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Speech Acts Bibliography:
Negative Responses to Questions
DuFon, M. A. (2000). The acquisition of negative
responses to experience questions in Indonesian as a second language
by sojourners in naturalistic interactions. In B. Swierzbin, F. Morris,
M. E. Anderson, C. A. Klee, & E. Tarone (Eds.), Social and cognitive
factors in second language acquisition: Selected proceedings of the
1999 Second Language Research Forum (pp. 77-97). Somerville, MA:
Cascadilla Press.
Discusses the idea that two forms for negation
in Indonesian, tidak 'no, not' and belum 'not yet,' are
problematic for English speaking learners of Indonesian because the
coverage isn't the same. L2 learners overgeneralize the use of tidak
to contexts where belum applies. She compares how natives respond
to life experience questions (e.g., "Have you ever been out of Sumbawa?")
as compared to beginning and intermediate learners of the language.
Then she shows how natives help learners through their input and interaction
to acquire the appropriate use of the negative forms. The NNSs were
four English L1 study abroad students (3 White males and a Japanese-American
female) and 2 Japanese nationals on a 4-mo. program in the fall of 1996
from the University of Hawaii. All knew at least one other foreign language.
Three were at the intermediate level and three at the beginning level.
Experience questions calling for a negative response were fed into a
data analysis program. What emerged was that acquiring the appropriate
functions of belum took time. The conclusion: "...in response
to experience questions, the learners progressed through stages from
English 'no" to minimal responses and to overgeneralization of tidak
and eventually at the intermediate level to a more automatic and appropriate
use of belum. A combination of linguistic, social and cognitive
factors worked together to move the learners forward through this acquisition
process." (p. 96).
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