Acquiring the Pragmatics of a Heritage Language: A Case of Study Abroad Experience in Greece

Throughout the English-speaking world, there are numerous Greek-speaking diaspora communities whose language is simultaneously influenced by English and local varieties of Greek. This study builds on the body of knowledge in cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics to explore a case of pragmatic acquisition in a study abroad context by one member of such a community. Data were collected from a third-generation young adult Greek Australian student prior to commencement of a 6-week Greek language programme in Athens, and on three other occasions. She described her experiences and responded to a set of scenarios involving Greek requests, refusals and apologies. The responses were analysed using established frameworks and subjectively evaluated for appropriateness by a matched Greek native speaker. The student showed evidence of a shift towards documented Standard Modern Greek pragmatic norms in some but not all speech acts, and change appeared to be loosely linked to opportunities for use. There was also some evidence of reversion to diaspora variants after her return. This study contributes to our understanding of the interaction between learning outcomes, individual learner variables, prior exposure, the nature of communicative events and levels of pragmatic awareness. It is argued that Greek and diaspora contexts involve subtly distinct pragmatic varieties of Greek and that learners can benefit from explicit awareness-raising regarding the nature of these differences.