […] with funny things so (…)

The above examples demonstrate that the fairly negative evaluations of IndE by the German learners may indeed be a direct result of how this form of English is depicted in the global media. That said, some learners seem to realize that these representations are mere stereotypes and are more careful in their judgments, as in (16) and (17): (16) MaCGE/GE015: I don’t know but I would say Indian English is funny (,) basically (.) I don’t think we would discriminate them (,) MaCGE/GE016: No (,) no (,) no (!) MaCGE/GE015: that they speak Indian English (,) we would just maybe smile a little more (.) and it’s just really different from anything else (.) (17) MaCGE/GE018: it’s again by watching the Big Bang Theory or the Simpsons in English with Indian people which is (,) I mean it’s stereotypically and everything but their English is just (,) it’s a funny way of pronouncing words (,) this is how it is perceived or it’s how I perceive it (.) […] there are so many representations of stereotypes of who these are (.)

On a more general level however, the interview data show that non-native Englishes, including their own variety, are generally perceived as less correct Englishes when compared to the target varieties of English. (18) MaCGE/GE019: Indian English is just another kind of accent (,) it’s just like German English (,) it’s nothing to aim at (,) so I don’t know that makes a difference probably (,) yeah (.) It’s not the ideal (,) I mean […]

The learners lament the fact that GerE is nothing to emulate, and believe that their acquisition of English should be guided by the norms laid out by native Englishes. At the same time, some informants believe that their English is more correct, i.e. closer to mainstream English than, for instance, IndE or other forms of non-native English spoken in Asia and Africa, while at the same time acknowledging that IndE is nice and there are speakers of IndE who speak very fluent, standard-like English. (19) MaCGE/GE004: Yes (,) I also realise that Indian English has some funny timberings and I also laugh (chuckles) […] but nevertheless they speak fluently and this is the most important thing I think when you speak English and that’s 110

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 also one of the things that I admire when non-native speakers speak in English (.) (20) MaCGE/GE007: I guess it’s because we try to put a plane somewhere else and say, ‘Okay, our English is much better than the Indian English but Indian English is as good as ours.’ MaCGE/GE008: […] We consider ourselves better in assimilating to the English standards than Indians (.) MaCGE/GE007: That’s the same principle ‘we and the other’ again (.)

These qualitative evaluations echo the VGT results which placed the German speaker above the Indian speaker in terms of status and competence, but made the Indian speaker look socially a bit more attractive when contrasted with the German guise (Table 3). Overall, while providing qualitative judgments of nonnative Englishes in sociolinguistic interviews, German learners seem, both consciously and unconsciously, to navigate between the two push-pull forces, their desire to be portrayed as speaking the correct, standard-like English on the one hand (they are learners, after all, and would like to learn what, in their view, is the right kind of English) and their wish to express solidarity with other non-native speakers.

7 Discussion and Conclusions The overarching finding of this study is that German learners generally harbor far more positive attitudes towards native Englishes than towards non-native English varieties. This finding has two implications. Firstly, it provides empirical substantiation for the claim that GerE is a variety with exornomative or externaltarget orientation (Schneider 2003 and 2007 for further details). While constructing their linguistic identities, learners try to align themselves with the linguistic norms made available by the native-speaker communities, notably Great Britain and the United States, and promoted through the language learning industry. As these forms of language function as role models in educational contexts, learners’ attitudes toward these forms of English are steered and reinforced by teachers. Secondly, the finding is also indicative of the existence of “an inferiority complex” exhibited by non-native speakers over their own varieties of English (Tan & Castelli 2013). This phenomenon is by no means new and has in fact been commented on in the previous literature. In their study of attitudes to Singapore English, Tan & Castelli (2013) report that the judgments of respondents from South-East and East Asia are often more negative than those of English speakers of Inner Circle varieties. (Tan & Castelli 2013: 177)

An important question at this point is what can be done to help learners of the English language to overcome their inferiority complex in order to fully appreciate the diversity of the English language and, more importantly, their own form of English? How can we help them transcend this very limited view that non-native Englishes are mere surrogates, “less correct” linguistic varieties and embrace a more sustainable outlook on the English-speaking world? 111

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The most straightforward answer is to do so by helping them to learn more about different Englishes as they are encountered all over the world. It is at this point that our role as professionals who are committed to the study of language comes to the fore. It is our task as linguists and also as university teachers to increase students’ linguistic awareness of diverse forms of English by designing and teaching courses, organising workshops on World Englishes, organising fieldwork trips and excursions to countries where English is spoken as a second language, introducing the topic of World Englishes as part of introduction-tolanguage courses (Hazen 2014: 383–384) and, even more importantly, by devising teaching materials for students with minimal or no prior knowledge of linguistics. Over the past few years, attempts have been made to fill this gap on the market of English textbooks. Siemund et al.’s (2012) The Amazing World of Englishes. A Practical Introduction, for example, is an exercise-based introduction into the field of World Englishes. It focuses not only on the theory of World Englishes but actually provides a plethora of activities including reading, listening, and viewing comprehension, fostering learners’ metalinguistic skills. The textbook has been designed in this way to meet with the expectations of “the generation of on-line, video-oriented readers” (Proshina 2013: 4). Seargeant’s (2012) Exploring world Englishes: Language in a Global Context is another notable example. It is a textbook providing a comprehensive overview of the theoretical research on World Englishes and can be used as a starting point for students’ individual projects tackling English-language diversity. The main quantitative and qualitative findings of this study resonate well with those reported for native speakers of English (Ball 1983, Stewart et al. 1985) and also for English learners (Ladegaard 1998, Clark & Schleef 2010). The evidence obtained through the method mix reveals that German speakers perceive standard BrE as a high-status variety and mainstream AmE as a socially attractive one. Given these results, the crucial question is how those distinctive evaluations of the two mainstream varieties are acquired by German learners. More importantly, how do social perceptions of different Englishes come about in an environment that does not feature English as the dominant language of communication? To begin with, qualitative data suggest that learners’ ability to reflect on different English varieties is grounded in their personal experiences with respective cultures and in media-transmitted stereotypes rather than in their metalinguistic knowledge of the varieties in question. This observation is consistent with the Garrett’s (2010: 22) position that attitudes are learned through personal experience and the respective social environment, including the media. Moreover, BrE is taught as the first and often the only target variety at German schools and this is apparently how speakers learn to perceive this variety as more intelligent, competent, and educated than other native Englishes. Knowledge about the United States and AmE is reportedly acquired through exposure to the media and stays abroad. On the one hand, informants claim that they perceive the Americans they have met as easy-going, nice, and friendly. On the other hand, many informants believe that they think of AmE as a 112

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cool variety simply because this is how it is portrayed in the media. In other words, positive affective evaluations of AmE are acquired in more informal settings which might explain why this variety is perceived as more socially attractive when compared to standard BrE. The implication of this finding is that the social context, i.e. formal vs. informal settings, might indeed govern the acquisition of speakers’ evaluations of distinctive forms of English or any other language. By this token, a variety acquired in highly formal settings such as classroom instruction is more likely to evoke the feelings of respect, if not reverence, thereby securing its position as a high-status, prestigious variety. In contrast, varieties experienced through more informal settings such as face-toface interactions are far more likely to establish themselves as more socially attractive forms of English in the mind of a second-language learner. Two major caveats need to be spelt out here. Firstly, the outlined generalization applies to native-speaker contrasts only (for instance, BrE against AmE; AmE against Australian English, and so on). Secondly, this generalization should not be taken for granted but rather be subjected to further empirical testing as it highlights the role of the social context in which a given variety is acquired as an independent variable with a potential impact on learners’ evaluations of different linguistic varieties. If accumulated systematically, resulting evidence becomes highly relevant for construction of the sociolinguistic theory of second language acquisition. For example, in this study, AmE was downgraded for status, prestige and competence as compared to BrE. The question, however, is, whether the pattern will still hold once we consider a group of learners who are exposed to AmE as the main and only target variety in a classroom setting from the first days of schooling? Other factors which arguably affect the acquisition of varietal evaluations and are, thus, worth investigating include age and the amount of exposure to a given variety in a given context. Given what we already know about the acquisition of a second language, it is not unreasonable to suggest that early and prolonged exposure to a specific form of English is likely to result in more permanent and also more coherent attitudes towards a given variety. On a methodological note, the study has shown that language attitudes call for an integrated programme (Garrett 2010: 201) because only a multiple-method approach allows for a comprehensive analysis of speakers’ conscious and unconscious evaluations of linguistic varieties. The term comprehensive analysis entails working with data that will hopefully yield reinforcing evidence from which sound generalisations about attitudes can be drawn. When implemented properly, different methods can complement each other, painting a richer picture of language attitudes in a specific community, and will slowly but surely foster our understanding of the non-native forms of English.

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References Ahn, Hyejeong (2014). Teachers’ attitudes towards Korean English in South Korea. In: World Englishes 33, 2, 195–222. Ball, Peter (1983). Stereotypes of Anglo-Saxon and non-Anglo-Saxon accents: some exploratory Australian studies with the matched-guise technique. In: Language Sciences 5, 163–184. Bernaisch, Tobias (2012). Attitudes towards English in Sri Lanka. In: World Englishes 31, 3, 279–291. Clark, Lynn, & Erik Schleef (2010). The acquisition of sociolinguistic evaluation among Polish-born adolescents learning English: evidence from perception. In: Language Awareness 19, 4, 299–322. Dalton-Puffer, Christiane, Kaltenboeck, Gunther, & Ute Smit (1997). Learner Attitudes and L2 pronunciation in Austria. In: World Englishes 16, 115–128. Davydova, Julia (2012). Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles: A comparative study. In: World Englishes 31, 3, 366–385. Erling, Elisabeth J. (2007). Local identities, global connections: affinities to English among students at the Freie Universität Berlin. In: World Englishes 26, 2, 111–130. Grau, Maike (2009). Worlds apart? English in German youth cultures and in educational settings. In: World Englishes 28, 2, 160–174. Hilgendorf, Suzanne (2007). English in Germany: contact, spread and attitudes. In: World Englishes 26, 2, 131–148. Edwards, Alison (2014). The progressive aspect in the Netherlands and in the ESL/EFL continuum. In: World Englishes 33, 2, 173–194. Garrett, Peter (2010). Attitudes to language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Giles, Howard (1970). Evaluative reactions to accents. In: Educational Review, 22, 211–227. Giles, Howard & Nikolas Coupland (1991). Language: context and consequences. London: Taylor and Frances. Hazen, Kirk (2014). An introduction to language. Malden, Oxford, Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. He, Anping, & Sik Hung Ng (2013). Language attitudes in China toward English. The social meanings of language, dialect and accent. International perspectives on speech styles, ed. by Howard Giles & Bernadette Watson, 125–141. New York, 114

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Washington D.C./Baltimore, Bern, Frankfurt, Berlin, Brussels, Vienna, Oxford: Peter Lang. Hu, Xiaoqiong (2005). China English, at home and in the world. In: English Today 21, 27–38. Huygens, Ingrid, & Graham Vaughan (1983) Language attitudes, ethnicity, and social class in New Zealand. In: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 27, 413–429. Kasztalska, Aleksandra (2014). English in contemporary Poland. In: World Englishes 33, 2, 242–262. Labov, William (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Lippi-Green, Rosina (1997) English with an accent. London: Routledge. Littger, Peter (2014). Zehn typisch deutsche Englisch-Patzer. Karriere Spiegel, 13.11.2014.(http://www.spiegel.de/karriere/ausland/wenn-deutsche-englischsprechen-10-typische-denglisch-patzer-a-1001528.html, 17.01.2015; video contribution). McKenzie, Robert (2008a). The role of variety recognition in Japanese university students’ attitudes towards English speech varieties. In: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 29, 2, 139–153. McKenzie, Robert (2008b). Social factors and non-native attitudes towards varieties of spoken English: A Japanese case study. In: International Journal of Applied Linguistics 18, 1, 3–88. McCroskey, James C., & Thomas J. Young (2006). The use and abuse of factor analysis in communication research. In: Human Communication Research 5, 4, 375–382. Meyerhöfer, Franca Levina (2014). “Denglisch für Better Knowers”: So absurd klingen deutsche Sprichwörter auf Englisch. Huffington Post, 25.06.2014. (http://www.huffingtonpost.de/2014/06/25/denglisch-deutsche-sprichwoerterenglisch_n_5528208.html, 18.01.2015). Mukherjee, Joybrato, & Marianne Hundt (eds.) (2011) Exploring second-language varieties of English and Learner Englishes – Bridging a paradigm gap. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Ng, Sik Hung & Anping He (2004). Code-switching in trigenerational family conversations among Chinese immigrants in New Zealand. In: Journal of Language and Social Psychology 23, 28–48. Percy, Larry (2012). The role of emotion in processing advertising. Advertising theory, 115

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 ed. by Shelly Rodgers, and Esther Thorson, 69–84. New York / London: Routledge. Preston, Denis (2003). Language with an attitude. The handbook of language variation and change, ed. by Jack K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill, & Natalie Schilling-Estes, 40– 66. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Proshina, Zoya G. (2013). Book Review. Exploring world Englishes: Language in a global context. Philip Seargeant. London and New York: Routledge, 2012, xiii + 218 pp. The amazing world of Englishes: A practical introduction. Peter Siemund, Julia Davydova, and Georg Maier. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2012, ii + 283 pp. In: World Englishes, 19 AUG, 2013. DOI: 10.1111/weng.12048. Schilling, Nathalie (2013). Sociolinguistic fieldwork. [Key Topics in Sociolinguistics] Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schneider, Edgar W. (2007). Postcolonial English. Varieties around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schneider, Edgar W. (2003). The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth. In: Language 79, 2, 233–281. Seargeant, Philip (2012). Exploring world Englishes: Language in a global context. London and New York: Routledge. Siemund, Peter, Julia Davydova & Georg Maier (2012). The amazing world of Englishes. A practical introduction. Berlin/Boston: Mouton de Gruyter. Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt, & Bernd Kortmann (2011). Typological profiling: learner Englishes versus indigenized L2 varieties of English. Exploring second-language varieties of English and Learner Englishes: Bridging a paradigm gap, ed. by Joybrato Mukherjee, and Marianne Hundt, 167–187. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Stewart, Mark A., Ryan, Ellen Bouchard & Howard Giles (1985). Accent and social class effects on status and solidarity evaluations. In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 11, 98–105. Tan, Ying-Ying, & Christina Castelli (2013). Intelligibility and attitudes: How American English and Singapore English are perceived around the world. In: English WorldWide 34, 2, 177–201. Trudgill, Peter & Howard Giles (1978). Sociolinguistics and linguistic value judgement: correctness, adequacy and aesthetics. Functional studies in language and literature, ed. by Frank F. Coppieters, and Didier L. Goyvaerts, 167–190. Gent: Story-Scientia. Zahn, Christopher J. & Robert Hopper (1985). Measuring language attitudes: The speech evaluation instrument. In: Journal of Language and Social Psychology 4, 2, 113–123.

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Author: Dr. Julia Davydova Postdoctoral researcher WOVEN funding scheme, University of Mannheim L13, 9; R. 206 68131 Mannheim E-mail: [email protected]

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Cultural Perceptions and Language Attitudes in Second Language Learning A Survey among University Students in Portugal José María Santos Rovira (Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract Stereotypes fill foreign languages and cultures with pre-established ideas. We set out to confirm if the old proverb saying that learning a foreign language will open a new window to the world could be authenticated, as well as to define the main factors in the moving process from a stereotyped vision of the target language and culture to a more realistic one. With these aims, in May 2014, we developed and administered a questionnaire to 156 students of Spanish at the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and carried out a narrative inquiry with 27 Portuguese students to confirm if the foreign language learning process transformed their preconceived ideas about the language and the culture of Spain. Based upon the results, we suggest that preconceptions and language attitudes deeply influence the pace and the level of proficiency of the target language reached by students. Key words: Spanish, Portugal, cultural perceptions, language attitudes, sociolinguistics

Resumen Los estereotipos están siempre presentes en las lenguas y culturas extranjeras, en forma de ideas preestablecidas. Por ello, nos propusimos confirmar si el antiguo proverbio que dice que aprender una lengua extranjera es abrir una nueva ventana al mundo podía ser demostrado, así como definir cuáles son los elementos principales que intervienen en el proceso de cambio desde una visión estereotipada de la lengua y la cultura metas hacia una más realista. Con estos objetivos, en mayo de 2014, desarrollamos y realizamos un cuestionario a 156 alumnos de español en la Universidad de Lisboa (Portugal), así como una serie de entrevistas de investigación a 27 alumnos portugueses, para confirmar si realmente el proceso de aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera transforma sus ideas preconcebidas sobre la lengua y la cultura españolas. Basándonos en los resultados obtenidos, sugerimos que los prejuicios y las actitudes lingüísticas ejercen una profunda influencia en el ritmo y el nivel de dominio de la lengua meta alcanzado por los alumnos. Palabras clave: Español, Portugal, percepciones culturales, actitudes lingüísticas, sociolingüística

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1 Introduction The relation between cultural perceptions and language attitudes is a topic deeply studied throughout the last decades (Baker 1992, Dörney et al. 2006, Driscoll et al. 2013, Garrett 2010, Hall 2013, Hernández 2004, Moran et al. 2014, Samovar et al. 2009, Spencer-Rodgers & McGovern 2002, Ting-Toomey & Chung 2012, Vez 2009). The way we communicate with others and the way we unwittingly judge them are strongly tied to our own culture and values, showing a deep link between language and ideology: Language attitudes and language ideologies permeate our daily lives. Our competence, intelligence, friendliness, trustworthiness, social status, group memberships and so on are often judged from the way we communicate. (Garrett 2010: 3) Consequently, it becomes impossible to dissociate cultural perceptions and language attitudes, as they are both branches of the same tree. As it is obviously impossible to dissociate the way we think and the way we speak, it is also impossible not to connect our culture and our language. Language attitudes join cultural perceptions, so people´s discourses reflect their approaches to life and to others. Our own culture constrains, in many modes, the way we speak and the way we judge others´ speech, will lead us to set up an idea about them, not just through their behaviour but also through their words. In some cases, it could be positive, as it allows us to find fellows, but, at the same time, it disposes us to undermine others only because we do not share or understand their viewpoints. Cultural perceptions and language attitudes affect not only thoughts and behaviours, but also the command we can reach in a foreign language. In fact, the question of how personal variables like attitudes, motivation or preestablished ideas influence on the foreign language learning process is also one of the most studied topics in linguistics (Dörnyei 1990, Dörnyei 1998, Dörnyei & Skehan 2003, Isabelli-García 2010, Masgoret & Gardner 2003, Risager 2011, Yashima et al. 2004, and Williams et al. 2002). As it is commonly agreed, stereotypes fill foreign languages and cultures with pre-established ideas. In fact: Culture refers to the customs, behaviours and beliefs that frame people’s lives. It influences attitudes, preferences and habits and contributes to an individual’s identity and their sense of self. Culture is, therefore, both enabling and constraining. By developing a greater understanding of the influence of culture, an individual learns more about themselves and others. (Driscoll et al. 2013: 147) Accordingly, we set out to confirm if the old proverb saying that learning a foreign language will open a new window to the world could be authenticated. Our second target was to define which ones the main factors in the moving process from a stereotyped vision of the target language and culture to a more realistic one are. 120

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2 Preconceptions about ´the other´ Preconceptions about ‘the other’ are deeply linked to prejudices and stereotypes. "The tendency to reduce the foreign 'other' is deep within the roots of society generally" (Holliday et al. 2010: 23), thus the way we think of our counterparts and the way we judged them are highly influenced by our own vision of the world around us. According to it, what we perceived about a person’s culture and language is what we have been conditioned by our own culture to see, and the stereotypical models already built around our own. (Kramsch 1998: 67) We are not original people in sensu stricto, but products of a broader cultural community which models our vision of reality, and languages, as products of the broader community, reflect these visions. This brings us to the question of whether culture is the only reason, or at least the main one, to be considered as ‘the other’. However, human complexity goes far beyond and literally anything could be named as 'otherness'. In any human group, the ones who do not strictly share the same values – I.e. the ones who show the slightest difference, e.g. the ones who come from or look like or act or believe or think or speak in a different way - could be considered as ‘the others’. There is no specific characteristic which points out a mark of otherness. If a group of people who share the same nationality confront an individual who does not, nationality will be the reason to mark otherness. If all share nationality, but one speaks a different mother tongue, this language will be his mark of being different. If all share nationality and language, but one has a different appearance (such as a different ethnic origin), this will be the factor to mark the otherness. If all share nationality, and language, and race, and ethno, but one has a different belief or religion, this belief or religion will be the mark. If all share nationality, language, race, ethno, and religion, but one thinks in a different way (e.g. politically) or even has different preferences (e.g. supporting a different sports team), these preferences will be the key factor to exclude him from the 'community’ and label him as ‘the other’: In every large community, a mode of thinking, a distinctive type of reaction, get itself established, in the course of a complex historical development, as typical, as normal. (Sapir 1949: 311) Consequently, almost any variation from what is normal will be considered as atypical and so filled with preconceptions. Nevertheless, it is universally acknowledged that nationality and language mark a noteworthy difference among people. Both concepts used to be strongly united, at least in Europe, with few exceptions. In Europe, there has been a long tradition of monolingualism, as most of the states have based their formation on a unified national language, which would be the language of the dominant group. The languages of other groups could be tolerated, even got some rights, but "for dominant groups, their own rights have often been, and are still, invisible: they take them for granted" (Skutnabb-Kangas 2012: 235). For centuries, idioms have been objects which could be used to name who is national and who is not, 121

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instead of tools for communication. So "the emergence of the concept of languages as separate entities is related to European ideologies as they have developed at least since the 1700s" (Heller 2007: 60). Besides, the idea that political borders show not only territory, but also "the limits of culture and identity" (Llamas 2010: 227) flourished. On the contrary, the world is full of examples which show that this idea is wrong. Political borders have no real correspondence, neither with the limits of language nor with culture or identity. A simple view of a few European countries will show this openly. Switzerland is one of the best exemplifications of a state whose political borders include several languages (and cultures) such as French, German or Italian. On the other hand, we can have a look at two different states, Germany and Austria, which share a common language and whose linguistic or cultural differences are not bigger than the ones between different regions within Germany. In addition, a historical perspective will evidence that political borders are human-invented divisions, created by people whose purposes were, simply, to get power and richness, not to join or split communities according to their languages, cultures or identities. Thus, to having a certain nationality is a simple twist of fate. One of the best examples of this premise is the situation of the citizens from the former Yugoslavia. People who were born in the same state and with the same ´national language´, now are nationals of different countries and have different ´national languages´. As a result of this false identification between state and language, European language attitudes looked traditionally at multilingualism as an enemy of the state. This has been the common European position until recently and still there are lots of states and people around the globe who continue thinking in the same way. In other cases, at least in Western Europe, after World War I, when some states began to worry about others´ languages. Nowadays we can confirm that the previous negative attitudes towards different languages has moved a step forward and changed "to a more positive evaluation of multilingualism" (Jessner 2008: 16), as one of the benefits of globalization. Portugal is one of the most monolingual countries in Europe, as there is no other real language spoken. However, Portuguese students deal with other languages from childhood, as movies in the country are generally shown in their original language, both at cinemas and on television. Even so, when confronted with a new language, students have some preconceived ideas about it and its native speakers in their minds. In the specific case of Spanish, the most common idea in Portugal is that it is a very easy language thanks to its similarities with their own (Marques 2012: 128). Furthermore, the facts that Portugal and Spain are neighbouring countries, lots of Portuguese people have visited Spain at least once in their lives and listen to or read news about Spain on a daily basis, make them think it unnecessary to learn anything about Spanish culture (Moreira 2013: 53). A simple talk with a handful of Portuguese students could verify this attitude. Marques (2012: 128) quotes some of the clichéd preconceptions about Spanish 122

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language: "I chose Spanish because is very easy to communicate with"; "it is an easy language"; or "it is very similar to Portuguese". And she also continues her work with other clichéd ideas about Spanish people and culture (Marques 2012: 130): "Spaniards are hot, lively and funny"; "talking about them makes me remember festive days"; "they are people who like to sleep their siesta"; "they drink alcoholic beverages double as much as Portuguese people and feel good"; "they are very lively people who like parties and nights"; "they have a very particular culture"; "it is one of the most traditional cultures of the world"; and "Spanish culture is more interesting than, for example, English. I think Spanish culture is funnier". Other scholars have also described the same kitschrelated points of view, both for language and culture, as Moreira (2012: 32): "We use to hear that [Spaniards] speak very loudly and all at the same time and arrive later at meetings"; Santos Rovira (2013: 54): "for Portuguese speaking students, the most of the Spanish grammar is similar to their own mother tongue´s"; or Araújo (2012: 66): "Happiness and fun always appear in opposition to our own fado and nostalgia". Will the deeper knowledge of the language / culture contribute to change their way of thinking? This question is what we tried to unveil with our questionnaires and narrative inquiries.

3 Learning a Foreign Language: Opening a Window to the World (or not) A few decades ago, Pinker published an unusual work pointing out that "there is no scientific evidence that languages dramatically shape their speakers´ ways of thinking" (1994: 58). But we have to disagree with him and support several works which clearly show that he was wrong, such as Kramsch (1993: 43: "native speakers of a language speak not only with their own individual voices, but through them speak also the established knowledge of their native community and society"), Whorf (1956: 213: "we dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages") or Wierzbicka (1997: 5: "a person´s conceptual perspective on life is clearly influenced by his or her native language"). Furthermore, anytime we go abroad, to a country with a different language and culture, we find, beyond doubt, that our own culture deeply influences the way we think, the way we behave and, hence, the way we speak. This attribute has a profound impact on language attitudes, modelling our discourse in our mother tongue. For this reason, in the process of learning a foreign language, the impact of the cultural related thoughts and prejudices would become one of the main components to mark our progress on this task. The crucial barrier most students have to surpass is to change their minds so as to wider their vision of the world and to see through others´ eyes, as stated by Holliday: "the learning of a second or additional language... is a process which is inextricably linked to issues of culture and identity" (Holliday 2010: 119). Several works have developed different theories about how the language learning process affects the learners’ minds, but no proper conclusion has been achieved. There is 123

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common agreement that learners’ attitudes towards the target language and culture will unequivocally influence their progress in that language (Dörnyei 1990, Dörnyei 1998, Gardner & Lambert 1959; Isabelli-García 2010, Lotherington 2004, Masgoret & Gardner 2003, Risager 2011, Skehan 1991), but some specific ideas have to be developed further. It is still confusing why some students change their minds as they get deeper into the language but others do not. Theoretically, "the acquisition of a second or further language may result in learners reconsidering the cultural ‘reality’ around them" (Prieto-Arranz et al. 2013: 19), but this is just partially true, as "not everyone reacts in the same way to the host culture… not all cultural contact is successful… it is not as easy for everyone to adjust to new ideas" (Lochtmann & Kappel 2008: 20). Learning a foreign language will not always open a window to the world, as for some students, it becomes extremely difficult to change their prejudices and move to a broader understanding of other ways of thinking. When considering foreign languages and cultures, a chauvinist perspective could appear: White children may become incapable of really hearing other cultures and, thus, learning from them. For as long as mainstream students think that another’s language is inferior to theirs, they will probably not bother to understand it, and therefore, there will be much about the other that they will always fail to understand. (Samovar et al. 2006: 121) The mere learning process of a different language is not the crucial clue to avoid prejudgement on foreign cultures and ideas, and the a priori attitude of the learner may be the answer. When the beginner has a low-profile consideration of the target culture, he will hardly be able to go beyond his preconceptions and identify himself as a new member of that community. The enriched cultural identity which ensues from the learners’ fusion of his own cultural background and the new cultural elements acquired through learning the new language (Sudhoff 2010: 32), will probably not be achieved by everyone who starts the learning process. Only those who could leave behind their preconceived viewpoints could really get into a new language and culture, because cultural presuppositions are, undeniably, "a hindrance for communication" (Liaw & Johnson 2001: 235). This unsettled theory has also been confirmed by Dörnyei & Skehan: Attitudes related to a L2 community exert a strong influence on one´s L2 learning. This makes sense, since few learners are likely to be successful in learning the language of a low-status community. (Dörnyei & Skehan (2003: 613) Thus not only the degree of command of the new language is affected by those premises.

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4 The Case of Portuguese University Students Learning Spanish as a Foreign Language Taking into account recent works on cultural perceptions and language attitudes on Spanish by Portuguese students (Araújo 2012, Cunha 2011, Marques 2012, Moreira 2012, Moreira 2013, and Venâncio 2013), in May 2014, we administered a questionnaire to 156 students of Spanish as a Foreign Language at the University of Lisbon (Portugal), and carried out a narrative inquiry with 27 Portuguese students, with the aim of defining their cultural perceptions and language attitudes on Spanish. The ideal character for this survey was a Portuguese native speaker, student of Spanish as a foreign language at the university level and who could have visited Spain, but no for such a long period as to get a good knowledge of it. The first block of questions was designed to create a brief sociolinguistic profile of the individuals and to check if it matched our ‘ideal’ character. We asked them about their mother tongue, their birthplace and their age. The first question confirmed that all of them were Portuguese native speakers. Answers to the second question corroborated that most of them (144) were born in Portugal, and the other twelve were born abroad (four in Brazil, four in Venezuela, two in Angola, one in Cape Verde and one in Guinea-Bissau) but had been living in Portugal for a long period:

Fig. 1: Birthplace

The age rate was as follows: 111 students were between 17 and 25 years old, 23 were between 26 and 35 years old, 12 were between 36 and 45 years old and 10 students were older than 45:

Fig. 2: Age

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We also asked them if they had ever been to Spain, and the big majority of the students replied in the affirmative (136). The 20 students who replied negatively were among the youngest (17 to 25 years old), and only 14 students were born in Portugal. These results confirmed what had previously been exposed in Cunha (2011: 180): the main reason for the knowledge about Spain in Portugal was that most of the population had visited the country. Moreover, some of them had also visited other Spanish-speaking countries, such as Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. A second block of questions was designed to analyse students’ previous ideas about the Spanish language. Before starting their studies, students’ common opinion was that it was a very easy language for them thanks to its similarities with theirs, and also that it was a very important language in the world because it is spoken in a lot of countries, as well as a language needed for several activities and jobs. As a result, the whole of the students considered the study of the Spanish language as interesting (around 20% considered it as very interesting), matching the conclusions obtained by previous works (Marques 2012: 128, Moreira 2013: 48). In addition, there was a group of students who answered that they decided to learn Spanish because speaking Portuguese and Spanish would give them a good advantage in their professional careers, as "they [Portuguese and Spanish] are the biggest linguistic block in the world" (Venâncio 2013: 328). Notwithstanding, several pre-conceived ideas appeared, mainly when referred to cultural topics. Although it is true that Spain and Portugal share some cultural similarities as a result of their common history along centuries, there are also differences. But most students do not take these into account. Around 76% of them replied that there were no such cultural differences between both countries, so, according to them, they did not need to study it. A simple detail will show that this is an inaccurate idea. When asked about the attitudes they did not like about Spanish people, a common answer was related to the latter’s discourse behaviour, perceived as a lack of reliability. Nowadays, in Spain, is very common to use the informal second person pronoun in daily interactions, with the only exception of jobrelated or very formal situations. By contrast, in European Portuguese, the forms of address reach an extraordinary level of complexity and use to be very formal even in daily interactions. As a result, when Spanish people with a low or non-existent command of Portuguese, visit the country and interact in the way they are used to, "violating social appropriateness in the target language" (Blum-Kulka 1983: 49), this will be understood by locals as a lack of reliability. This kind of misunderstanding is quite common in any interaction between people from different cultures. Kowner (2002: 339) describes a very similar scenario: Many Japanese perceive communication with non-Japanese as an unpleasant experience and tend to avoid it… This article seeks to provide a supplementary approach to Japanese communication difficulties with foreigners and Westerners in 126

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 particular: That is, the problem of status violation. The present study shows that in an encounter with foreigners of equal status, Japanese perceive the communication style of their counterparts not only as highly distinct from their own, but also as similar to the communication style of high-status Japanese in an encounter with lower-status compatriots. Based on these findings, it is argued that during intercultural encounters Japanese tend to feel that their social status is violated, to propagate this feeling through their culture, and ultimately to dislike and to be apprehensive about such encounters.

So far, the majority of people show a tendency towards reproducing their speech style regardless of their counterpart’s customs, neglecting cultural differences. In this particular case, disregarding the cultural distinctness between Portuguese and Spanish leads to a misconstruction of the behaviour of ´the other´. Even people who studied foreign languages make the same mistakes, as stated in Blum-Kulka: transferring native language pragmatic competence and applying linguistic competence in the second language does not necessarily ensure appropriate and effective speech-act realization in the second language. (Blum-Kulka 1983: 49)

This is not just a personal mistake of identifying variation between languages or cultures, but an in-system failure which refers to language teaching from primary school to university. As explained by Moloney: Teachers most frequently understood culture, however, to mean the ‘visible’ or distinctive aspects of a country’s culture (for example, festivals and food) and often taught this in isolation from the language itself. While these aspects of culture remain important, and much loved, teachers now need to understand that, like the metaphorical iceberg, the far greater part of culture is most often ‘invisible’, embedded within everyday language, behaviour and relationships. (Moloney 2013: 214)

The result is that language learning usually provides students with very limited opportunities to apprehend the cultural side of the language. In fact, while the cultural dimension is referenced within lessons, there are limited opportunities for children to question, explore or reflect upon the impact of culture either on their own lives or on the lives of others. (Driscoll et al. 2013: 146)

In the educational system of Portugal, the situation is roughly the same as in any other country. Foreign languages are taught from primary to tertiary levels, and culture is referred to just as a folkloric part, which results in cultural misunderstandings. Returning to to our survey, we felt interested in finding out how long students had studied Spanish. The duration of language-learning represents a very important factor, due to which we could arrange different stages in the learning process which could show whether the more an individual is involved in the target language, the more he or she will change his or her language attitudes in relation to it. According to the students´ answers, 51 had been studying Spanish for less than a year, 72 for 1 to 3 years, 20 for 4 and 6 years, and 13 longer than 127

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6 years. Thus, we had a good range of students at different stages of the language-learning process to develop proper research:

Fig. 3: How long have you studied Spanish?

The narrative inquiry conducted was also an invaluable source of information on cultural perceptions and language attitudes among university students in Portugal. Among the 27 students who took part in the narrative inquiry, seven started with a very positive point of view of Spain, 15 from slightly positive one and five from slightly negative one. In most cases, these ideas (the positive and the negative ones) came from pre-established clichés they regarded as accurate even with little or no evidence. During this activity, those students who started from a very or slightly positive point of view adopted a more and more positive view, in accordance with the depth of their knowledge about Spain and the Spanish-speaking world. Unlike them, those students who started from slightly negative point of view, changed their minds only slightly or not at all throughout the learning process, and they continued believing in the same preestablished ideas as before. Another key point of the survey was students’ interest in living in Spain, as students or as workers. So, in our questionnaire, students were asked if they considered going to study in Spain an interesting option, and the majority replied in the affirmative (143). The only 13 students who replied negatively were among the ones who had studied Spanish for a short period (eight students for less than a year and five students between one and three years) and all were among the youngest (17-25 years old). Undoubtedly, the ones who participated in the narrative inquiry and started from a negative point of view were also among them. We also obtained similar results when asking if working in Spain was an interesting choice: 126 students replied in the affirmative and the 30 students who replied negatively were among the ones who had studied Spanish for a short period of time (19 students for less than a year and 11 students between one and three years); in addition, 27 students were among the youngest (17-25 years old), and 3 students were among the oldest (+45 years old). As previously mentioned, those students who took part in the narrative inquiry and started from a negative point of view were also among them.

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Asked about the reasons why they felt interested in going to study or work in Spain, the group who started from positive feelings clearly admitted that they wanted to get deeper into the language and the culture of Spain and feel as part of the community during their stay. On the other hand, the group who started from a negative point of view did not feel interested in being part of the community or in getting deeper into the culture. The way students dealt with the usual stereotypes about Spain was also a fascinating field of research. Although all of them heard the same commonplaces all along their lives, not everyone assumed that they were real. Among the 27 students who took part in the narrative inquiry, nine looked upon them as legends of ancient times. The other 18 students commenced from a stage where they credited that there was any evidence to support it. But while eleven students admitted that there was had been moment when they shifted to a more realistic position, seven students have been thinking in the same way up to now. Comparing their answers to this question with earlier ones, we found that among the nine students who looked upon stereotypes as legends of ancient times, seven replied that they had started from a very positive point of view when they began studying Spanish, and two from slightly positive one. Among the eleven students who admitted to have shifted from a stage where they credited any possible evidence to support stereotypes to a more realistic position, all of them replied that they had started from slightly positive point of view. And among the 7seven students who continued thinking in the same way, five had replied that they started from slightly negative point of view and two from slightly positive one. One more question focused on students’ goals when enrolled in the subject. 18 students stated that they wanted to obtain as high a level as possible in the foreign language, i.e. near-native competence, so as to boost their professional careers. But when asked if sounding and acting as a native was one of their goals, only eight out of 18 students reacted positively; ten students said that they wanted to keep their Portuguese identity at any circumstance; the other nine students considered that reaching an intermediate language level would be enough for them. This attitude surprised us as we had always thought that speaking or even acting in a foreign country or context natives could cause a loss of self-identity but help us to be an enriched individual. Nevertheless, this situation has been described as habitual in several works (Dörnyei 2009, Knutson 2006, Yihong et al. 2007). The fear to lose one’s identity when speaking a foreign language reveals that almost everyone understands that the language he or she speaks is intensely linked to its culture and that it is impossible to set apart this pair of deeply rooted elements.

5 Conclusions In the present paper, we have demonstrated that there is an unavoidable relationship between language and culture, as well as between cultural 129

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perceptions and language attitudes. In addition, preconceptions on foreign languages and cultures are widespread among people of any nation and generally cause numerous misunderstandings. Based upon the results of our questionnaire and the narrative inquiry conducted, we can confirm that the more the students get into a foreign language or culture, the better they will understand the differences, the prejudices and the stereotypes about the ´other ´. Students who are at the early stages of their language learning process are the ones who have more prejudices, while students at later stages, who generally have a better knowledge of the target language or culture, have modified or abandoned them. Nevertheless, the fact that the cultural side of the language is rarely taught within any foreign language program provokes longlasting misconceptions, that prevail almost until students reach a very high level of proficiency. Our results also show that negative preconceptions are a burden to learn a foreign language, so those people who start from a negative consideration of the target language or culture are unable to reach a good command of the language or culture in question. On the other hand, students who start from an enthusiastic consideration show much more progress in terms of their linguistic abilities, not to mention their capacity to change their perspectives. According to these results, it is clear that anybody with a good understanding of a foreign language and culture can hardly reject it or feel uninterested in it. Just the ones who have not or just little command of the language in question can look at it in a disdainful mood. As exposed before, in most cases, Portuguese students start with some pre-established ideas about Spain and the Spanish language, but only the ones with a positive consideration will leave these ideas behind and forge ahead to a better understanding. Inevitably, they will be also the ones who may reach a very good command of the target language. Introducing a proper study of the cultural side of language in any languagelearning program would make a real difference as far as students’ competence is concerned. The consequence of this approach, however, is that language teachers would have to leave aside their traditional views on teaching culture and move to a better integration of culture in the foreign language classroom.

Bibliography Araújo, S. Santos Marques de (2012). Más allá de los tópicos: a cultura no ensino de Espanhol Língua Estrangeira. University of Lisbon. Master dissertation. Baker, C. (1992). Attitudes and language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Blum-Kulka, S. (1983). Interpreting and performing speech acts in a second language. In: Wolfson, N. & E. Judd (Eds.) (1983). Sociolinguistics and language acquisition. Rowley: Newbury House, 36-55. 130

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Cunha, A. (2011). Representações/perceções de jovens portugueses, espanhóis e franceses entre si e sobre o outro. In: Sociologia online 2 (2011), 165-198. Dörnyei, Z. (1990). Conceptualizing motivation in foreign language learning: In: Language Learning 40(1), 45-78. Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Motivation in second and foreign language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In: Dörnyei, Z. & E. Ushioda (Eds.) (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 9-42. Dörnyei, Z., K. Csizér & N. Németh (2006). Motivation, language attitudes and globalisation: A Hungarian perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Dörney, Z. & P. Skehan (2003). Individual differences in second language learning. In: Doughty, C.J. & M. H. Long (Eds.) (2003). The handbook of second language acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 589-630. Driscoll, P., J. Earl & C. Cable (2013). The role and nature of the cultural dimension in primary modern languages: In: Language, Culture and Curriculum 26(2), 146-160. Gardner, R. C. & W. E. Lambert (1959). Motivational variables in second language acquisition: In: Canadian Journal of Psychology 13(4), 266-272. Hall, J. K. (2013). Teaching and researching: Language and culture. New Yok: Routledge. Heller, M. (2007). Bilingualism: A social approach. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Hernández Campoy, J. M. (2004). El fenómeno de las actitudes y su medición en sociolingüística: In: Revista Electrónica de Estudios Filológicos 8 (2004), 29-56. Holliday, A., M. Hyde & J. Kullman (2010). Intercultural communication. London: Routledge. Isabelli-García, C. (2010). Study abroad social networks, motivation and attitudes: implications for second language acquisition. In: Dufon, M.A. & E. Churchill (Eds.) (2010). Language learners in study abroad contexts. Clevedon: Multilungual Matters Ltd, 231-258. Jessner, U. (2008). Teaching third languages: Findings, trends and challenges: In: Language Teaching 41(1), 15–56. 131

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Kowner, R. (2002). Japanese communication in intercultural encounters: The barrier of status-related behavior: In: International journal of intercultural relations 26(4), 339-361. Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Knutson, E. M. (2006). Cross-cultural awareness for second/foreign language learners: In: Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes 62(4), 591-610. Liaw, M. & R. J. Johnson (2001). E-mail writing as a cross-cultural learning experience: In: System 29(2), 235-251. Llamas, C. & D. Watt (2010). Language and identities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Lochtmann, K. & J. Kappel (2008). The world a global village. Intercultural competence in English Foreign Language Teaching. Brussels: VUBPRESS. Lotherington, H. (2004). Bilingual education. In: Davies, A. & C. Elder (Eds.) (2004). The handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 695-718. Garrett, P. (2010). Attitudes to language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Marques, T. C. Duarte (2012). Imagens do espanhol em alunos do ensino secundário. University of Aveiro. Master dissertation. Masgoret, A. & R. C. Gardner (2003). Attitudes, motivation, and second language learning: a meta–analysis of studies conducted by Gardner and associates: In: Language learning 53(1), 123-163. Moloney, R. A. (2013). Providing a bridge to intercultural pedagogy for native speaker teachers of Chinese in Australia: In: Language, Culture and Curriculum 26(3), 213-228. Moran, R. T., N. Remington Abramson & S. V. Moran (2014). Managing cultural differences. New York: Routledge. Moreira, J. Tavares (2012). A relação entre culturas no ensino do Português e do Espanhol. New University of Lisbon. Master dissertation.

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Moreira, A. C. Oliveira (2013). A componente cultural na aula de Espanhol/Língua Estrangeira. University of Porto. Master dissertation. Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct. New York: William Morrow. Prieto-Arranz, J. I., M. Juan-Garau & K. L. Jacob (2013). Reimagining cultural identity: transcultural and translingual communication in virtual third-space environments: In: Language, Culture and Curriculum 26(1), 19-35. Risager, K. (2011). The cultural dimensions of language teaching and learning: In: Language Teaching 44(4), 485-499. Samovar, L. A., R. E. Porter & E. R. McDaniel (2006). Intercultural communication: A reader. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Samovar, L. A., R. E. Porter & E. R. McDaniel (2009). Communication between cultures. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Santos Rovira, J. M. (2013). Fundamentación teórica de la importancia de la lengua materna en el proceso de adquisición de lenguas extranjeras: In: Sintagma 24 (2013) 49-63. Sapir, E. (1949). Selected writings of Edward Sapir in language, culture and personality. Berkeley: University of California Press. Skehan, P. (1991). Individual differences in second language learning: In: Studies in second language acquisition 13(2), 275-298. Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2012). Linguistic human rights. In: Tiersma. P. & L. Solan (Eds.) (2012). The Oxford handbook of language and law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 235-247. Spencer-Rodgers, J. & T. McGovern (2002). Attitudes toward the culturally different: The role of intercultural communication barriers, affective responses, consensual stereotypes, and perceived threat: In: International Journal of Intercultural Relations 26(6), 609-631. Sudhoff, J. (2010). CLIL and intercultural communicative competence: Foundations and approaches towards a fusion: In: International CLIL Research Journal 1(3), 30–37. Ting-Toomey, S. & L. C. Chung (2012). Understanding intercultural communication. New York: Oxford University Press. Venâncio, F. (2013). Atitudes portuguesas face ao castelhano. In: Gugenberger, E., H. Monteagudo & G. Rei-Doval (Eds.) (2013). Contacto de linguas, 133

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hibridade, cambio: contextos, procesos e consecuencias. Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega, 317-329. Vez Jeremías, J. M. (2009). Educación lingüística y cultural para una ciudadanía diversa y diferente: In: Cultura y educación 21(4), 469-483. Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, thought and reality. Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. New York: Wiley. Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Understanding cultures through their key words. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Williams, M., R. Burden & U. Lanvers (2002). French is the language of love and stuff: Student perceptions of issues related to motivation in learning a foreign language: In: British Educational Research Journal 28(4), 503-528. Yashima, T., L. Zenuk‐Nishide & K. Shimizu (2004). The influence of attitudes and affect on willingness to communicate and second language communication: In: Language Learning 54(1), 119-152. Yihong, G., Z. Yuan, C. Ying & Z. Yan (2007). Relationship between English learning motivation types and self‐identity changes among Chinese students: In: Tesol Quarterly 41(1), 133-155.

Author: Prof. Dr. José María Santos Rovira Departamento de Linguística Geral e Românica Faculdade de Letras Universidade de Lisboa Alameda da Universidade 1600-214 Lisboa

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Cross-Cultural Methodological Innovation in Bhutan: Teacher Experiences with the Process Writing Approach Dechen Zangmo (Paro, Bhutan) / Rachel Burke (Newcastle, Australia) / John Mitchell O’Toole (Newcastle, Australia) / Heather Sharp (Newcastle, Australia)

Abstract The role of English as the global lingua franca and its centrality to economic and social expansion in the twenty-first century has led to increased government emphasis on fostering the language in contexts where it has no official status. Frequently initiatives to increase English competence in these so-called ‘expanding circle’ nations – a term coined by Kachru (1992) in association with his concentric circles model of the global uptake of English – take the form of aid-funded projects with methodological innovation based on educational paradigms originating in contexts where English is a primary language. This paper examines one such collaboration; a partnership between the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Kingdom of Bhutan, which led to Bhutan’s adoption of the Process Writing Approach (PWA). Specifically, we utilise Hofstede’s (1980) framework of cultural dimensions to compare the ideological underpinnings of the PWA with the values and practices of traditional Bhutanese education. Key words: International Development Agency, curriculum development, Process Writing Approach, educational change, cross-cultural methodological innovation.

1 Introduction The Kingdom of Bhutan is a small, mountainous nation of Southeast Asia, with a population of approximately 671,083 inhabitants (National Statistics Bureau 2011). Bordered by China, Tibet, and India, Bhutan has a strong Buddhist culture and a history of isolation from external cultural influences. The internet and television were not introduced to Bhutan until the late 20 th century (Faris 2004, Siok 2003) and traditional monastic style education has played an 135

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important role in maintaining the national culture, traditions, and religious activities. Currently, the government cautiously pursues an agenda of modernisation that seeks to retain the nation’s unique cultural identity whilst engaging further with the outside world. Central to this development program is an emphasis on English. The Bhutanese speak Dzongkha, which was recognised as the official language of Bhutan in 1961 by His Late Majesty King Jimi Doji 'Wangchu (van Driem 1994). Along with Choke, a classical Tibetan language used for religious and ceremonial purposes, the Kingdom of Bhutan is also characterised by great linguistic diversity with some nineteen different languages spoken across the nation (van Driem 1994). In addition to promoting Dzongkha and maintaining existing linguistic diversity, the Bhutanese government continues to recognise the English language as an important means of accessing ‘the discoveries of science and mathematics, medicine and information technology’ (Curriculum and Professional Support Division 2006: p.ix) which are otherwise unavailable in Dzongkha. As articulated in the National Education Framework of 2009: The advent of the English language to Bhutan was a matter of choice. When Bhutan looked beyond its borders and began to prepare itself to modernize and join the community of nations, it was English language that enabled it to interact with the international community. English is seen as the most advantageous language to assist Bhutan in the articulation of its identity and the elevation of its profile in the many organizations to which it would belong. English has enhanced its capacity to participate more effectively and purposefully in the global community. (National Education Framework 2009: 26)

While Bhutan shares various characteristics with other small nation-states, it presents a unique social and cultural context, famously determining its own value as a nation by using a Gross National Happiness Index. Rather than reliance on an economic metric such as Gross Domestic Product, the Bhutanese government asserts that: …sustainable development should take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give equal importance to non-economic aspects of wellbeing (The Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research 2014: §1).

Accordingly, the government gauges the nation’s success according to the four pillars: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation. These pillars are a significant departure from dominant western capitalist values that privilege economic expansion as the main measure of a nation’s success. The striking contrasts between the social and cultural contexts of the west and Bhutan render this nation an ideal setting for the close examination of the cultural implications of cross-country importation of language teaching methodology. This paper reports on research on the implementation of the PWA in Bhutan in order to inform broader understandings of cross-national policy implementation in smaller, project-driven educational jurisdictions. Specifically, this article considers Bhutanese principals’ and English teachers’ experiences during the curriculum reform and its implementation in their classrooms, five years after becoming mandatory. 136

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2 Cross-Cultural Importation of Methodology A growing body of research identifies the pitfalls of failing to adequately consider the specificities of socio-cultural context when implementing curricular and pedagogical innovation. Hu (2002) has examined English language instruction in China, suggesting that discontinuity between the imported methodology of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and the cultural values of Chinese education is a key factor in the failure of this approach to yield expected outcomes. Sonaiya (2010) has questioned the appropriacy of implementing autonomous language learning approaches in Sub-Saharan Africa where the underlying philosophy of communal learning is of great importance. Likewise, Chowdhury and Le Ha (2008) have examined the experiences of Bangladeshi EFL instructors and critiqued the convention of preparing language teachers at Western institutions that emphasize Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) despite the contrasting values of the instructional culture in which they will eventually practice. Central to these studies is the recognition that all methodological approaches embody a particular set of ideologies; as Sonaiya states, a teaching method is a product of the society in which it was developed; that is, teaching methods are cultural products. (Sonaiya 2010: 107)

Also common to these studies is the fundamental criticism of the one-size-fitsall approach to language teaching methodology; the tendency to import approaches from the West or ‘inner circle’ (Kachru 1992) countries and the necessity of questioning the associated discourses of colonialism (Pennycook 1994), pedagogical imperialism (Phillipson 1997), and the notion of the first language speaker as the norm (Canagarajah 1999). As Pennycook has argued, ELT practices “cannot be reduced to a set of disconnected techniques but rather must be seen as part of larger cultural, discursive or ideological orders”. (Pennycook 1994: 167) The phenomenon of implementing externally derived methodological innovations as a corner stone of language education programs in so-called ‘expanding’ and ‘outer-circle’ nations is an overarching theme of this discussion. We assert that the striking contrasts between the ideological underpinnings of the PWA and the social and cultural values of the Bhutanese education system render this case a particularly illuminating example of what Phillipson (1997) has termed ‘policy borrowing’. Whilst the Bhutanese government clearly emphasises the preservation and continuation of Bhutanese tradition in the midst of development (see, for example, The Planning Commission 1999) and this maintainence of cultural identity is carefully embedded in educational reforms (see the National Education Framework 2009), the introduction of the PWA appears to have occurred with minimal acknowledgement of the cultural context of the Bhutanese education system. In this paper, we consider principals’ and teachers’ experiences of the implementation of the PWA, not as a criticism of those who enacted this initiative, but in an attempt to better understand the socio-cultural factors involved in such methodological innovation. 137

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3 Hofstede’s (1980) Cultural Dimensions Among the various theoretical frameworks for understanding culture, Hofstede’s (1980) model of cultural dimensions is one of the most cited in academic literature (Bond 2002, Hofstede 1997). The result of a macro-level study of IBM organisational practices, Hofstede’s model identifies four universals of culture – collectivism vs. individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity vs. femininity1. Later Hofstede added the dimensions of Confucian dynamism or long term vs. short-term orientation, pragmatic vs. normative, and restraint vs. indulgence. When examining educators’ experiences of the implementation of the PWA in Bhutan, collectivism vs. individualism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance proved to be the dimensions most apparent in the data. Individualism vs. collectivism relates to the extent to which people see themselves and their identity as independent or as tied to group membership (Hofstede 1997a: 51). In collectivist societies, emphasis is on the well being of the group and commitment to others, with group harmony and consensus highly valued, and an underlying concern to save ‘face’ (Dodd 1998, Brislin & Yoshida 1994). In more individualist societies, independence is valued, with disagreement, debate, and contrasting ways of thinking considered desirable. The emphasis in individualist societies is on meeting personal needs and goals rather than thinking in terms of the group (Dodd 1998). Power distance refers to the notion of separation between the most and least powerful members of a society and the degree to which such power imbalance is accepted within the culture (Hofstede 1997a: 28). Societies with high power distance tend to be hierarchical in organisation and the chain of command is carefully preserved, with positions of authority accorded great respect (Dodd 1998). In low power distance cultures there is a desire for more horizontal organisation and a greater emphasis on equality in relationships. The notion of uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent of ambiguity members of a culture feel comfortable with (Hofstede 1997a: 113). Cultures that have high levels of uncertainty avoidance are thought to prefer established rules and guidelines (e.g. concerning religion and food) and structured situations. Cultures with low levels of uncertainty avoidance tend to accept that uncertainty is a natural part of life and may feature greater risk taking behaviours (Brislin & Yoshida 1994). Masculine cultures are thought to value competitiveness, ambition, and the accumulation of wealth and material possessions (Hofstede 1997a: 82). In contrast, feminine cultures are thought to place more value on relationships, caring for others, and a preference for cooperation and consensus. Gender roles are considered to be more fluid in feminine cultures. 1 This cultural dimension is sometimes referred to as Quantity of Life vs. Quality of

Life. 138

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While not without its critics – questions have arisen regarding Hofstede’s underlying research methodology, the macro-level approach of his work, and accusations that his model infers cultural and situational homogeneity (Williamson 2002, McSweeney 2002) – Hofstede’s work has had a significant impact on contemporary understandings of culture and continues to inform ongoing research. With its attention to broad cultural traits, Hofstede’s model provides a lens for comparing the ideological foundations of the PWA and the traditional Bhutanese education system. In utilising this theoretical framework, we acknowledge Hofstede and Peterson’s (2000: p.404) advice that the ‘cultural dimensions were never intended to provide a complete basis for analysing a culture’ and see them not as definitive markers but as providing a continuum to discuss broad cultural tendencies or ‘relative positions by which nations can be compared’ (Williamson 2001 in 2002: p.1380).

4 Bhutanese Culture of Education The National Education Framework (2009) describes the Bhutanese set of values based mainly on two concepts: (ley judrey) and (tha damtshig). Ley judrey means ‘actions have consequences’ and tha damtshig means ‘sacred commitment to others’ (National Education Framework 2009: p.16). These values of sacred commitments are identified as relationships between various pairs, for example: pha da bhushi gi damtshig (parent and child), lobey da lobtu gi damtshig (teacher and pupil), nyen da drok gi damtshig (husband and wife), poen da yok gi damtshig (master and servant). Such pairing of relationships is used to state the duty and obligations of one to the other. (National Education Framework 2009: 16)

Wangyal (2001) explains that these relationships are based on responsibility and commitment to each other. For example, as much as the parents need to commit to care in raising the child, the child in return needs to commit to obeying parents and taking care of them in their old age. If one fails in committing to the above responsibilities in a relationship then the result of one’s action known as jumdrey will determine the future of the individual: metaphorically just as sowing good quality seeds brings about a good harvest, and vice versa (Wangyal 2001: p.109).

Fundamental to Bhutanese traditional values is that each individual in the paired relationship accepts their role and takes responsibility for committing to its function. The relationships are interdependent and sustained by values shared by society - defining characteristics of Hofstede’s (1980) notion of collectivism. Interestingly, the Hofstede Centre (an official agency for the dissemination of information on Hofstede’s research and associated projects) ranks Bhutan with an intermediate score of 52 on the individualism dimension (http://geerthofstede.com/bhutan.html; 15.06.2015). This would suggest an absence of preference toward collectivist or individualist tendencies, yet data gathered in accordance with this research suggests a strong collectivist ideology; at least 139

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within the particular context of the education system. Among all the relationships in Bhutanese culture, that between teacher and pupils (lobey da lobtu gi damtshig) is traditionally a very sacred one. As Wangyal explains: The teacher is expected to show compassion and love for the students by observing impartiality among his pupils and ensure that all his students acquire knowledge and wisdom. In turn the student is expected to concentrate on his [sic] studies and show lifelong gratitude to the teacher. (Wangyal 2001: 110)

This loyalty and mutual respect not only references Hofstede’s (1980) dimension of collectivism but also the notion of high power distance with acceptance of inequality and hierarchy as an important and natural component of relationships. In fact, Bhutan is given a very high score of 94 on this dimension, indicating that within Hofstede’s paradigm, Bhutan is considered a hierarchical society with clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities (http://geert-hofstede.com/bhutan.html: 15.06.2015). All forms of life regardless of religion, law, education survive by mutual cooperation based on their interconnectedness. (National Education Framework 2009: 16) The belief that interdependence among different forms of life results in harmonious relationships is a key theme of the Buddhist iconography of the four friends (the bird, the monkey, the rabbit, and the elephant) known as the thuenpa puenshi. This image is a common sight on monastery walls and is frequently depicted in wall paintings in private homes. Such interconnectedness and acceptance of power imbalances suggests that efforts to adopt educational practices from contexts that value individualism may be subject to a range of cultural issues. The strong emphasis on the preservation of Bhutanese cultural traditions is in line with the low score of 32 on Hofstede’s masculinity dimension, indicating that Bhutan is a relatively feminine society (http://geerthofstede.com/bhutan.html: 15.06.2015). The importance placed on harmonious relationships and measuring success in terms of ‘quality of life’ rather than solely in economic or material terms aligns with this ranking. This dimension is juxtaposed alongside a very low score for uncertainty avoidance, indicating Bhutanese society is generally tolerant of ambiguity (despite the high power distance) and people are open to taking risks and adopting new ideas (http://geert-hofstede.com/bhutan.html; 15.06.2015). This cultural dimension was evident in the experiences of principals and teachers in this research project who expressed overwhelmingly positive attitudes to the PWA approach despite obvious logistical and cultural issues with its implementation.

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5 A Short History of Curricular Innovation in Bhutan The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) initiative examined in this article is not the first educational partnership to take place in Bhutan. One such unsuccessful implementation took place in 1986 when the Royal Government of Bhutan, with assistance from the United Kingdom, attempted to introduce a New Approach to Primary Education (NAPE) (Dorji 2005). Dissatisfaction arose from the change in educational pedagogy from a teachercentred to child-centred approach and difficulties implementing the new methodology in the Bhutanese classroom context due to class size and differences in access to resources. Put simply, the nature of the approach did not match the local context; culturally or in terms of infrastructure. Problems also arose through locally initiated curriculum reform. For example, in 2006 in response to difficulties students experienced with learning in the English language coupled with a Bhutanese national desire to maintain and develop local culture, an attempt was made to rewrite aspects of the history curriculum so that it had local, rather than foreign, origins (Sherab 2008). In order to achieve this goal, the language of instruction for grades six to ten was changed from English to the local Dzongkha. However, the history teachers who taught this subject in English could not teach it in Dzongkha due to their own difficulties in that language; and the Dzonghka speaking teachers did not have sufficient history content knowledge to teach this subject effectively. Students encountered similar difficulties with the Dzongkha terminology. Thus, teachers during history lessons ended up teaching the Dzonghka language rather than history. These problems were unforeseen during the planning and curriculum development periods but, as a result of the issues, teaching history in the Dzongkha language ceased in 2009. The costly and time-consuming curriculum innovation process ultimately could not be implemented.

6 Implementation of the PWA in Bhutan 6.1 General Remarks The Process Writing Approach (PWA) became a part of the National English curriculum in Bhutan in 2006 when internal dissatisfaction arose over an apparent decline in students’ English writing. Several local studies and classroom observations revealed that the methods of teaching writing used in the Bhutanese classroom followed a traditional, teacher-directed approach in which the teacher explained the texts and students either took notes or answered questions. This pedagogical approach was deemed as lacking in meaningful student writing practice. Subsequently, the Royal Government of Bhutan, drawing on expertise and funds from Canada, responded to this concern by mandating English curriculum reform and the adoption of the externally derived PWA.

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This curriculum approach is based on the ideology of student-centeredness, a completely different pedagogical style to the indigenous Bhutanese sentiment of tha damtshig (or ‘sacred commitment to others’) whereby the hierarchical relationship between teacher and student is more pronounced than that promoted by student-centeredness. There are a number of concepts central to the successful and full implementation of the PWA, including that teachers and students work as partners, that the teacher’s role is primarily as a motivator or facilitator, and that the role of each student is to discover the writing strategies that suit them best (Keh 1990, Patthey-Chevaz & Paulus 1999, Matsumura & Valdes 2004). In Hofstede’s (1980) framework of cultural dimensions, these practices may be classified as individualistic, low power distance behaviours. In order to research the experiences of Bhutanese principals and English teachers during the curriculum reform and its implementation in their classrooms, this research first investigated the alignment or misalignment of the objectives stated in the official curriculum documents titled The Guide, The Silken Knot, and The Reading and Literature Book, with the corresponding student activities and writing assessment outlined for teaching writing using the PWA. Points of concern exposed by the analysis of official curriculum documents and corresponding teaching activities and assessment items were used to generate the initial protocol for semi-structured interviews to take place in the second phase of the research. The findings of this first stage of the research are discussed elsewhere (Zangmo, Sharp, O’Toole, & Burke, forthcoming). The second phase of the research involved interviewing eight lower secondary principals from various parts of the country. Each principal had started teaching the mandated PWA in its initial implementation stage (Table 1 below). The rationale for recruiting lower secondary educators was based on the fact that grade seven has the highest rate of school dropouts in Bhutan (Bhutan Annual Education Statistics, 2011). In the series of hour-long, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the principals, issues of support, training, and the usefulness of the official curriculum as well other factors that affected the implementation of the PWA were discussed. All participants’ responses are anonymized in this paper. Third, the research investigated the manner in which the mandated PWA was received and enacted in actual classroom situations. Three grade seven classroom observations took place via video recorded lessons. Each recording lasted for 45 minutes. Interviews with the observed teachers explored their reasons for implementing the PWA in specific ways. The issues that emerged were similar to those that the principals indicated as challenges for implementing the PWA during the initial interviews. Each teacher’s running commentary was transcribed and then loaded into NVivo 9 and coded. The running commentaries were crosschecked with the corresponding scene of the video record of each lesson and then divided, based on teachers’ practices and comments, into different themes such as Bhutanese classroom factors, taskrelated factors, culture-related factors, and other factors. Teachers were asked to confirm that the summary accurately reflected their experience. The recorded lessons were then used as the basis for follow-up interviews with 142

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three different secondary teachers. Each teacher watched one video-recorded lesson and commented on the typicality of the writing instructional practices in each lesson. The reactions of these teachers were audio recorded and then transcribed for analysis. This final stage of the investigation provided a check for idiosyncratic practices or interpretations of the lessons observed: Gender

PWA Training Received

Grade of PWA Training

Taught the PWA Since

School Location

P 1 (F)

The Writers’ Workshop: 45 days

9 & 10

2006

Rural

P 2 (M)

Orientation program: 10 days

6-8

2006

Rural & taught in urban schools

P 3 (M)

Orientation program: 10 days

6-8

2007

Rural

P 4 (F)

Orientation programs: 10 days

9 & 10

2006

Urban & taught in rural schools

Writers’ Workshop: 45 days P 5 (M)

Orientation program: 10 days

6-8

2007

Rural & taught in urban schools

P 6 (M)

Orientation program: 10 days

9 & 10

2006

Urban

9 & 10

2007

Rural

NA

2006

Rural

Writers’ Workshop: 45 days P 7 (M)

Orientation program: 10 days Writers’ Workshop: 45 days

P 8 (M)

No training

Table 1: Principal Participants

The interviews and observations revealed that a number of educational and cultural factors were problematic for the implementation of the PWA (Table 2). Eleven major themes emerged from the NVivo open coding of the interviews with lower secondary principals. The node for ‘challenges’ in implementing PWA was the most prevalent with 82 references across the eight interviews. The ‘challenges’ node displayed several sub-themes including issues pertaining to the logistics of implementing the PWA and issues related to specific geographic location. Each classroom observation across each of the three schools revealed a strong hierarchal teacher-student relationship, which was contrary to the 143

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teacher acting as a facilitator and students taking charge of their own writing as the PWA proposes. This mismatch in cultural approach to education was also upheld in each interview with the two groups of participating teachers. As will be shown, interviews and observations also revealed that contradictions in the underlying ideology of the PWA and the Bhutanese culture and educational practices led to a partial implementation of the approach in Bhutanese classrooms. This partial implementation needs to be understood in the context of the practical support, or lack thereof, provided to teachers. However, despite the various challenges discussed in interviews, the positive attitudes and commitment of principals and teachers to make the implementation successful was a key outcome. The enthusiasm of teachers and principals to participate in professional development to aid in the implementation of PWA and their strong compliance with the innovation is unusual in research that focuses on externally derived curriculum change and is perhaps indicative of the Bhutanese culture’s emphasis on teacher compliance with allocated roles and responsibilities. Main themes

Sources

References

1. Challenges

8

82

2. Positive

8

26

3. Other documents

5

9

4. Teachers concept of the PWA

5

5

5. Teachers’ existing beliefs

3

6

6. How teachers managed

6

14

7. Teaching background

8

9

8. Training

8

13

9. Evaluation

8

17

10. Views on The Guide

8

13

11. Suggestions

7

13

Table 2: Themes from the Semi-Structured Interviews

6.2 Cultural Tensions Arising from the Implementation of the PWA in the Bhutanese Context Specifically, the findings from the semi-structured interviews with principals and teachers indicated that the cultural tensions they experienced when implementing the PWA were mainly associated with two aspects of method; the multiple drafting and peer conferencing stages. The data from each of the classroom observations and follow-up teacher interviews indicated that as a result of these cultural tensions, the PWA was reduced to students simply producing multiple drafts of their written work. The notion of teachers and 144

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students working as partners was identified as problematic to the implementation of the PWA in full. The underlying expectation that the teacher fill the role of motivator or facilitator whilst the student works to discover the writing strategies best suited to them, created tension when applying the PWA in the Bhutanese classroom. This appeared to be particularly prominent during the multiple drafting stage. The students’ expectations that teachers check and give feedback on every draft and the teachers’ incapacity to do so due to the large class sizes, appears to have demotivated students. As principal 6 explained: Actually first prewriting after the brain storming and then they do the first writing. Then I ask them to submit to me and I correct…drafting, redrafting, again to make so many drafts is problematic to do because we cannot edit their work somehow and if peer do but it’s quite difficult because they don’t find the mistakes of their friend. And in a way that part is neglected...

The PWA’s goal for students to take ownership of their own work clashed with the students’ expectation that teachers would give them controlled instruction. The expectation that an authority will judge the quality of student work is deeply embedded in Bhutanese culture. Particularly in the rural areas, the more traditional local values place high priority on the final product of student work, echoing customary religious and educational patterns of rote learning to produce exact copies of classic models. Assuring such high fidelity involves teachers checking and marking student work for assessment purposes, rather than encouraging experimental writing that involves different steps in a tentative writing process. This collectivist, high power distance view (Hofstede 1997a: 28, 51) where education tends to be teacher-centred, clashed with the individualist, low power distance outlook contained within the PWA. Cultural mismatches also occurred with the general reluctance of local students to speak freely in front of their teachers. Such student initiative contradicts local culture, where talking freely can be interpreted as showing lack of respect to the teacher. This practice can be stronger in rural than urban districts as rural parents tend to have had a traditional education and low English literacy rates. This means most rural Bhutanese live strongly by the principles of Buddhism and have had minimum exposure to any outside culture. A common Buddhist principle stresses respecting the teacher at all times. Thus, the existence of a high power distance (Hofstede 1980) relationship between the teachers and the students as observed in the classroom, is unsurprising. As principal 3 suggested: At this stage peer-conference is not effective mainly because first of all they are not very comfortable with English. And secondly they are shy …not able to give critical comments because they are not trained… So peer conferencing is not effective…

In a similar fashion, the principals also reported that peer conferencing was found to be ineffective for cultural reasons, with students appearing unwilling to speak freely in front of their teachers. Students resisted commenting on the work of their friends for fear that any criticism would cause offense and damage 145

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important relationships. In particular, the rural students placed great importance on group harmony in the classroom. Thus, to keep the group harmonious, students were hesitant to comment on their friends’ work for fear that such feedback would be interpreted as criticism. As principal 8 commented: The students in the rural are, you know shy and they shy away. They don’t show their work. For instance children try to hide their writing with their hands because they are really scared of showing their weakness to others.

As such, peer conferences appeared to threaten overall classroom happiness and cohesion. Again, this reflects an overarching concern for respecting ‘face’ and maintaining the harmonious relations of the group as described in Hofstede’s (1980) notion of collectivism. There were also key cultural mismatches between the values embedded within the PWA and the values of the Bhutanese assessment system. Elsewhere, we discuss how the inconsistency of importance placed on the PWA in the core curriculum documents as opposed to the set activities and prescribed assessment seems to have forced teachers to cover the local syllabus rather than implement PWA in a meaningful manner. Not covering the syllabus in depth could mean students would fail their end of year, high stakes examinations and, importantly, the examinations did not include the PWA or recognition that students would have learnt using this curriculum approach. Failing the end of year examinations means that students will have to repeat their school grade and teachers receive an official reprimand. Such a failure to ensure students are successful in examinations constitutes a significant breach of teacher duty. Therefore, whilst cultural factors were an important element in difficulties implementing the PWA, the findings from the semi-structured interviews also indicated that logistical local factors contributed to the ineffectiveness and eventual abandonment of multiple drafting and these factors are considered in a separate paper (Zangmo, Sharp, O’Toole, & Burke forthcoming).

6.3 Partial Implementation of PWA and Positive Attitudes of Teachers In line with the feedback concerning the cultural discontinuity of the multiple drafting and peer conferencing stages with the social mores of the Bhutanese classroom, observations of the lessons indicate only partial implementation of the PWA in Bhutan’s rural and urban schools, with these stages omitted. This left only the prewriting activities, which teachers described as both suitable to the needs of the students and an improvement on their previous practice. However, classroom observations revealed that teachers generally implemented the prewriting stage of the PWA, using transmission methods typical of the more traditional product-based approach to writing. Observations of the lessons also showed that teachers taught writing by collecting student work for correction, which, according to follow up interviews with teachers, was the normal classroom practice. When informal peer conferences were 146

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introduced to the classroom, they were adapted in such a way that students simply exchanged their exercise books with their desk partner to mark spelling mistakes and other functional grammatical errors. This adaptation echoes earlier studies that revealed that teachers from Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore took a middle-path approach by combining product and process when asked to teach the PWA in their classes (Pennington, So, Hirose, Costa, Shing & Niedzielski 1997). Knowledge of the existing literature makes much of what was observed unsurprising. What is more surprising is that, despite all of these challenges, the Bhutanese principals and teachers participating in this project were still very positive about the PWA. The findings from the semi structured interviews showed that all the principals shared very positive attitudes towards the mandated approach and they stated that their students developed confidence in writing as a result of its implementation. The PWA was also described as having assisted teachers to identify weaker students so that remedial help could be provided and as having helped teachers improve their own writing. Those principals who did not receive adequate training and were less successful in implementing the government mandate apparently saw it as their own failure, indicating sincere regret and expressing their strong interest in trying again. This attitude may be linked to the seriousness with which Bhutanese teachers view their responsibilities to students. Similarly the rural teachers revealed positive attitudes towards the PWA, reasoning that the approach helped students to write. This suggests that Bhutanese principals and teachers were not resistant to this proposed change; on the contrary, they were committed to making the PWA successful in their schools and reported taking a variety of initiatives as they attempted to implement the innovation. This stands in marked contrast to previous studies in which teachers expressed frustration and resistance during curriculum change (Ling 2002, Alwan 2006). The positive attitudes of Bhutanese principals and teachers toward the PWA also reflects a paradox – on the one hand, the context emphasises the continuation of tradition and preservation of culture. However, those who participated in this project readily accepted the innovation and took initiatives and risks to implement it in their classroom. This resonates with the low uncertainty avoidance ranking of the culture and the set of local values based on commitment and responsibility of teachers. The local teachers seemed to fear that their inability to adequately implement the PWA was tantamount to failing to fulfil their duty as educators. The positivity of teachers and principals may indicate the pervasiveness of the paradigm whereby curricular innovation from externally derived contexts is afforded higher status. The findings of this project demonstrate that principals had positive attitudes at the initial stage of the curriculum change, that their attitudes remained positive even after the challenges they faced in implementing the PWA, and that such positive attitudes were shared by the participating teachers involved in classroom observation. They were generally excited about the innovation, even five years after its mandated implementation. Although it was not continued due to insurmountable challenges, many 147

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principals and teachers remained committed to the implementation of the PWA. This may illustrate the very powerful notions that ‘west is best’ in terms of pedagogy and methodology in EFL and might have played a role in continued support for the PWA despite its mismatched cultural underpinnings for the context.

6.4 Summary of the Research Findings The implementation of the PWA, like many other curriculum change projects adopted by smaller jurisdictions, emerged from an ‘inner circle’ (Kachru 1992), English as a first language, individualist, low power distance context (Hofstede 1997a: 28, 51) but was implemented in classrooms with contrasting cultural milieu. Tensions appeared to emerge around local collectivist views as opposed to the individualist view of the PWA, and the high power distance that is the norm in Bhutan as against the low power distance demanded by the PWA. These differences should have been foreseeable by those in authority to implement curriculum change. Perhaps though, as Stuart suggests: because much of the strength of cultural influences stems from the fact that they operate in the background of behaviour at the value, linguistic, and construct levels, people often have difficulty defining their cultural influences, and social scientists have difficulty measuring them. (Stuart 2004: 4)

This project provides evidence that borrowed curriculum innovations cannot be sustained without considering the differences between the source and target, or local, culture. Brown’s assertion regarding the paramount importance of "cultural continuity" in curricular innovation and the need for this continuity to be "respected, by not losing contact with current [local] practice" (Brown’s 2000: 227) is very apt in terms of the Bhutanese case. Several researchers have emphasised the importance of considering the cultural and educational context during curriculum change (Dushku 1998, Holliday 2001, Berry 2006). Wedell (2003: 439) explains that gaps emerge between the intended and the implemented curriculum when curriculum planners fail to consider the differences between the two cultures, and that sometimes only a partial implementation of the proposed change occurs. Therefore, curriculum planners need to identify the extent of the cultural shift that teachers need to make, question the ideological implications of such change and whether or not this is favourable, and consider designing curriculum or training for what Holliday (2001: 169) calls bridging between the two cultures or ‘cultural continuity’. However, the incompatibility of the PWA with the local educational context caused difficulties that were likely to remain, even if the cultures had more closely matched. The large class sizes and diverse levels of resourcing that are characteristic of the local context exerted extra strain on implementers who were left on their own to handle the problems. These difficulties were compounded by the fact that the process of implementing the curriculum change was shortened in an attempt to make a speedy start. Initially willing and enthusiastic educators gradually stopped implementing the PWA. This problem 148

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may have been avoided or reduced if a detailed study of the local cultural context had taken place, with modifications made to the PWA prior to implementation. Instead, this innovation resulted from centralised decisionmaking that did not take into account the cultural and educational contexts of the different localities within Bhutan, which in turn affected the success of the proposed curriculum change. The decisions leading to the implementation of PWA appear to be based on the willingness of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to provide support for a reform that would address a local need, which Bhutan appeared to lack resources to meet, resulting in what Phillips and Ochs (2004: 11) would call a ‘quick fix’ decision. As stated earlier, this study considers the difficulties associated with the PWA innovation in Bhutan, not as a criticism, but in order to help ensure more success for future innovations. For instance, a pilot-testing programme could have involved educators having direct exposure to the PWA and sharing their experiences to influence the shape of the PWA before being more widely implemented. Not doing so had predictable negative consequences, notwithstanding teachers’ positive attitudes towards it.

7 Conclusion This research revealed that differences between the nature of the PWA and the Bhutanese context resulted in persistent struggle for both teachers and students in trying to accommodate significant cultural shifts. The cultural tensions mainly occurred in regard to contrasts between collectivist cultural views of mutual support and criticism of friends and the more individualist view of selfdevelopment and personal goal orientation that is characteristic of the PWA. The challenges were stronger in schools located in rural areas due to factors such as parents’ socio-cultural background, students’ low level of English, and stronger traditional cultural practices. Our research findings indicate that the PWA had minimal impact when viewed five years after initial implementation and the innovation was eventually diluted almost beyond recognition. Pilot testing the PWA locally before introducing it nationally may have allowed the appropriateness and suitability of the PWA to be considered before committing resources to its implementation. We postulate that the extensive implementation of externally derived methodology in a context with such a strong focus on cultural preservation illustrates the pervasiveness of the ‘West is best’ ideology that continues to characterise much of the current mindset in EFL. We further argue that this ingrained notion requires critical interrogation; as Brown asserts: To deny that there is a conflict in contemporary ELT, particularly but not exclusively in the ‘importing’ of new techniques associated with communicative language teaching into the state sector educational systems of developing countries, is to deny a reality with which many are familiar. (Brown 2000: 227)

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References Alwan, Fatma Hamad (2006). An analysis of English language teachers’ perceptions of curriculum change in the United Arab Emirates. Exeter: University of Exeter. Berry, Ruth, A. (2006). Teacher beliefs and writing instruction in two primary inclusion classrooms. Learning Disabilities, 39 (1), 11-24. Bhutan Annual Education Statistics (2011). Annual Education Statistics. Thimphu: Policy Planning Division, Ministry of Education: Royal Government of Bhutan. Bond, Michael Harris (2002). Reclaiming the individual from Hofstede's ecological analysis- A 20-year odyssey: comment on Oyserman et al. (2002): In: Psychological Bulletin, 128 (1), 73-77. Brislin, Richard W., & Tomoko, Yoshiba (Eds.) (1994). Intercultural communication training: An introduction. California: Sage Publications. Brown, Ray. (2000). Cultural continuity and ELT teacher training: In: ELT Journal 54 (3), 227-234. Canagarajah, Athelstan Suresh (1999). On EFL Teachers, awareness, and agency: In: ELT Journal. Volume 53/3 July. Curriculum and Professional Support Division (2006). Curriculum guide for teachers: English class VII. Paro: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. Dodd, Carley H. (1998). Dynamics of intercultural communication. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Company. Dorji, Jagar (2005). Quality of education in Bhutan: The story of growth and change in the Bhutanese education system. Thimphu: KMT. Dushku, Silvana (1998). ELT in Albania: Project evaluation and change: In: System, 26 (3), 369-388. Faris, Christopher B. (2004). Information and communications technology and gross national happiness- who serves who? In: K. Ura & K. Galay (Eds.) (2004). Gross national happiness and development. Thimphu: The Centre for Bhutan Studies, Royal Government of Bhutan, 140-172. Hofstede, Geert (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work related values. Beverly Hill: Sage. Hofstede, Geert (1997). The Archimedes effect. Working at the interface of cultures: 18 lives in social science. M. H. Bond. London: Routledge. Hofstede, Geert & Mark F. Peterson (2000). National values and organizational 150

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 practices. In: N.M. Ashkanasy, C.P.M. Wilderom & M.F. Peterson (Eds.) (2000). Handbook of organizational culture and climate. London: Sage. Holliday, Adrian (2001). Achieving cultural continuity in curriculum innovation. In: D. Hall & A. Hewings (Eds.) (2001). Innovation in English language teaching: A reader London: Routledge, 169-177. Hu, Guangwei (2002). Potential Cultural Resistance to Pedagogical Imports: The Case of Communicative Language Teaching in China: In: Language, Culture and Curriculum, 15 (2), 93-105. Kachru, Braj B. (1992). ‘Models for non-native Englishes’ The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of Non-native Englishes. Kachru, B.B. (Ed.). Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Keh, Claudia L. (1990). Feedback in the writing process: a model and methods for implementation: In: ELT Journal. 44 (4), 294-304. Ling, Lo Mun (2002). A Tale of Two Teachers: Teachers’ responses to an imposed curriculum reform: In: Teacher Development 6 (1), 33-34. McSweeney, Brendan (2002). Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences and the consequences: A triumph of faith – a failure of analysis: In: Human Relations 55 (2002) 89–118. National Education Framework (2009): National educational framework curricular perspective. (http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/COPs/News_documents/2009/110 9Bhutan/Renewing_School_Education_in_Bhutan.pdf; 27.06.2013). National Statistics Bureau (2011). Statistical Yearbook of Bhutan. Thimphu: National Statistics Bureau, Royal Government of Bhutan. Ochs, Kimberly & David Phillips (2002). Comparative Studies and 'Cross-National Attraction' in Education: A typology for the analysis of English interest in educational policy and provision in Germany context and education: In: Educational Studies, 28 (4), 325-339. Patthey-Chevaz, G. Genevieve, Matsumura, Lindsay Clare & Valdes, Rosa (2004). Investigating the Process Approach to Writing in Urban Middle Schools: In: Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 47:6, March. Paulus, Trena M. (1999). The effect of peer and teacher feedback on student writing: In: Journal of Second Language Writing 8 (3), September 1999, 265–289. Pennington, Martha C., So, Sufuni, Hirose, Keiko, Costa, Virginia, Shing, Joe Li Wai, & Niedzielski, Krystyna (1997). The teaching of English-as-a-Second-Language Writing in the Asia-Pacific Region: A cross-country comparison: In: RELC Journal: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research 28 (1997) 120-143.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Pennycook, Alastair (1994). The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. Harlow: Longman. Phillipson, Robert (1997). Realities and Myths of Linguistic Imperialism: In: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 18 (3), 238-248. Sherab, Kezang (2008). The teaching of Bhutan history in Dzongkha (Classes VII and VIII): An impact study. Paro: College of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. Siok, Sian Pek (2003). Media impact study. (http://www.unapcict.org/ecohub/resources/bhutan; 05.03.2010). Sonaiya, Remi (2002). Autonomous Language Learning in Africa: A Mismatch of Cultural Assumptions: In: Language, Culture and Curriculum 15 (2), 106-116. The Centre for Bhutan Studies (2004). Gross national happiness and development. Thimphu: The Centre Bhutan Studies, Royal Government of Bhutan. The Centre of Bhutan Studies and GNH Research (2014): (http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/articles/; 01.04.2014). The Hofstede 19.04.2013).

Centre

(2014):

Bhutan.

GNH

Index.

(http://geert-hofstede.com/bhutan.html;

The Planning Commission (1999). Bhutan 2020: A vision for peace, prosperity and happiness. Thimphu: Planning Commission, Royal Government of Bhutan. van Driem, George (1994). Language policy in Bhutan. In: A. Michael & H. Michael (Eds.) (1994) Bhutan: Aspects of culture and development. Gartmore: Kiscadale Publications. Wangyal, Tashi (2001): Ensuring social sustainability: Can Bhutan's education system ensure intergenerational transmission of values? (http://www.thlib.org/static/reprints/jbs/JBS_03_01_04.pdf; 10.04.2013). Wedell, Martin (2003). Giving TESOL change a chance: supporting key players in the curriculum change process: In: System 31 (4), 439-456. Williamson, Dermot (2002). Forward from a Critique of Hofstede’s Model of National Culture: In: Human Relations 55 (2002).

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Authors: Dechen Zangmo Lecturer, Paro College of Education, Royal University of Bhutan www.pce.edu.bt E-mail: [email protected] Rachel Burke Lecturer School of Education The University of Newcastle Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia E-mail: [email protected] John Mitchell O’Toole Senior Lecturer School of Education The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 230 Australia E-mail: [email protected] Heather Sharp Lecturer School of Education The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia E-mail: [email protected]

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II. Book Reviews

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Marc Décimo: Comment la linguistique vint à Paris. De Michel Bréal à Ferdinand de Saussure (= Sciences et Pataphysique, tome 2). Dijon: Les presses du réel 2014. 416 Seiten (ISBN 978-284066-599-1). Der Titel der hier zu besprechenden Publikation kann möglicherweise mißverstanden werden, deshalb sei vorweg klargestellt: Das Buch hat keine spezielle linguistische Untersuchung zum Gegenstand, es liefert ebensowenig einen Beitrag zu den zentralen Thesen des Strukturalismus oder der vergleichend-historischen Sprachwissenschaft. Insofern geht es auch nicht primär um eine wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Darstellung im herkömmlichen Sinn. Das Hauptanliegen dieser umfangreichen Arbeit besteht vielmehr darin, einen bestimmten Zeitabschnitt, ganz grob die zweite Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, in den Blick zu nehmen und anhand vieler biographisch orientierter Studien die Hintergründe der Entwicklung der französischen Linguistik in dieser Zeit zu beleuchten. Insbesondere soll gezeigt werden, wie es zu dem Paradigmenwechsel kommen konnte, der letztlich in dem Ferdinand de Saussure zugeschriebenen Cours de linguistique général (1916) seinen Ausdruck fand, wie die Rahmenbedingungen im einzelnen aussahen und welche Personen beteiligt waren: Cette histoire passe par Paris, dans ce cénacle où se cotoient Michel Bréal, Gaston Paris, les frères James et Arsène Darmesteter, Louis Havet, Paul Meyer, Victor Henry, et une nouvelle génération de linguistes en train de se former. (8)

Vorweg sei weiter festgehalten: Der Buchautor Marc Décimo ist für eine Arbeit dieser Art geradezu prädestiniert; er hat sich durch zahlreiche Einzelstudien zum historischen Kontext, speziell zu Bréal1 und de Saussure2, international einen Namen gemacht. Der vorliegende Band greift einige seiner früheren Überlegungen wieder auf und stellt sie in einen umfassenderen Zusammenhang. Der Aufbau ist überwiegend chronologisch und gliedert sich in folgende Kapitel: Point d’entrée 1: Michel Bréal. Des années d’étude au Collège de France (1852 à 1864) 2: La création de l’École des hautes études et de la Revue critique d’histoire et de littérature (1868) 3. Ferdinand de Saussure à l’École des hautes études (1881-1891 moins 1889-1890) 4. Les auditeurs de Ferdinand de Saussure Document: Michel Bréal, par son fils Auguste Bibliographie, Index

Im Anschluß an eine kurze Einleitung (5-9) zeichnet der erste Abschnitt in erster Linie das Wirken Michel Bréals in Paris nach (10-43). Dabei - und das trifft auf alle Kapitel des Bandes zu - bemüht der Verfasser eine große Zahl von Dokumenten, die von intensiven Archiv-Recherchen zeugen. Es gelingt so, die Geschehnisse sehr konkret darzustellen und viele Entscheidungsabläufe leicht nachvollziehbar zu machen. Zu 1 Décimo 1997, 2011, Décimo / Fiala 2004; vgl. auch die Angaben in: http://www.michelbréal-gesellschaft.de > Publikationen > Sekundärliteratur. – Bezüglich der Herkunft Bréals finden sich mitunter widersprüchliche Angaben (vgl. Boutan 2007: 323). Deshalb sei nochmals betont: Bréal wird 1832 in Landau/Pfalz geboren, das seinerzeit zum Königreich Bayern gehört; sein Vater stammt aus Pirmasens, seine Mutter aus Metz. 2 Verwiesen sei u.a. auf Décimo (1994, 1999) und als wissenschaftshistorische Abgrenzung: Décimo (1998).

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 dieser Veranschaulichung tragen nicht zuletzt auch zahlreiche Porträt-Bilder der besprochenen Wissenschaftler bei. Gerade über den Einblick in verschiedene Briefwechsel wird deutlich, wie einzelne Wissenschaftler zueinander stehen, was ihre wichtigsten Handlungsmotive sind und welche Einschätzungen sie teilen. So erfährt man z.B. aus einer brieflichen Mitteilung Bréals, was in der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts genau die Attraktivität deutscher Universitäten ausmacht, was auf französischer Seite als modellhaft und nachahmenswert betrachtet wird: Ce qu’alors on envie à l’Allemagne, c’est précisément les chaires universitaires spécialisées, l’abondance de cours, la variété des études, la liberté des étudiants, la libre-concurrence des maîtres, la respectueuse familiarité entre maître et élèves, et surtout les « séminaires ». On a compris l’utilité du travail en commun. Elle est une « vraie université ». Le séminaire est l’arme décisive. Et l’adoption d’un tel modèle en France permettrait de « poursuivre vigoureusement le faux savoir », de « signaler les méthodes vicieuses », de progresser. (25)

Derartige Äußerungen ermöglichen - so subjektiv und einseitig sie bisweilen auch sein mögen - eine detaillierte, relativ distanzlose Kenntnisnahme und stehen für eine leicht faßbare Sachverhaltsinformation. Auf diese Weise wird dem Leser u.a. vermittelt, welche Schwerpunkte in der französischen Sprachwissenschaft vertreten werden, welche Personen beteiligt sind, wie es zu Erneuerungen und zur Einführung der historischvergleichenden Methode (im Anschluß an Franz Bopp) kommt. Große Bedeutung erhält in dem Zusammenhang die Einrichtung eines neuen Lehrstuhls für Vergleichende Grammatik am Collège de France. Hier kann Décimo anhand seiner Dokumentation zeigen, mit welchem Engagement Sprachforscher wie z.B. Frédéric Baudry die Kandidatur Bréals unterstützen und für den Aufbau einer modernen Linguistik werben – ein Unterfangen, das letztlich Erfolg hat, und Bréal kann in der Funktion als Lehrstuhlinhaber von 1866 bis 1905, also nahezu vierzig Jahre lang, an der prestigereichen Institution tätig sein. Der zweite Abschnitt (44-79) behandelt die anschließenden Entwicklungen. Zu nennen ist zunächst die Gründung einer Hochschule neuen Typs, der École Pratique des Hautes Études im Jahre 1868, wiederum unter Mitwirkung Bréals. Mit dieser Maßnahme soll sowohl die Modernisierung und Professionalisierung der französischen Universitätslehre vorangetrieben als auch eine politische Öffnung gefördert werden: Il s’agit d’amener la France à un niveau de compétence au moins égal à celui de l’Allemagne. Il s’agit de rapprocher les deux peuples en faisant reculer toujours l’ignorance, l’esprit d’intolérance, les croyances et les préjugés. (...) Éradiquer les préjugés qui détériorent la paix sociale, qui favorisent les injustices et l’exclusion, voici l’objectif. (53)

Eine solche grenzüberschreitende Perspektive kennzeichnet ebenfalls die aufsehenerregende Publikation Bréals Quelques mots sur l’instruction publique en France von 1872, die in wenigen Monaten allein drei Auflagen erreicht. Décimo zitiert hierzu eine Rezension, die die deutsch-französische Brisanz treffend beleuchtet: Je sais que, chez beaucoup d’esprits passionnés, la pensée de prendre l’Allemagne pour modèle en quelque chose, depuis les événements, soulève une révolte instinctive. On me permettra de combattre ce sentiment comme peu raisonnable. Il ne

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Ebenfalls als Reaktion auf den Deutsch-französischen Krieg kommt es 1870 bzw. 1874, wiederum unter Mitbeteiligung von Michel Bréal, zur Gründung der École alsacienne, einer privaten und laizistischen Schule, die mit alternativer Pädagogik und verstärktem Fremdsprachenangebot versucht, bestimmte Defizite des etablierten französischen Schulsystems zu vermeiden3. Im Jahre 1880 wird als parallele Einrichtung für Mädchen das Collège Sévigné gegründet. Die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit rückt in dieser Zeit der kritischen Bestandsaufnahme, der Bildungsreformen, der Konsolidierung der Sprachwissenschaft, aber auch der vereinzelten Versuche, deutschfranzösische Feindseligkeiten zu überwinden, zunehmend in den Mittelpunkt. Ein wichtiges Sprachrohr für Kritik und Reformvorschläge ist dabei die Revue critique d’histoire et de littérature. In dem Rahmen erscheint es nur folgerichtig, wenn Décimo hier auch den Versuch Bréals zur Sprache bringt, in einem im Jahre 1913 veröffentlichten Artikel für eine Neutralisierung des Reichlandes Elsaß-Lothringen zu werben. Allerdings bleiben solche Bemühungen weitgehend folgenlos und sorgen eher für eine politische Isolierung des Autors4. Im dritten Abschnitt (80-137) geht es primär um das Wirken und die Karriere Ferdinand de Saussures an der École Pratique des Hautes Études, an die er auf Betreiben Bréals im Jahre 1880 berufen wird. Auch in diesem Fall gelingt es Décimo, die Sonderstellung de Saussures, der sich schon früh großes Ansehen erwirbt, nicht allein durch Einblicke in seine Arbeit, sondern ebenso durch Briefzitate und andere Stellungnahmen sowie durch kenntnisreiche Schilderungen seines Umfelds anschaulich zu machen. In der gleichen methodischen Weise wird über die Resonanz informiert, die der Wissenschaftler in Paris erfährt, über den Austausch mit anderen Sprachforschern, die Hintergründe und Bedingungen seines Wechsels nach Genf im Jahre 1889 und über seinen Nachfolger Antoine Meillet. Dank der gründlichen Archiv-Arbeit Décimos entsteht ein dichtes, zugleich lebendiges und ausgesprochen facettenreiches Bild dieser Periode, wobei der Leser gleichzeitig eine klare Vorstellung von der Rolle der Sprachwissenschaft in der Gesellschaft erhält.5 Der vierte - und umfangreichste - Abschnitt (138-366) ist noch einmal der École Pratique des Hautes Études gewidmet; er beschreibt verschiedene Studiengänge und wissenschaftliche Schwerpunkte und liefert eine Art Resumee der erreichten Fortschritte. In einer Würdigung aus der Feder Antoine Meillets heißt es in der Rückschau: Quand on a commencé à étudier en France la grammaire comparée des langues indoeuropéennes, elle avait déjà en Allemagne ses manuels et ses dictionnaires. Mais Michel Bréal lui a donné aussitôt un tour original et bien français, en montrant dans les langues l’œuvre de l’homme. Puis le Genevois Ferdinand de Saussure a durant dix ans, imprimé à l’École linguistique française la marque de son génie ; son enseignement, où la précision technique la plus rigoureuse laissait toujours entrevoir les idées les plus générales et où des formules exactement arrêtées se joignaient à la 3 Nota bene: Die laizistische Schulreform von Jules Ferry kommt erst ab 1881/82 zum Tragen 4 Dieses Schicksal ereilt dann auch den Schwiegersohn Bréals (und späteren Friedensnobelpreiträger), Romain Rolland, der ab September 1914 im Journal de Genève wiederholt gegen Aufrüstung und Kriegspropaganda Stellung bezieht. 5 Bezüglich der Auswertung von Archiv-Quellen zu Bréal und de Saussure sei außerdem verwiesen auf Chidichimo (2014) und auf die Monumentalstudie von Joseph (2012).

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 poésie de l’expression, a laissé à tous ceux qui l’ont entendu un souvenir qui ne s’effacera jamais et dont vit encore le groupe des linguistes français. (164 f.)

Den Hauptteil dieses Abschnitts bildet eine Liste von Schülern de Saussures (166366); dabei bezeichnet der Ausdruck Liste nur die alphabetische Anordnung, einige Persönlichkeiten erhalten hier eine sehr ausführliche Darstellung von mehreren Seiten, oft ergänzt durch Porträtbilder oder Facsimiles (z.B. Maurice Grammont, Paul Passy, Jean Psichari oder Marcel Schwob). Als Anhang folgen umfangreich annotierte Tagebuchaufzeichnungen von Bréals Sohn Auguste (368-375)6. Ein detailliertes Literaturverzeichnis und ein Namenregister schließen den Band ab. Wie bereits mehrfach angedeutet, handelt es sich bei der vorliegenden Publikation Marc Décimos um eine verdienstvolle und äußerst instruktive Arbeit. Sie liefert nicht nur biographische Detailstudien zur französischen Sprachwissenschaft in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts; sie ist ebenso eine gut lesbare, mit zahlreichen Zusatzdokumenten bestückte Darstellung zur Wissenschaftgeschichte bzw. zum Wissenschaftstransfer in Europa. Darüber hinaus kann man die Arbeit auch betrachten als eine frankreichkundliche Abhandlung, die auf exemplarische Weise in eine bestimmte Phase der Entwicklung des französischen Hochschulwesens einführt. Keine Ebene wird isoliert gesehen, der Bezug zum gesellschaftspolitischen Hintergrund bleibt jederzeit präsent – gerade das macht nicht zuletzt den Reiz und die Qualität dieses Buches aus.

Bibliographie Boutan, Pierre (2007). Michel Bréal und das deutsche Pädagogikmodell. In: Giessen, Hans W., Lüger, Heinz-Helmut & Volz, Günther (Hrsg.). Michel Bréal - Grenzüberschreitende Signaturen. Landau: VEP, 321-339. Chidichimo, Alessandro (2014). Les documents de Michel Bréal à Genève. In: Chepiga, Valentina / Sofía, Estanislao (Hrsg.). Archives et manuscrits de linguistes. Louvain-la-neuve: L’Harmattan, 149-166. Décimo, Marc (1994). Saussure à Paris. In: Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure 48, 75-90. Décimo, Marc (1997). Michel Bréal 1832-1915. Cataloque de l’exposition tenue à l’occasion du colloque « Bréal et le sens de la sémantique ». Orléans: Centre Charles Péguy. Décimo, Marc (1998). La celtomanie au XIXe siècle. In: Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 93, 1-40. Décimo, Marc (1999). Une petite famille de travailleurs autour de Georges Guieysse: le monde de la linguistique parisienne. In: Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure 52, 99-121.

6 Zuvor veröffentlicht in: Décimo (1997: 32-37); auszugsweise in: Lüger, Giessen & Weigel (2012: 21-26).

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Décimo, Marc (2011). De Michel Bréal, lecteur de Goethe, aux relations franco-allemandes du point de vue philologique des années 1850 à 1932. In: Alexandre, Didier & Asholt, Wolfgang (Hrsg.): France – Allemagne, regard et objets croisés. Tübingen: Narr, 15-29. Décimo, Marc / Fiala, Pierre (2004). Michel Bréal, le marathon, l’olympisme et la paix. In: Mots. Les langages du politique 76, 127-135. Joseph, John E. (2012). Saussure. Oxford: University Press. Lüger, Heinz-Helmut, Hans W. Giessen & Bernard Weigel (Hrsg.) (2012). Entre la France et l’Allemagne: Michel Bréal, un intellectuel engagé. Limoges: Lambert-Lucas.

Rezensent: Prof. Dr. Heinz-Helmut Lüger Zeppelinstraße 45 D-76887 Bad Bergzabern E-Mail: [email protected]

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Maxi Krause & Per Baerentzen: Spatiale Relationen kontrastiv. Deutsch Dänisch. Tübingen: Julius Groos 2010, 266 Seiten (Spatiale Relationen kontrastiv; Bd. 1; hrsg. von Maxi Krause) (ISBN 978-3-87276-900-8) und Maxi Krause & Irene Doval: Spatiale Relationen kontrastiv. Deutsch Spanisch. (Spatiale Relationen - kontrastiv; Bd. 1; hrsg. von Maxi Krause) Tübingen: Julius Groos 2011. 312 Seiten (ISBN 978-3-87276-901-5) Die beiden vorliegenden Bände, die hier gemeinsam behandelt werden, da sie den Bereich spatiale Relationen in analoger Weise behandeln, beziehen sich auf das Sprachenpaar Deutsch-Dänisch zum Einen und das Sprachenpaar Deutsch-Spanisch zum Anderen. Der beiden Werken inhärente Grundgedanke ist derjenige, dass spatiale Relationen - also räumliche Beziehungen im weitesten Sinne des Begriffs - im Deutschen anders ausgedrückt werden als im Dänischen einerseits und im Spanischen andererseits. Die spatialen Relationen werden in beiden Bänden separat für das Deutsche einerseits und das Dänische bzw. Spanische andererseits herausgearbeitet und zudem innerhalb der beiden Sprachenpaare miteinander kontrastiert. Beide Werke sind parallel aufgebaut; die Systematik ist einheitlich. Der jeweils erste Teil enthält die Darstellung der spatialen Relationen des Deutschen (I: 15-137 und II: 138)1. Da dieser Teil unabhängig von der jeweils anderen untersuchten Sprache auf das Deutsche beschränkt ist, ist er - ganz folgerichtig - in beiden Bänden weitgehend identisch. Der jeweils zweite Teil beider Werke umfasst kontrastiv gestaltete Übersichtstabellen zum Deutschen und Dänischen (I: 137-152 und II: 139-161). Teil III beider Bände stellt die Darstellung der spatialen Relation der jeweils kontrastierten Sprache dar, also des Dänischen (I: 153-252) einerseits und des Spanischen (II, 163291) andererseits. Es folgt jeweils ein Verzeichnis der Tabellen (I: 251-252 und II: 293294), ein Verzeichnis der Quellen und der Siglen (I: 253-255 und II: 295-300), die Bibliographie (I: 257-258 und II: 301-302) sowie ein Wörterverzeichnis Deutsch (I: 259264), ein Wörterverzeichnis Dänisch (I, 265-266) und ein Wörterverzeichnis Spanisch (II: 309-312). Der für beide Bänder gewählte Ansatz ist ein jeweils einheitlicher, was den Vorteil hat, dass dadurch die Möglichkeit besteht, ihn auf die unterschiedlichsten Sprachenpaare anzuwenden. Hierin liegt - dies sei bereits an dieser Stelle erwähnt - ein grundlegender Wert dieser Reihe. Ein weiterer grundlegender Wert besteht darin, dass die hier vorliegenden Beschreibungen der spatialen Relationen für das Dänische und das Spanische nach Aussage der jeweiligen Autoren wohl die ersten ihrer Art sind (I: hinterer Buchdeckel; II. hinterer Buchdeckel). Die Notion Spatiale Relation wird im vorliegenden Kontext im konkreten Sinne wie auch - dies ebenso folgerichtig und erwartbar - im abstrakten Sinne verstanden. Somit werden auch Ausdrücke wie an etwas hängen und sich über etwas hinwegsetzen als spatiale Relationen klassifiziert (I / II,15f). Macht der Leser2 sich diese Verhältnisse klar, 1 Zur Erleichterung der Lesbarkeit wird auf die beiden Bände hier nicht durch die Nennung der jeweiligen Autoren verwiesen, sondern auf Band 1 der Reihe - den Vergleich Deutsch-Dänisch - durch die römische Ziffer I und auf Band 2 der Reihe - den Vergleich Deutsch-Spanisch - durch die römische Ziffer II. 2 In der vorliegenden Rezension wird aus Gründen des besseren Textverständnisses jeweils die maskuline Form der erwähnten Adressatengruppen verwendet.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 erkennt er rasch, welch enorme Bedeutung spatiale Relationen für die Sprache haben. Für den schulgrammatisch gebildeten Leser - nicht natürlich den Linguisten - ist die gewählte Terminologie bisweilen gewöhnungsbedürftig. So wird hier nicht der erwartbare Begriff Präposition verwendet, sondern der fachlich zutreffendere Begriff Adposition (I / II: 16), der auch solche Wortgruppen einschließt, in denen das einem gegebenen Nomen hinzugesetzte Element eine Postposition darstellt. Präpositionen und Postpositionen werden hier somit in dem Oberbegriff Adposition zusammengefasst, was wissenschaftlich korrekt und zugleich sprachlich ökonomisch ist. Die zusätzlich zu den Adpositionen untersuchte grammatische Kategorie sind die Adverbien (I / II: 16). Somit liegt eine Beschränkung auf nicht-flektierende Ausdrucksmittel unter NichtBerücksichtigung von Verbalpartikeln sowie substantivischen und adjektivischen Präfixen vor (I / II: 16). Das Kapitel zum Ausdruck der spatialen Relationen im Deutschen beginnt mit der Festlegung der zentralen Begriffe, die jeweils mit einer Vielzahl von Beispielen unterfüttert werden (I / II: 15ff). Berücksichtigt werden:



Adpositionen (über die Brücke, dem Freund entgegen, wegen der Kinder / der Kinder wegen (I / II: 17ff), hin und her) mit ihren Verbindungen (Er geht hinauf; Er ging in das Haus hinein; Los, rein ins Haus)3 (I / II, 19ff),

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die Determination von Raumteilen (vor / hinter / neben dem Haus) (I / II: 21f),

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der Ausdruck von Prozessen (Er stellt das Fahrrad vor das Haus) (I / II: 22) und syntaktische und semantische Relationen zwischen Bezugsgegenstand und Teilnehmer (Er sprang von der Straßenbahn ab; Sie kuschelt sich an ihn) (I / II: 23f).

Zudem werden berücksichtigt:



die Kasuswahl in Relation und Prozess bzw. bei Statik und Dynamik (Sie tanzten auf die Bühne; Sie kamen von links, tanzten über die Bühne und verschwanden rechts) (I / II: 25ff),

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pragmatische Gesichtspunkte unter der Fragestellung, ob spatiale Relationen grundsätzlich eine wo-Frage beantworten, was verneint wird (vgl. Wie komme hier zum Bäcker? - Über die Brücke dann nach links) (I / II: 29), sowie

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die Frage nach möglichen Substituten für Präpositionalgruppen (Endlich hatte er das richtige Haus gefunden. Er ging hinein. Drinnen war es angenehm kühl) (I / II: 29ff).

Diese Einführung in die Thematik grenzt den Untersuchungsgegenstand funktional ein; der Leser erfährt unmittelbar, welche Art von Informationen er von den beiden Werken erwarten darf. Interessant ist die in Kapitel 2 folgende Systematisierung spatialer Relationen (I / II: 37ff), die hier wie folgt vorgenommen wird: 3 Bei den hier zitierten Beispielen werden die in den Originalen vorgenommenen Kursivierungen nicht übernommen. Die hier vorgenommenen Kursivierungen sind vielmehr funktional für die vorliegende Rezension.

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System A (ohne Bezug auf die drei Achsen oben-unten, vorne-hinten, rechtslinks) mit den Subsystemen INTER, Verfolgen, Annäherung und Ausweichen

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System B, als Sonderfall der Determinationen und Relationen des Systems A, also mit Bezug auf diese drei Achsen

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System C als Lokalisierung hinsichtlich eine gegebenen Grenze, bezogen auf die soeben erwähnten drei Achsen, und

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System D: Ko-Okkurrenz.

Die Systeme sind im Einzelnen wie folgt untergliedert: Das Substystem INTER in System A bezieht sich auf lokalokative (statische), direktive, perlative, ablative Relationen wie auch auf diejenige der Fortbewegung in gleicher Richtung und gleicher Geschwindigkeit (I / II: 41ff sowie I: 161 und II: 175). Das Subsystem des Verfolgens definiert die Art und Weise der Dislokation der beiden involvierten Teilnehmer, die sich gleich oder ungleich schnell oder gemeinsam in gleicher Richtung und mit gleicher Geschwindigkeit bewegen können (I / II: 43ff sowie I: 164ff und II: 178ff). Das Subsystem der Annäherung betrachtet diese statisch oder dynamisch (I / II: 46ff sowie I: 168ff und II: 185ff). Das Subsystem des Ausweichens bezieht sich auf Kollisionen, die möglich oder ausgeschlossen sind (I / II: 75ff sowie I: 193ff und II: 216ff). System B berücksichtigt jeweils die drei erwähnten Achsen in direktiver (Wohin?), perlativer (über + W- ? / Wo...durch?) und ablativer (Woher?) Relation (I / II, 39f und 87ff sowie I: 201ff und II. 225ff). System C bezieht sich auf die Lokalisierung mit Bezug auf eine Grenze, die zwischen außen und innen, oben und unten oder auch in Bezug auf einen Beobachter liegen kann. Es erfasst zudem komplexe Relationen die einen Achsenbezug aufweisen (z.B. Auf- oder Abwärtsbewegungen an einer Sache entlang, Fortbewegungen in der Horizontalen, jeweils mit oder ohne Kontakt zu einer anderen Achse (oben bzw. unten) (I / II: 40 und 105ff sowie I: 221ff und II: 255ff). Das System der Ko-Okkurrenz schließlich umfasst die statische, direktive und die ablative Relation (I / II: 40 und 117 sowie I: 233ff und 269ff). Diese Systeme werden in Teil I der beiden Bände (I / II: 41-137) in akribischer Manier für die untersuchten Sprachen beschrieben, was anhand einer Vielzahl von Beispielen geschieht und dort, wo dies hilfreich erscheint, mit Hilfe in den Text integrierter Graphiken zur Verdeutlichung der jeweils behandelten spatialen Relation erfolgt. Zur Erhöhung der Übersichtlichkeit wird dieser erste Teil - also die Analyse zum Deutschen durch die Präsentation einiger funktionaler Tabellen - beispielsweise zu den statischen Relationen der Systeme A und B (I / II: 130) oder die perlativen Relationen aller Systeme (I / II: 133) - abgeschlossen. In Teil II folgen kontrastiv angelegte Tabellen der Adpositionen und Substitute (I: 137ff, II: 139ff). Diese Tabellen beziehen sich auf die jeweiligen Teile I und II der beiden Bände und haben lediglich Übersichtscharakter, können also nach Aussage der Autoren die in diesen beiden Teilen vorgenommenen Kommentare und Analysen nicht ersetzen (I: 137, II: 139). Diese Tabellen, die aus der Sicht des Rezensenten den eigentlichen Kern des jeweiligen Bandes ausmachen, da nur sie kontrastiv angelegt sind, stellen gleichsam das Bindeglied der Analyse der Ausgangssprache (Teil I) und der jeweiligen Zielsprache (Teil III) dar. Sie sind in struktureller Sicht und aus dem Grunde, dass sie dem Leser die Orientierung erleichtern, wertvoll. Dadurch, dass hier jedoch keinerlei Satzbeispiele gegeben werden - was auch nicht intendiert ist, da diese ja in den beiden anderen genannten Teilen figurieren -, sind diese Tabellen in erster Linie für 165

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 den informierten Leser - und hier im engeren Sinne den Linguisten - von Nutzen. Da sie zudem die Quintessenz der jeweiligen einzelsprachlichen Analysen darstellen, wäre es gegebenenfalls vorteilhafter gewesen, sie - wenn vielleicht auch in reduzierter Form, um allzu viele Wiederholungen und Doppeldarstellungen zu vermeiden - sowohl mit den allerwichtigsten Beispielen als auch mit einigen wenigen Analysen und Kommentaren zu versehen. Auf diese Weise könnten die Tabellen unabhängig von den übrigen beiden Teilen gelesen werden, wodurch dem Leser umständliche Vergleiche in den Teilen I und III der Bände erspart würden. Alternativ wären Querverweise zu den Teilen I und III für eine Erhöhung der Zugänglichkeit der Darstellung hilfreich gewesen. In Teil III beider Bände steht die jeweilige Zielsprache - Dänisch (I: 153ff) und Spanisch (II: 163) - im Mittelpunkt. Die beiden Zielsprachen werden - logisch und konsequent nach den gleichen Kategorien analysiert wie zuvor die Zielsprache Deutsch, also nach den Systemen A (I: 161ff, II: 175ff), B (I: 201ff, II: 225ff), C (I: 221ff, II: 255ff), Komplexe Relationen (I: 227ff; II: 263ff) und D (I: 233ff; II: 269ff) sowie der Kategorie Zwischen Raum und Abstraktion (I: 243ff; II: 281ff). Auch in diesem Teil folgen wieder Tabellen der Substitute aller Systeme (I: 245ff, II: 283ff). Wie dies auch für den jeweiligen Teil I der beiden Bände gilt, werden auch in Teil III die sprachlichen Gegebenheiten linguistisch exakt – und dabei gut verständlich - anhand zahlreicher Beispiele analysiert. Dabei kann festgestellt werden, dass sich dem aufmerksamen Leser durch die Lektüre der „Geist“ der jeweiligen Sprachen immer deutlicher erschließt. Die Analyse der Zielsprachen Dänisch und Spanisch anhand identischer Kategorien ermöglicht dabei eine wenn auch vielfach implizite - Kontrastierung mit der Ausgangssprache Deutsch, die es ermöglicht, die beiden Sprachen zueinander in Beziehung zu setzen. Das Verdienst der Beschreibungen liegt in ihrer linguistischen Qualität und der hohen Verständlichkeit der Beschreibungen und Analysen, was hier ausdrücklich positiv hervorgehoben sei. Die Darstellung ist äußerst reich an sprachlichen Details und erhebt einen geradezu exhaustiven Anspruch. Diese Detailfülle ermöglicht einerseits einen bemerkenswerten Facettenreichtum. Sie erfordert andererseits jedoch einen Leser, der dazu bereit ist, sich in den Gegenstandbereich Spatiale Relationen uneingeschränkt zu vertiefen: Für eine Lektüre gleichsam en passant sind beide Bände nicht geeignet. Vertieft der Leser sich jedoch in die Darstellung, dann erhält er einen erheblichen Erkenntnisgewinn. Dieser besteht nicht nur darin, gegebenenfalls für sich (neu) zu definieren, um was es sich bei den 'Spatialen Relationen' überhaupt handelt, sondern ungleich wichtiger - auch darin, dass ihm die erhebliche Bedeutung dieser in der Sprache und für die Sprache vermittelt wird - und dies insbesondere in figurativer Hinsicht. Dieser nicht zu unterschätzende Erkenntnisgewinn wird noch dadurch erhöht, dass er auf nicht lediglich eine Sprache, sondern gleich auf ein Sprachenpaar pro Band bezogen und somit transferierbar wird. Dabei ist das in den beiden Bänden verwendete Layout hilfreich. Dieses ermöglicht eine unmittelbare Identifizierung der Beispiele und somit eine assoziative Anbindung der theoretischen Ausführungen an die sprachliche Praxis. Innerhalb der Beispiel werden die relevanten Passagen durch Kursivdruck gekennzeichnet, was eine unmittelbare Orientierung ermöglicht. Gleichzeitig ist das Layout jedoch sehr dicht, was dem Leser eine recht hohe Rezeptionsdisziplin abfordert. Mit den beiden von den Autoren - und in beiden Fällen federführend von Maxi Krause – vorgelegten, vollkommen parallel aufgebauten Bänden ist eine Grundlage geschaffen für die Untersuchung weiterer Sprachenpaare und somit für eine graduelle Erweiterung der kontrastiven Datenbasis. Zudem stellen die beiden Publikationen einen wichtigen 166

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Impuls für die Kontrastiven Linguistik dar, die in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten zu Unrecht erheblich vernachlässigt worden ist. Allein dieser Impuls kann als ein beträchtliches Verdienst der hier besprochenen Werke gewertet werden. Wie bereits oben angedeutet, wäre es dabei jedoch zu begrüßen gewesen, wenn die Kontrastivität hier explizit - anhand einer durchgehenden, direkten Gegenüberstellung der beiden jeweiligen Sprachen - realisiert worden wäre und somit nicht mehr oder minder indirekt bliebe, indem - wie es hier der Fall ist - zwei unabhängige kontrastive Analysen für das Deutsche einerseits und die jeweilige Zielsprache andererseits durchgeführt wurden. Zwar wird im jeweiligen Teil II eine Synthese vorgenommen, diese verbleibt jedoch auf theoretischem Niveau und entbehrt jeden sprachlichen Praxisbezugs: Diese Synthese kann eine durchgehende kontrastive Darstellung nicht ersetzen. Hingegen können die beiden Bände in fruchtbarer Art und Weise gleichsam als Steinbruch für die Erstellung jeweils einer Kontrastiven Grammatik der spatialen Relationen Deutsch - Dänisch bzw. Deutsch - Spanisch verwendet werden oder auch eingehen in eine allumfassende - also nicht auf die spatialen Relationen beschränkte Kontrastive Grammatik Deutsch-Dänisch bzw. eine Kontrastive Grammatik DeutschSpanisch. Wenn die Bereitstellung einer Basis für solche kontrastive Grammatiken eines der Ziele der beiden vorliegenden Publikationen war, dann - dies darf hier betont werden - ist dieses uneingeschränkt erreicht worden. Eine Einschränkung muss hinsichtlich der auf den jeweiligen hinteren Buchdeckeln angeführten Adressatengruppen („Lernende und Lehrende an Schulen und Hochschulen“) vorgenommen werden. Es ist aus der Sicht des Rezensenten eher nicht davon auszugehen, dass Schüler an weiterführenden Schulen die beiden Bänder zur Hand nehmen - und ob Lehrer an diesen Bildungsinstitutionen dies tun, sei dahingestellt, wenn es auch zu hoffen wäre. Auf Hochschulebene ist dies jedoch anders: Hier stellen beide Bände eine gewinnbringende Grundlage für linguistische Seminare dar. Insgesamt liegen mit den beiden hier rezensierten Bänden wertvolle Publikationen vor, die es verdienen, in den verschiedenen Kontexten der (Kontrastiven) Linguistik und in solchen der Ausbildung von Fremdsprachenlehrern konsultiert zu werden.

Rezensent: Prof. Dr. Thomas Tinnefeld W3-Professur für Angewandte Sprachen Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes Waldhausweg 14 66123 Saarbrücken Deutschland E-Mail: [email protected]

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

Christine Konecny / Erla Hallsteinsdóttir & Brigita Kacjan (Hrsg.): Phraseologie im Sprachunterricht und in der Sprachendidaktik / Phraseology in language teaching and in language didactics (= ZORA 94). Maribor: Mednarodna založba Oddelka za slovanske jezike in književnosti, Filozofska fakulteta 2013. 173 Seiten (ISBN 978-961-6930-02-4). Auch wenn in den meisten Handbüchern und Einführungen zur Phraseologie Phraseodidaktisches allenfalls am Rande vorkommt, hat in den letzten Jahren die Zahl einschlägiger Publikationen deutlich zugenommen. Stellvertretend sei hier nur verwiesen auf die ausführliche Überblicksdarstellung von Matthias Grünewald (2012 / 2013), auf das von Erla Hallsteinsdóttir et al. (2011) herausgegebene Themenheft Phraseodidaktik / Phraseodidactics, die Sammelbände Phraseodidactic Studies on German as a Foreign Language (2013) und Outils et méthodes d'apprentissage en phraséodidactique (2014) von Isabel González Rey oder die Monographie De la phraséologie à la phraséodidactique von Monika Sułkowska (2013). Nicht zu vergessen die zahlreichen Beiträge von Stefan Ettinger (z.B. 2012, 2014), wie sie auch über die Internetseite www.ettinger-phraseologie.de zugänglich sind.1 In diese Reihe ordnet sich ebenfalls der hier zu besprechende Sammelband von Christine Konecny (Innsbruck), Erla Hallsteinsdóttir (Odense) und Brigita Kacjan (Maribor) ein. Der Band, der auf einen phraseodidaktischen Workshop anläßlich der Europhras-Tagung 2012 zurückgeht, enthält - außer einer kurzen Einleitung in deutscher und in englischer Sprache - acht Beiträge. Diese decken ein relativ breites inhaltliches Spektrum ab: Behandelt werden nicht nur Vorschläge zur konkreten unterrichtlichen Umsetzung, sondern ebenso allgemeine didaktische Reflexionen, Fragen, die die Auswahlkriterien phraseologischer Einheiten, die Funktion und Ausrichtung von Wörterbüchern und Lehrwerken oder die Rolle von Phrasemen in Fachtexten betreffen. Die einzelnen Beiträge nehmen verschiedene Sprachen in den Blick (das Deutsche, das Luxemburgische, das Italienische, das Russische) und beziehen sich, je nach Schwerpunkt, auf Vermittlungsfragen in Schule und Hochschule sowie in der Erwachsenenbildung. Der erste Beitrag - „Phraseme im muttersprachlichen Deutschunterricht: eine exemplarische Untersuchung von Sprachbüchern der Sekundarstufe I“ (19ff) von Wenke Mückel – basiert auf der allgemeinen Annahme, phraseologische Ausdrücke könnten „zentrale Bausteine eines auf die Entwicklung von Sprachhandlungskompetenz ausgerichteten Deutschunterrichts“ werden (41). In ihrer Erhebung kommt die Autorin zu dem Ergebnis, daß Phraseme in den herangezogenen Sprachbüchern durchaus verwendet werden, und zwar nach drei Grundmustern (23):

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Spiel mit Polysemie (Aktualisierung wörtlicher und phraseologischer Bedeutung),

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elliptischer Gebrauch (Weglassung einer oder mehrerer Ausdruckskomponenten),

1 Unter der genannten Adresse finden sich weitere bibliographische Hinweise - neben

einer umfangreichen Phrasem-Datenbank und einem didaktischen Apparat, der viele Vorschläge des vergriffenen Lehrbuchs Deutsche Redewendungen (Hessky / Ettinger 1997) in modifizierter Form wieder zugänglich macht.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

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modifizierter Gebrauch (Hinzufügung oder Austausch von Ausdruckskomponenten).

Dennoch werde ein solcher Einsatz der großen Bedeutung von Phrasemen im Sprachgebrauch nicht gerecht (37); das Angebot beschränke sich meist nur auf Redewendungen und Sprichwörter, außerdem fehle es an expliziter Thematisierung als Unterrichtsgegenstand. Insbesondere komme es nicht zu einer „umfassenderen sprachsystematischen Einbettung“ phraseologischer Einheiten. Ein so allgemeines Fazit erscheint auf den ersten Blick sehr plausibel; allerdings wären eine Präzisierung der bemängelten Defizite und eine weitere Konkretisierung des möglichen phraseodidaktischen Beitrags zur Sprachkompetenz-Förderung wünschenswert gewesen. Die ausführlich zitierten Lehrwerk-Beispiele hätten mit ihrem Phrasem-Gebrauch hierzu zahlreiche Ausgangspunkte geboten.2 Als weniger unterrichtsbezogen ist der anschließende Beitrag von Teodor Petrič – „Da liegt der Hase im Pfeffer - Über das Verstehen idiomatischer Phraseme im Deutschen als Fremdsprache“ (45ff) - einzustufen. Berichtet wird über die Ergebnisse eines psycholinguistischen Projekts, das sich u.a. mit der Bedeutungserschließung mehr oder weniger lexikalisierter Wortverbindungen beschäftigt; insbesondere geht es auch darum zu klären, wie die Vorhersagbarkeit, der Bekanntheitsgrad, die Bedeutungshaltigkeit und die wörtliche Plausibilität phraseologischer Einheiten zusammenhängen (56). Ausgehend von verschiedenen Hypothesen zur Rezeption phrasemhaltiger Testsätze gelangt der Autor zu einer differenzierten Bewertung bezüglich der Abrufbarkeit komplexer Wortverbindungen. Dabei ist generell von zwei miteinander konkurrierenden Erschließungsprozessen auszugehen: einem kompositionell orientierten Bottom-upProzeß und einem eher ganzheitlichen Top-down-Prozeß: Die Verarbeitung von Phrasemen mit geringerem Lexikalisierungsgrad stützt sich stärker auf das Kompositionalitätsprinzip, die Verarbeitung von Phrasemen mit hohem Lexikalisierungsgrad ist dagegen stärker ganzheitlich orientiert, d.h. am Abruf von komplexen Einheiten aus dem mentalen Lexikon. (67)

Aus phraseodidaktischer Perspektive mag man fragen, worin letztlich der Ertrag des großen empirisch-statistischen Aufwands besteht. Doch dürften gesicherte Aussagen über die Verarbeitung von Phrasemen zweifellos die Einschätzung von Lernschwierigkeiten verbessern und auch zur Begründung der daraus abzuleitenden methodischen Schritte beitragen. Brigita Kacjan („Sprichwörter zwischen korpusbasierter Frequenzanalyse und DaFWörterbüchern“ (71ff) bemängelt die große Diskrepanz zwischen der Bedeutung von Sprichwörtern im Sprachgebrauch und der starken Vernachlässigung dieses Bereichs im DaF-Unterricht: Obwohl Sprichwörter in der aktuellen Alltags- und Mediensprache allgegenwärtig sind, wird ihnen im Rahmen des Deutschen als Fremdsprache und ihrer institutionellen Vermittlung kaum Beachtung geschenkt. (82)

Vor diesem Hintergrund geht der Beitrag zunächst der Frage nach, inwieweit Sprichwörter überhaupt in DaF-Wörterbüchern verzeichnet sind, wobei das eGroßwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache 4.0 als Analysebeispiel dient. Um die Relevanz von Sprichwörtern einschätzen zu können, greift die Verfasserin auf zwei 2 Auch die im Beitrag zitierte Literatur - z.B. Kühn (2007) - enthält bereits entsprechende Vorschläge.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Quellen zurück: a) das SprichWort-Korpus, das im Laufe eines multilingualen Projekts am Mannheimer IdS auf der Basis publizistischer und literarischer Texte erarbeitet wurde und das im wesentlichen eine Liste der 300 häufigsten, in fünf Frequenzgruppen eingeteilten Sprichwörter umfaßt, und b) ein zweites Korpus, das aus den Ergebnissen der Internetsuchmaschine Google besteht und das zur Überprüfung der Aktualität der Daten mit herangezogen wird. Über mehrere minutiös durchgeführte Vergleiche der beiden Korpora mit den Einträgen des genannten DaF-Wörterbuchs gelingt der Nachweis, daß zum Teil erhebliche Differenzen bestehen; vor allem die weniger frequenten Sprichwörter sind des öfteren nicht im Wörterbuch verzeichnet (vgl. die detailierte Liste am Schluß des Artikels). Ein weiteres Problem sieht die Autorin in der Zuordnung der Sprichwörter zu den einzelnen Sprachniveaustufen, wie sie im Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmen (GeR) festgelegt sind. Mit Recht wird jedoch das Ziel einer solchen Sprachniveau-Zuordnung aufgegeben – dies nicht zuletzt wegen der pragmatischen Komplexität des Sprichwortgebrauchs (82). Und in der Tat wäre auf einer allgemeineren Ebene noch zu überlegen, welche Rolle speziell Sprichwörter in der Fremdsprachenvermittlung spielen sollten, welche Lernziele sich mit ihnen verbinden ließen und welche Relevanz sie im Vergleich zu anderen phraseologischen Einheiten für den Lerner haben. Der Beitrag „Phraseologie in Lehrwerken für Luxemburgisch als Fremdsprache“ (89ff) von Jutta Schumacher wäre vermutlich ohne eine spezielle Gesetzesänderung nicht denkbar gewesen: Seit 2008 fordert ein neues luxemburgisches Einwanderungsgesetz auch den Nachweis von Kompetenzen in der Nationalsprache Luxemburgisch, was den Bedarf an Kursen und Materialien zum Lëtzebuergesch als Friemsprooch stark ansteigen ließ. Die Autorin nimmt nun drei ausgewählte Lehrwerke aufs Korn und kommt zu folgenden Ergebnissen:

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Mit Ausnahme von Routineformeln und sog. festen Phrasen werden Phraseologismen eher stiefmütterlich behandelt und ohne weitere didaktische Aufbereitung eingeführt.

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Darüber hinaus beschränke sich das phraseologische Angebot oft auf idiomatische Wendungen und Sprichwörter, deren Präsentation „kontext- und kommentarlos“ erfolge (94).

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Phraseologischen Besonderheiten der gesprochenen Alltagssprache werde kaum Beachtung geschenkt, was gerade im Falle des Luxemburgischen ein großes Manko darstelle (102).

Insgesamt sei den Lehrwerken zwar ihre kommunikativ-pragmatische Ausrichtung zugute zu halten, es fehle jedoch durchweg eine systematische Behandlung von Phraseologismen - neuere phraseodidaktische Anregungen würden zu wenig zur Kenntnis genommen. Die vorgetragene Argumentation erscheint aus Lesersicht konsequent und überzeugend, zumal sie mit vielen Beispielen und Auszügen der besprochenen Lehrwerke belegt wird. Allein die gelegentlich geäußerte pauschale Kritik, daß „für die meisten Sprachen phraseodidaktisch aufbereitetes Lehr- und Lernmaterial nur wenig vorhanden“ sei und „überhaupt erst entwickelt werden“ müsse (90), reizt zum Widerspruch. Erinnert sei nicht nur an die eingangs erwähnten aktuellen Arbeiten, lohnend wäre hin und wieder auch ein Blick zurück. Für den Englischunterricht hat z.B. 171

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Dieter Götz bereits im Jahre 1976 weiterführende phraseodidaktische Vorschläge formuliert; zu französischen Redewendungen gibt es seit 1992 das umfangreiche, inzwischen in dritter Auflage erschienene Übungsbuch von Vilmos Bárdosi et al., zu portugiesischen Phrasemen vgl. Ettinger / Nunes (1994), und für Deutsch als Fremdsprache sei nochmals auf Hessky / Ettinger (1997) verwiesen.3 Viele phraseodidaktische Arbeiten haben immer wieder die kulturspezifische Relevanz von Phrasemen betont. Grundlegend ist dabei die Auffassung, ein angemessenes Verständnis entsprechender Wortverbindungen sei nur dann möglich, wenn bestimmte landeskundliche Kenntnisse vorhanden sind. Eine vergleichbare Position liegt auch den Ausführungen von Astrid Scharipowa und Veronika Vasileva („Linguolandeskunde und phraseologische Einheiten mit Komponenten nichtmetrischer Längenmaße“; 105ff) zugrunde. Die Autorinnen gehen aus von einer engen, gerade auch für das Erlernen einer Fremdsprache wichtigen Verbindung zwischen Sprache und Kultur und greifen so eine These wieder auf, wie sie bereits in der Linguolandeskunde der 1970er Jahre angelegt war: Sowohl die Lexik im Allgemeinen als auch die Phraseologie im Speziellen bilden ein Reservoir der nationalen Kultur, das die Vielfalt des menschlichen Seins widerspiegelt. (106)

Übertragen auf die Phraseologie bedeutet dies: Beim Erlernen von Phraseologismen werden gleichzeitig auch spezielle historische und kulturelle Informationen vermittelt, und umgekehrt erfordert die Dekodierung solcher Ausdruckseinheiten das Verfügenkönnen über konkrete landeskundliche Wissensbestände: Ein großer linguolandeskundlicher Wert kommt phraseologischen Einheiten mit Komponenten wie Toponymen, Ethnonymen und Anthroponymen zu, aber auch phraseologischen Einheiten, die auf bestimmte historische Ereignisse, alte Bräuche, Überzeugungen, Aberglaube und Gesten verweisen, sowie auch Einheiten literarischen Ursprungs sind diesbezüglich informativ. (106f.)

Zur Illustration der Funktion außersprachlichen Wissens greifen die Autorinnen nun eine recht spezielle Gruppe von Ausdrücken auf: deutsche und russische Phraseme, die Komponenten nichtmetrischer Längenmaße aufweisen. Anhand von Beispielen wie alles mit der gleichen Elle messen, jeder Zoll ein Gentleman oder (aus dem Russischen) groß wie ein Klafter, wie ein Meilenstein von Kolomna wird demonstriert, mit Hilfe welcher Informationen die betreffenden Wortverbindungen „transparent“ bzw. nachvollziehbar erscheinen und worauf interlinguale Kontraste beruhen können. So einleuchtend die Beispiele auch sein mögen, sollten sie eines nicht vergessen lassen: Die phraseologische Bedeutungszuschreibung komplexer Wortverbindungen setzt gerade nicht das wörtliche Verständnis aller Einzelkomponenten voraus; man kann z.B. die Wendung jmdn ins Bockshorn jagen korrekt verwenden und verstehen, ohne die nähere Bedeutung der Komponente Bockshorn zu kennen. Aus Motivationsgründen mag es naheliegen, Fremdsprachenlerner über die Herkunft eines Ausdrucks aufzuklären, und die Vermittlung landeskundlicher Kenntnisse mag auch in diesem Zusammenhang umso dringlicher erscheinen, als insbesondere der allenthalben präsente Gemeinsame Europäische Referenzrahmen (GeR) diesbezüglich große Defizite aufweist. Dennoch bleibt festzuhalten: Die phraseologische Bedeutungskonstitution verläuft nicht kompositionell, sie ist - zumindest tendenziell - global, undurchsichtig und nicht motiviert. Das muß graduelle Ausprägungen, gelegentliche Remotivierungen oder 3 Zu weiteren Literaturangaben vgl. Ettinger (2007), Kühn (2007) oder ZenderowskaKorpus (2004).

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Rückgriffe auf die wörtliche Bedeutung keineswegs ausschließen. Auch hinsichtlich der Übersetzung von literarischen Texten, in denen das Spiel mit unterschiedlichen Lesarten gerade den zentralen Reiz ausmachen kann, liegen die Verhältnisse natürlich anders. Unter der Überschrift „Learning Italian phrasemes through their conceptualizations“ (117ff) beschäftigen sich Christine Konecny und Erica Autelli stärker mit Fragen der phraseodidaktischen Umsetzung. Im Vordergrund steht der Umstand, daß jede Sprache sich in einer mehr oder weniger spezifischen Weise auf Wirklichkeit bezieht, so bestimmte Aspekte hervorhebt und andere vernachlässigt oder mit unterschiedlichen Bildern zum Ausdruck bringt. Als Bindeglied zur Ebene der Versprachlichung bemühen die Autorinnen den Begriff der ,Konzeptualisierung‘: Thus, we can say that the term “conzeptualization” denotes the particular “angle” or “perspective” a language takes when referring to a specific object with linguistic means. In this sense, word combinations can be regarded also as a sort of “mirror” of a certain way of thinking and looking at the world, which is always strongly connected to and cannot be separated from cultural aspects. (122)

Ein solcher Konzeptualisierungsunterschied liegt z.B. vor, wenn die idiomatische Wendung jmdm die Suppe versalzen wiedergegeben werden kann durch engl. to cook somebody’s goose, frz. mettre des bâtons dans les roues, sp. aguar la fiesta a alguien oder it. rompere le uova nel paniere. Für die Vermittlung im Fremdsprachenunterricht werden speziell bei bildhaften Ausdrücken häufig Visualisierungen herangezogen; trotz gewisser Bedenken - schließlich läßt sich in dieser Form die phraseologische Bedeutung meist nur schwer darstellen - kann mit diesem Mittel die Memorisierung von Phrasemen, einschließlich der abweichenden Konzeptualisierung, unterstützt werden. Konecny / Autelli beschränken sich nun auf das Sprachenpaar Italienisch-Deutsch; sie gehen von einem weiten Phrasem-Begriff aus und konzentrieren ihren Blick auf zwei Gruppen vorgeprägter Ausdrücke: auf Routineformeln und Kollokationen. Diese Wahl kann man nur begrüßen, da gerade solche Wortverbindungen für den Fremdsprachenlerner von großem Nutzen sind, und zwar für den aktiven und passiven Gebrauch. Die gegebenen methodischen Hinweise zeichnen sich aus durch eine große Vielfalt und durch ein ständiges Bemühen um Konkretheit; dies gilt ebenso für die Visualisierungsversuche - bei Routineformeln und Kollokationen - kein leichtes Unterfangen, und die Sensibilisierung für sprachkontrastive Divergenzen. Überhaupt gelingt den Autorinnen eine sehr köhärente Darstellung, in der sowohl die wissenschaftliche Fundierung als auch der didaktische Bezug nicht zu kurz kommen.4 Eine eindeutig fachsprachliche Ausrichtung hat der Beitrag von Danijela Đorović: „(Mis)understanding Italian phrasemes in Italian history texts” (137ff). Die (ebenfalls auf Englisch formulierten) Ausführungen gehen zurück auf Kurserfahrungen der Autorin mit serbischen Studenten des Fachs Geschichte, genauer: auf Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit fachsprachlichen Phrasemen des Italienischen. Den Überlegungen wird eine dreiteilige Klassifikation zugrundegelegt (143f.): a) referential phrasemes – lexical collocations, grammatical collocations, idioms, irreversible binomials and trinomials, compounds, b) textual phrasemes – complex prepositions, complex conjunctions, textual 4 Zur Vertiefung sei ausdrücklich ein Blick in die Internetseiten unter www.kollokation.at empfohlen, wo Konecny / Autelli detailliert über ein Kollokations-Projekt informieren; hier finden sich auch umfangreiche Bibliographien zur Phraseodidaktik und zur Phraseologie allgemein.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 sentence stems and linking adverbials and c) communicative phrasemes – attitudinal formulae and commonplaces. Ob diese Unterteilung bereits eine angemessene Basis darstellt, sei dahingestellt5. Die Hauptprobleme der Lerner betreffen vor allem zwei Kategorien lexikalische Kollokationen (z.B. rompere l’equilibrio statt *disturbare l’equilibrio) und textual phrasemes, die man wohl auch als strukturelle oder textorganisierende Phraseme bzw. Formeln bezeichnen könnte (z.B. in seguito a, in quanto, dal momento que oder a causa di) (145). Mit Schwierigkeiten sei hier nicht zuletzt auch deshalb zu rechnen, weil die Vorgeprägtheit und die Polylexikalität vielfach nicht erkannt würden und Wörterbücher häufig keine zufriedenstellende Antwort lieferten. Als Lösung postuliert die Autorin eine textorientierte, korpusbasierte und lernerzentrierte Vorgehensweise (148). Was genau darunter - wie auch unter einem „integrated approach“ (149) - zu verstehen ist, bleibt jedoch weitgehend im Dunkeln. Es fehlen klare und konkrete, auf die unterrichtliche Realisierung bezogene Angaben. Dies gilt ebenso für das am Schluß angedeutete Übungsprogramm, wo u.a. von „contextualized exercises“, „register change exercises“ oder von „exercises of finding synonymous forms“ die Rede ist. All dem wird niemand widersprechen wollen, allerdings laufen solche Vorschläge leicht Gefahr, folgenlos zu bleiben, zumal dem Leser auch keinerlei veranschaulichende Textbeispiele geboten werden. In einer abschließenden Synthese „Zum Status quo der Phraseodidaktik: Aktuelle Forschungsfragen, Desiderata und Zukunftsperspektiven (153ff)“ versuchen die Herausgeberinnen Christine Konecny, Erla Hallsteinsdóttir und Brigita Kacjan, noch einmal den phraseodidaktischen Ertrag und bisher nicht eingelöste Desiderata auf den Punkt zu bringen.6 Hervorgehoben werden zunächst verschiedene im Internet verfügbare Dokumentationen, Materialien und didaktische Konzepte, die man auch als Ergebnis einer konsequenten phraseologischen Grundlagenforschung sowie als Zeichen bestimmter phraseodidaktischer Fortschritte betrachten kann. Es folgt ein zusammenfassender Bericht über den oben bereits erwähnten Europhras-Workshop mit den Schwerpunkten Phraseologische Kompetenz, Phraseologie im DaF-Unterricht sowie Phraseodidaktik und Muttersprache (158ff). Ansatzpunkte für die phraseodidaktische Weiterentwicklung sehen die Autorinnen in den folgenden Feldern:

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Bisher seien Möglichkeiten, mit Ergebnissen der Phraseodidaktik auch auf die phraseologische Grundlagenforschung zurückzuwirken, kaum genutzt worden.

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Den Austausch zwischen den einzelnen Philologien und den darin angesiedelten phraseologischen und phraseodidaktischen Aktivitäten gelte es zu verstärken. Gerade mit Blick auf die kontrastive Linguistik wären Intensivierungen angebracht.

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Bezüglich der Umsetzung phraseologischer und phraseodidaktischer Einsichten in Unterrichtsmaterialien und Schulbüchern seien weitere Initiativen sinnvoll.

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Ebenso könne man an eine stärkere Eingliederung phraseologischer Aspekte in den Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmen (GeR) - einschließlich einer

5 So kann man sich z.B. fragen, ob die Bezeichnungen textual und communicative eine

Einteilung in disjunkte Klassen erlauben, ob Komposita in diesem Rahmen anzuführen sind, ob grammatical collocations nicht auch der Gruppe b) zuzurechnen wären und was genau unter textual sentence stems zu verstehen ist. 6 Der Vollständigkeitkeit halber sollte man hier auch den bilanzierenden phraseodidaktischen Artikel von Erla Hallsteinsdóttir (2011) mit einbeziehen.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 Niveauzuordnung von Phrasemen - denken.

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Phraseologie sollte als eigener fachdidaktischer Schwerpunkt in der Lehrerausbildung etabliert werden.

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Für besonders wichtig halten es die Autorinnen, die Möglichkeiten multimodalen Lernens nicht aus dem Auge zu verlieren und auch neue Lernmedien gezielt in die Phraseodidaktik einzubeziehen.

Insgesamt veranschaulicht der Band Phraseologie im Sprachunterricht und in der Sprachendidaktik die Vielfalt und die große Dynamik der Phraseodidaktik. Die einzelnen Beiträge liefern interessante Einblicke in neue Entwicklungen und erreichte Fortschritte, in unterschiedliche Ansätze und Fragestellungen, vor allem aber unterstreichen sie die Bedeutsamkeit phraseologischer Aspekte für die Fremdsprachenvermittlung. Als Adressaten kommen daher nicht nur Sprachwissenschaftler in Betracht, der Band wendet sich ebenso an all diejenigen Leser, die sich für die Gestaltung und Reflexion von Sprach- und Fremdsprachenunterricht im weitesten Sinne interessieren. Die hier versammelten Beiträge sind - trotz gelegentlicher Kritik im Detail - ein überzeugendes Plädoyer für eine stärkere Berücksichtigung phraseodidaktischer Themen in Forschung und Lehre. Die dokumentierten Ergebnisse und Innovationen verdienen es, einem breiten Leserkreis zugänglich gemacht zu werden.

Bibliographie Bárdosi, Vilmos / Ettinger, Stefan & Stölting, Cécile (1992, 32003). Redewendungen Französisch / Deutsch. Thematisches Wörter- und Übungsbuch. Tübingen, Basel: Francke. Ettinger, Stefan (2007). Phraseme im Fremdsprachenunterricht. In: Burger, Harald et al. (Hrsg.): Phraseologie. Ein internationales Handbuch der zeitgenössischen Forschung, 2. Halbband. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 893-908. Ettinger, Stefan (2012). Einige phraseodidaktische Überlegungen zur Frequenz, zur Disponibilität und zur Bekanntheit französischer Idiome und Sprichwörter. In: Szavak, frazémák szótárak. Mots, phrasèmes, dictionnaires – Írások Bárdosi Vilmos 60. születésnapjára. Mélanges offerts à Vilmos Bárdosi pour ses 60 ans (= Revue d'Études Françaises, numéro spécial). Budapest: Université Eötvös Loránd, 85-104. Ettinger, Stefan (2014). Le problème de l'emploi actif et/ou de connaissances passives des phrasèmes chez les apprenants de langues étrangères. In: González Rey, Isabel (Hrsg.): Outils et méthodes d'apprentissage en phraséodidactique. Bruxelles, Fernelmont: Eme, 17-38. Ettinger, Stefan / Nunes, Manuela (1994). Portugiesische Redensarten. Quiz- und Übungsbuch. Stuttgart: Klett. Götz, Dieter (1976). Stilistik und Idiomatik im Englischunterricht. Dortmund: Lensing. González Rey, Isabel (Hrsg.) (2013). Phraseodidactic Studies on German as a Foreign Language / Phraseodidaktische Studien zu Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Hamburg: Kovač.

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JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 González Rey, Isabel (Hrsg.) (2014). Outils et méthodes d'apprentissage en phraséodidactique. Bruxelles, Fernelmont: Eme. Grünewald, Matthias (2012/2013). Phraseologie und Phraseodidaktik. In: The annual report on cultural science 137, 85-136; 139, 25-66. Hallsteinsdóttir, Erla (2011). Aktuelle Forschungsfragen der deutschsprachigen Phraseodidaktik. In: Linguistik online 47 (http://www.linguistik-online.de/47_11/hallsteinsdottir.html; 30.06.2015). Hallsteinsdóttir, Erla / Winzer-Kiontke, Britta & Laskowski, Marek (Hrsg.) (2011). Phraseodidaktik / Phraseodidactics (= Linguistik online 47). Hessky, Regina / Ettinger, Stefan (1997). Deutsche Redewendungen. Ein Wörter- und Übungsbuch für Fortgeschrittene. Tübingen: Narr. Kühn, Peter (2007). Phraseme im Muttersprachenunterricht. In: Burger, Harald et al. (Hrsg.). Phraseologie. Ein internationales Handbuch der zeitgenössischen Forschung, 2. Halbband. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 881-893. Sułkowska, Monika (2013). De la phraséologie à la phraséodidactique. Études théoriques et didactiques. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. Zenderowska-Korpus, Grażyna (2004). Sprachliche Schematismen des Deutschen und ihre Vermittlung im Unterricht DaF. Frankfurt/M.: Lang.

Rezensent: Prof. Dr. Heinz-Helmut Lüger Zeppelinstraße 45 D-76887 Bad Bergzabern E-Mail: [email protected]

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Guidelines for Contributors Please send your manuscripts to the editor at: [email protected] Manuscripts can be written in English, German, French. Spanish, or Italian. In view of academic globalisation, English articles are especially welcome. Every article should come with an abstract of around 10 lines. English articles should be accompanied by an abstract in one of the other languages mentioned. • Length of the articles: 10 to 25 pages • Font style: Arial, size 12pt. • Text: spacing: At least, 1,3 pt • Paragraph: No indent (Setting: Paragraph - Spacing - Auto) • Citations: 10pt (indented), number as superscript. • Headings: ◦ First level (1., 2., 3., etc.): 14 pt.. bold-faced ◦ Second level (1.1, 2.1, etc.) and lower (1.1.1, 2.1.1, etc. : 12 pt, bold-faced • Tables and figures: ◦ Identify them by means of a caption ◦ Put a reference into the text. • Words and expressions taken from languages other than that of the article should be put in italics. • Referencing: For referencing, please generally follow the Harvard Style.

Impressum Herausgeber: Prof. Dr. phil. Thomas Tinnefeld Dienstanschrift: Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Campus Rotenbühl (HTW) des Saarlandes Waldhausweg 14 Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften 66123 Saarbrücken W3-Professur für Angewandte Sprachen E-Mail: [email protected] Redaktion: Wiss. Beirat (vgl. Editorial Board, vordere Umschlaginnenseite); E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: http://sites.google.com/site/linguisticsandlanguageteaching/ Konzeption, Titelgestaltung und Layout: Thomas Tinnefeld © JLLT 2015 ISSN 2190-4677 Alle Rechte vorbehalten. All rights reserved.

JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1 JLLT Volume 6 (2015) Issue 1

Articles Hasan Said Ghazala (Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia): Addressing CMT Problems: Toward a Cognitive Stylistic Model of CM Analysis Katrin Ziegler (Macerata / Italy): Forms and Functions of Reflexive Structures in German Shelley Byrne (Preston (Lancashire), United Kingdom): Examining Successful Language Use at C1 Level: A Learner Corpus Study into the Vocabulary and Abilities Demonstrated by Successful Speaking Exam Candidates Julia Davydova (Mannheim, Germany): A Study in the Perception of Native and Non-Native Englishes by German Learners José María Santos Rovira (Lisbon, Portugal): Cultural Perceptions and Language Attitudes in Second Language Learning A Survey among University Students in Portugal Dechen Zangmo (Thimphu, Bhutan) / Rachel Burke (Newcastle, Australia) / John Mitchell O’Toole (Newcastle, Australia) / Heather Sharp (Newcastle, Australia): Cross-Cultural Methodological Innovation in Bhutan: Teacher Experiences with the Process Writing Approach

ISSN 2190-4677

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