Milloin natiivi korjaa ei-natiivin kielioppia keskustelussa?

• Salla Kurhila

Avainsanat: keskusteluntutkimus, korjaukset, suomi toisena ja vieraana kielenä

Abstrakti

When does a native speaker correct the grammar of a non-native speaker in conversation? (englanti)

2/2000 (104)

Salla Kurhila (University of Helsinki; [e-mail])

WHEN DOES A NATIVE SPEAKER CORRECT THE GRAMMAR OF A NON-NATIVE SPEAKER IN CONVERSATION?

In conversation, non-native speakers of a language periodically produce grammatical forms which deviate from the language of native speakers. Native speakers sometimes correct these deviations but often they do not. The article examines this choice between correcting and not correcting: When do native Finnish speakers correct a grammatical deviation in the speech of a non-native speaker? The research material consists of about 15 hours of authentic video and audio recordings of conversation between native and non-native speakers in different kinds of institutional and everyday situations. The research method used is conversation analysis.

The analysis revealed that the choice between correcting and not correcting does not depend so much on the nature of the deviation (i.e. the language element to be corrected) as the setting in which the conversation takes place and the environment in which the deviation occurs. Corrections tend to be made at those moments in a conversation when they can be done as inconspicuously as possible, without causing an interruption in the flow of the conversation. In institutional conversations in particular, corrections are not made openly (as exposed corrections) but are inserted (as embedded corrections) into the next relevant conversational activity. Native speakers will thus edit non-native speakers' utterances, but will do so in a way that the conversation participants can treat the editing as something other than a correction. Exposed correction (not concealed in some other action) occurs in everyday conversations, but for the most part this, too, serves the goal of a smooth-flowing conversation: exposed correction by a native speaker is generally a response to signals of uncertainty from the non-native speaker. This type of correction can therefore be seen as bringing the non-native speaker's 'search' to a close and enabling a return to the progress of the conversation.