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Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 24:2 (2001) ► pp.97–112

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Do learners thank too much in Indonesian?

 | Australian National University
Published online: 1 January 2001
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24.2.07has
Abstract
This study investigates how frequently Australian learners of Indonesian thank in everyday situations compared with Indonesian native speakers. The data were collected by means of interactive roleplay. Learner subjects were found to thank very consistently in the situations, probably due to pragmatic transfer from their first language combined with influence from formal instruction. Indonesian native subjects also thanked frequently. This finding contradicts popular wisdom, and appears to reflect a rise in verbal thanking in Indonesian due to a weakening of traditional cultural values. This trend has major implications for cross-cultural pragmatics. It suggests that in developing countries where cultural values are changing, speech act behaviour may steadily converge with western pragmatic norms.
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Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Hassall, Tim
2013. Pragmatic development during short-term study abroad: The case of address terms in Indonesian. Journal of Pragmatics 55 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Hassall, Tim
2015. Influence of fellow L2 learners on pragmatic development during study abroad. Intercultural Pragmatics 12:4 DOI logo
Hassall, Tim
2018. Leave-taking in Indonesian during short-term study abroad. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 3:1 ► pp. 84 ff. DOI logo
Ameka, Felix K.
2006. 8. “When I die, don’t cry”: the ethnopragmatics of “gratitude” in West African languages. In Ethnopragmatics, ► pp. 231 ff. DOI logo

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