*4.4.6 Stressing lack of need/necessity to help*

This type of indirect thanks occurs with a very low frequency. It appears three times in the stranger situation where it serves to thank the addressee while reminding him/her that he/she did not have to bother himself/herself as in (18).

18. C'est très gentil de votre part, **mais il ne fallait pas vous gêner** (stranger) "That's very kind of you, but you shouldn't have bothered."

As already indicated above, direct and indirect expressions of gratitude are modified by means of supportive acts. The next section presents the types, functions, and distributions of these supportive acts.

## **4.5 Supportive acts**

Supportive acts are different kinds of speech acts, which may come before or after direct and indirect expressions of gratitude. They play various pragmatic roles and serve mostly as external modification devices (softeners). As can be seen in **Table 5**, the participants used many different types of speech acts as supportive acts. Their frequencies and distribution vary across the three situations. There are 81 tokens of supportive acts in the data, 34 occurrences in the friend situation, 24 tokens in the stranger, and 23 instances in the professor situation. The most preferred supportive acts are, in decreasing order, comments (30 tokens), familiarization acts (20), apologies/regrets (12 examples), and promises to change (12 instances).

Comments are used to reinforce direct and indirect thanks. The contents of the comments identified vary from one situation to another. In the friend situation, the speaker attempts to save his/her own face by expressing his/her surprise that s/ he could forget his/her wallet as in (19).7 Some comments serve to reiterate the fact that what happened was accidental and not planned, as in (20).

**151**

(stranger)

<sup>8</sup> The familiarization acts are in bold.

*Thanking in Cameroon French*

(friend)

thank you."

reading the work."

your expectations."

appreciating the addressee and the act.

**important pour moi** (stranger)

appears in the form of self-introductions as in (24).8

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86140*

will not be disappointed as in (21) and (22).

**vous ne serez pas déçu** (professor)

could forget my wallet."

**j'ai pu oublier mon porte-monnaie** (friend)

19. *Merci mon ami, je vous rendrai ce geste salutaire,* **je ne comprends pas comment** 

"Thanks my friend, I will repay this kind gesture, I can't understand how I

**oublier de la sorte mon porte-monnaie***. On pourrait se faire une sortie dans le restaurant de ton choix. Qu'en dis-tu? Et je pourrai payer en guise de remerciement*

"I am deeply grateful to you. I don't where my head was to forget my wallet. We could go to a restaurant of your choice. What do you say? And I will pay as

In the professor situation, the comments relate to the quality of the work submitted. In order to reinforce his/her gratitude, the student assures the professor that the extra time granted was wisely used and that s/he believes or hopes the professor

21. *Monsieur, je vous remercie infiniment et* **je crois qu'après la lecture du travail** 

"Sir I thank you so much and I think that you will not be disappointed after

22. *Monsieur je vous remercie une fois de plus pour votre compréhension.* **J'espère que** 

The only comment found in the stranger situation serves to emphasize the importance of the help rendered and to reinforce the gratitude expressed. As can be seen in (23), the speaker explicitly says that the document the addressee helped to pick is a very important one. In making this comment, the speaker is indirectly

23. *Merci énormément.* **Ce document que vous veniez de me remettre est très** 

The second most common supportive act is familiarization. It appears in 20 instances in the data, and it mostly occurs in the stranger situation. Familiarization

24. *Je vous remercie grandement mademoiselle.* **Puis-je connaitre votre nom?**

"Thank you very much, miss. Can I know your name?"

of the speaker and/or asking the name of the addressee. Familiarization acts also occur in the form of questions whether the interlocutors can meet subsequently as in (25) and farewells as in (26). Overall, familiarization acts are intended to help the interlocutors know each other better and to prepare the ground for future interactions.

"Thanks a lot. This document you just handed to me is very important to me."

These acts entail telling the name

"Sir I thank you once more for your understanding. I hope my work will meet

**mon travail sera à la hauteur de vos attentes** (professor)

20. *Je te suis profondément reconnaissante.* **Je ne sais pas où j'avais la tête pour** 

<sup>7</sup> The comments are in bold.

**Table 5.**

contribute to the realization of your dreams." This type of thanks is always associ-

Comments 19 1 10 30 Familiarization acts 0 18 2 20 Apologies/regrets 10 1 2 13 Promise to change 5 0 7 12 Offers/invitations 0 2 2 4 Encouragements/advice 0 2 0 2 Total 34 24 23 81

**Friend Stranger Professor Total**

17. Je vous remercie infiniment que Dieu vous garde et vous bénisse (stranger)

This type of indirect thanks occurs with a very low frequency. It appears three times in the stranger situation where it serves to thank the addressee while remind-

18. C'est très gentil de votre part, **mais il ne fallait pas vous gêner** (stranger)

As already indicated above, direct and indirect expressions of gratitude are modified by means of supportive acts. The next section presents the types, func-

Supportive acts are different kinds of speech acts, which may come before or after direct and indirect expressions of gratitude. They play various pragmatic roles and serve mostly as external modification devices (softeners). As can be seen in **Table 5**, the participants used many different types of speech acts as supportive acts. Their frequencies and distribution vary across the three situations. There are 81 tokens of supportive acts in the data, 34 occurrences in the friend situation, 24 tokens in the stranger, and 23 instances in the professor situation. The most preferred supportive acts are, in decreasing order, comments (30 tokens), familiarization acts (20), apologies/regrets (12 examples), and promises to change (12

Comments are used to reinforce direct and indirect thanks. The contents of the comments identified vary from one situation to another. In the friend situation, the speaker attempts to save his/her own face by expressing his/her surprise that s/

Some comments serve to reiterate the fact

ing him/her that he/she did not have to bother himself/herself as in (18).

"That's very kind of you, but you shouldn't have bothered."

ated with other types, as can be seen in (17).

*Types of supportive acts and their distribution.*

*4.4.6 Stressing lack of need/necessity to help*

tions, and distributions of these supportive acts.

he could forget his/her wallet as in (19).7

that what happened was accidental and not planned, as in (20).

**4.5 Supportive acts**

**150**

instances).

<sup>7</sup> The comments are in bold.

19. *Merci mon ami, je vous rendrai ce geste salutaire,* **je ne comprends pas comment j'ai pu oublier mon porte-monnaie** (friend)

"Thanks my friend, I will repay this kind gesture, I can't understand how I could forget my wallet."

20. *Je te suis profondément reconnaissante.* **Je ne sais pas où j'avais la tête pour oublier de la sorte mon porte-monnaie***. On pourrait se faire une sortie dans le restaurant de ton choix. Qu'en dis-tu? Et je pourrai payer en guise de remerciement* (friend)

"I am deeply grateful to you. I don't where my head was to forget my wallet. We could go to a restaurant of your choice. What do you say? And I will pay as thank you."

In the professor situation, the comments relate to the quality of the work submitted. In order to reinforce his/her gratitude, the student assures the professor that the extra time granted was wisely used and that s/he believes or hopes the professor will not be disappointed as in (21) and (22).


The only comment found in the stranger situation serves to emphasize the importance of the help rendered and to reinforce the gratitude expressed. As can be seen in (23), the speaker explicitly says that the document the addressee helped to pick is a very important one. In making this comment, the speaker is indirectly appreciating the addressee and the act.

23. *Merci énormément.* **Ce document que vous veniez de me remettre est très important pour moi** (stranger)

"Thanks a lot. This document you just handed to me is very important to me."

The second most common supportive act is familiarization. It appears in 20 instances in the data, and it mostly occurs in the stranger situation. Familiarization appears in the form of self-introductions as in (24).8 These acts entail telling the name of the speaker and/or asking the name of the addressee. Familiarization acts also occur in the form of questions whether the interlocutors can meet subsequently as in (25) and farewells as in (26). Overall, familiarization acts are intended to help the interlocutors know each other better and to prepare the ground for future interactions.

24. *Je vous remercie grandement mademoiselle.* **Puis-je connaitre votre nom?** (stranger)

"Thank you very much, miss. Can I know your name?"

<sup>8</sup> The familiarization acts are in bold.

25. *Merci bien! Que vous êtes gentils!* **Puis je vous rencontrer après? Ok à toute à l'heure après le cours de 15 heures** (stranger)

"Thank you very much. How nice you are. Can I meet you later? Ok see you soon after the class a 3 pm."

26. *Merci, merci pour votre aide***. Je m'appelle "X," et vous? Ravi de vous connaitre et à la prochaine** (stranger)

"Thanks, thanks for your help. My name is "X" and you? Nice to meet you and see you next time."

The third supportive act found in the data, the apology/regret act, generally appears with direct and indirect gratitude expressions. This supportive move serves to indicate that the speaker is aware of the potential disruption of the favor to the addressee's plan and apologizes for any inconveniences as in (27) and (28)<sup>9</sup> .

27. *Monsieur, je vous remercie pour votre compréhension* **et je suis une fois de plus désolé pour le retard** (professor)

"Sir I thank you for your understanding and once again I am sorry for the delay."

28. *Merci de m'avoir sauvé de cette situation,* **je suis vraiment désolé***, j'ai complètement oublié le porte-monnaie à la maison. Je te rembourserai* (friend) "Thanks for having saved me from this situation. I am very sorry, I completely forgot my wallet at home. I will refund your money."

The fourth supportive act in the data is the promise to change. It appears in the friend and the professor situations. It serves to mitigate the potential negative impact of the help rendered on the speaker's face. More precisely, the promise to change is employed to protect the positive face of the speaker. In the friend situation, the favor was granted because the speaker forgot his/her wallet and was unable to pay for his/her food. In the professor situation, the student was not able to submit his/her assignment on time. In both situations, the speaker is grateful to the request granted but feels guilty of any potential negative impact the favor could have on the addressee's face wants. In order to protect his/her own face, the speaker promises that this will not happen again as can be seen in (29) and (30).

29. *Je vous remercie de m'avoir accordé quelques jours supplémentaires.* **Je m'efforcerai la prochaine fois pour qu'il n'y ait pas de situations embarrassantes pareilles** (professor)

"I thank you for having granted me a few more days. I will try next time to avoid such embarrassing situations."

30. *Merci bien,* **la prochaine fois je m'assurerai que mon porte-monnaie est bel et bien sur moi** (friend)

"Thank you very much, next time I will make sure that I have my wallet."

Another supportive act used with thanks is the act of offering or inviting. Of the four tokens found in the data, there are two examples in the stranger situation and two instances in the professor situation. In the professor situation, the speaker invites the professor to a drink as in (31). In the other example, the speaker offers a gift to the addressee as in (30).

**153**

diverse.

*Thanking in Cameroon French*

for a drink as in (34).

kind service."

together?"

**ensemble?** (stranger)

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86140*

31. *Merci infiniment vous êtes vraiment gentil, vous êtes compréhensible.* **En fait ça (ne) va pas finir ainsi, on va quand même couper une gorge!** (professor) "Thank you very much you are really nice, you are understandable. Actually it

32. *Merci monsieur.* **Acceptez ce présent en signe de reconnaissance** (professor)

33. *Merci de ton aide.* **Est-ce que je peux t'inviter à déjeuner ce soir afin de te** 

34. *Merci, je ne sais comment vous remercier.* **Ça vous dirait de prendre un verre** 

"Thank you, I don't know how to thank you. How about having a drink

The last supportive act is the act of encouragement or advising. The speaker exhorts the addressee to keep up being helpful to people. This act is preceded by a

35. *Merci beaucoup pour votre geste.* **Il faut toujours continuer comme ça car vous ne serez bloqué en aucun jour quelle que soit la situation et cela vous aider** 

"Thank you very much for your gesture. Always continue in the same manner and you will face any difficulty for whatever the situation may be and this will

The second type of intensification consists in mentioning the object of gratitude.

The third type of intensification consists in the combination of different types of gratitude expressions. The most common patterns found in the data involve the combinations of direct gratitude expressions and indirect gratitude expressions. The most preferred combinations in the friend situation are, in decreasing order, *merci* + *promise to reimburse* (41 examples), *merci/je te remercie* + *praising the act* (27 tokens), and *merci* + *praising the addressee* (9 instances). The most frequent combinations in the stranger situation are *merci/je vous remercie* + *praising the addressee* (46 tokens) and *merci/je vous remercie* + *praising the act* (7 examples). The predominant combination in the professor situation is *merci/je vous remercie* + *appreciation of the act* (19 examples). The other combinations are very

The respondents use many different strategies to intensify their gratitude expressions. The analysis reveals that direct thanks are the most frequently intensified in the corpus. Our analysis focused on three types of intensification. The first type consists in the use of lexical intensifiers such as adverbs and nominal address terms in direct gratitude expressions. **Table 6** summarizes the distribution of the

In the stranger situation, the speaker invites the addressee for lunch as in (33) or

"Thank you for your help. Can I invite you to lunch tonight to thank you for

is not going to end this way, let's have a drink together."

"Thank you sir. Accept this gift a token of appreciation."

**remercier pour ton aimable service?** (stranger)

direct gratitude expression, as can be seen in (32).

**aussi dans la société** (stranger)

**4.6 Intensification of gratitude expressions**

lexical intensifiers across the three situations.

**Table 7** presents the distribution of this type in the data.

also help you in society."

<sup>9</sup> Apologies are in bold.

25. *Merci bien! Que vous êtes gentils!* **Puis je vous rencontrer après? Ok à toute à** 

"Thank you very much. How nice you are. Can I meet you later? Ok see you

26. *Merci, merci pour votre aide***. Je m'appelle "X," et vous? Ravi de vous connaitre** 

The third supportive act found in the data, the apology/regret act, generally appears with direct and indirect gratitude expressions. This supportive move serves to indicate that the speaker is aware of the potential disruption of the favor to the addressee's plan and apologizes for any inconveniences as in (27) and (28)<sup>9</sup>

27. *Monsieur, je vous remercie pour votre compréhension* **et je suis une fois de plus** 

"Sir I thank you for your understanding and once again I am sorry for the

28. *Merci de m'avoir sauvé de cette situation,* **je suis vraiment désolé***, j'ai complètement oublié le porte-monnaie à la maison. Je te rembourserai* (friend)

The fourth supportive act in the data is the promise to change. It appears in the friend and the professor situations. It serves to mitigate the potential negative impact of the help rendered on the speaker's face. More precisely, the promise to change is employed to protect the positive face of the speaker. In the friend situation, the favor was granted because the speaker forgot his/her wallet and was unable to pay for his/her food. In the professor situation, the student was not able to submit his/her assignment on time. In both situations, the speaker is grateful to the request granted but feels guilty of any potential negative impact the favor could have on the addressee's face wants. In order to protect his/her own face, the speaker promises

29. *Je vous remercie de m'avoir accordé quelques jours supplémentaires.* **Je m'efforcerai la prochaine fois pour qu'il n'y ait pas de situations embarrassantes** 

"I thank you for having granted me a few more days. I will try next time to

30. *Merci bien,* **la prochaine fois je m'assurerai que mon porte-monnaie est bel** 

"Thank you very much, next time I will make sure that I have my wallet."

Another supportive act used with thanks is the act of offering or inviting. Of the four tokens found in the data, there are two examples in the stranger situation and two instances in the professor situation. In the professor situation, the speaker invites the professor to a drink as in (31). In the other example, the speaker offers a

forgot my wallet at home. I will refund your money."

that this will not happen again as can be seen in (29) and (30).

**pareilles** (professor)

**et bien sur moi** (friend)

gift to the addressee as in (30).

<sup>9</sup> Apologies are in bold.

avoid such embarrassing situations."

"Thanks for having saved me from this situation. I am very sorry, I completely

"Thanks, thanks for your help. My name is "X" and you? Nice to meet you and

.

**l'heure après le cours de 15 heures** (stranger)

soon after the class a 3 pm."

**et à la prochaine** (stranger)

**désolé pour le retard** (professor)

see you next time."

delay."

**152**


In the stranger situation, the speaker invites the addressee for lunch as in (33) or for a drink as in (34).

33. *Merci de ton aide.* **Est-ce que je peux t'inviter à déjeuner ce soir afin de te remercier pour ton aimable service?** (stranger)

"Thank you for your help. Can I invite you to lunch tonight to thank you for kind service."

34. *Merci, je ne sais comment vous remercier.* **Ça vous dirait de prendre un verre ensemble?** (stranger)

"Thank you, I don't know how to thank you. How about having a drink together?"

The last supportive act is the act of encouragement or advising. The speaker exhorts the addressee to keep up being helpful to people. This act is preceded by a direct gratitude expression, as can be seen in (32).

35. *Merci beaucoup pour votre geste.* **Il faut toujours continuer comme ça car vous ne serez bloqué en aucun jour quelle que soit la situation et cela vous aider aussi dans la société** (stranger)

"Thank you very much for your gesture. Always continue in the same manner and you will face any difficulty for whatever the situation may be and this will also help you in society."
