Transient international groups in Croatia – the pragmatics of advising tourists

Abstract

Based on the frequency and functions of pragmatic features used in 24 conversations of different lengths between tourism workers and tourists recorded in two tourist information centers in Zagreb, Croatia, this paper investigates the pragmatics of advising. The paper unveils which specific pragmatic strategies are used in each of the examined subsets and which functions they fulfill. Findings suggest that time-sensitive conversations include slightly fewer but more complexly used pragmatic features in the following order of frequency: solidarity markers > discourse markers > repetitions > hesitation markers > rephrasings = multilingual elements = co-constructions. In conversations that are longer and not time-sensitive, pragmatic strategies are used less frequently than expected and in the following order of frequency: discourse markers > hesitation markers > multilingual elements > solidarity markers > repetitions = code-switches > wrap-ups. Furthermore, the findings suggest that solidarity markers, especially okay , function as solidarity and discourse markers, representing a common adaptation of conversational norms in interactions within transient groups. Building on these insights, the paper concludes that the setting of the interaction is more influential on the tourism workers’ use of pragmatic features than their shared L1 and sociocultural background.