Interlinguistic Variation and Similarity in Second Language Speech Act Behavior

Abstract

This study investigates the compliment response behavior of 2 groups of Chinese learners of English, one living in the United States and the other in Taiwan. The present study compared the behavior of these learner groups with that of native Chinese and English speakers in order to determine how they respond to compliments in different situations when two contextual variables, addressees` status and gender, vary. Compliment responses by the Chinese using Chinese and the learners in Taiwan were more likely to be rejections than acceptances, whereas responses to compliments by the Americans and the learners in the United States were more likely to be acceptances than rejections. Furthermore, although there were substantial differences between the 2 learner groups, the performance of both reflected native language (L1) communicative styles and transfer of L1 sociocultural strategies in their second language behavior.