Contrastive Discourse in Greek Application Letter Writing Angeliki Psaltou-Joycey Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & George S. Ypsilandis University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki ABSTRACT Η παȡȠȪıα ȝİȜȑIJȘ αıχȠȜİȓIJαȚ ȝİ πȡαȖȝαIJȠȜȠȖȚțȑȢ αıIJȠχȓİȢ ıIJȠ ȖȡαπIJȩ ȜȩȖȠ απȩ ȐIJȠȝα įȚαφȠȡİIJȚțȒȢ πȠȜȚIJȚıȝȚțȒȢ πȡȠȑȜİυıȘȢ ȩIJαȞ İțφȡȐȗȠȞIJαȚ ȝȑıω IJȘȢ ΕȜȜȘȞȚțȒȢ ωȢ įİȪIJİȡȘȢήȟȑȞȘȢ ȖȜȫııαȢέ ΕȚįȚțȩIJİȡα, İπȚıȘȝαȓȞİIJαȚ Ș ȝİIJαφȠȡȐ IJȪπωȞ ıIJȡαIJȘȖȚțȫȞ πİȚșȠȪȢ țαȚ ȡȘIJȠȡȚțȒȢ, İțφȡαıIJȚțȫȞ ȝȑıωȞ țαȚ ȪφȠυȢ ωȢ țαȚ πȡȠıįȠțȚȫȞ ıχİIJȚțȫȞ ȝİ IJȘȞ αυIJȠπȡȠȕȠȜȒ țαȚ İȟİIJȐȗİIJαȚ țαIJȐ πȩıȠȞ Ș İπȚȜȠȖȒ IJȠυȢ απȩ IJȠυȢ ȠȝȚȜȘIJȑȢ απȠφȑȡİȚ IJȠ İπȚșυȝȘIJȩ απȠIJȑȜİıȝα țαIJȐ IJȘȞ İπȚțȠȚȞωȞȓα Ȓ αȞIJȓșİIJα, ȠįȘȖİȓ ıİ πȡαȖȝαIJȠȜȠȖȚțȒ απȠIJυχȓαέ 1. 0 INTRODUCTION Inter-cultural communication, particularly in its written expression, was initially investigated by the American linguist Robert Kaplan (1972) who suggested that learners of a foreign language who manage to master its syntactic structures, often seem to be unable to compose adequate themes, term papers, and dissertations. Kaplan´s hypothesis visualised a pragmatic dimension “beyond the sentence level” which Thomas (1983) suggested may lead to pragmatic failure of either a pragmalinguistic or a sociopragmatic type. The discourse transfer conventions hypothesis (from L1 to L2), which resulted from this discussion, has been tested and supported by evidence by many scholars. Quasthoff (1986), and Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) have investigated the cultural dimensions of particular speech acts, and discourse pragmatics, while Clyne (1994:3) suggested that inter-cultural discourse has been, and can be studied in three ways: a) the contrastive approach, “by comparing native discourse across cultures”, presumably in similar contexts or situations b) the interlanguage approach, through the examination of discourse conventions of non-native speakers in a second or foreign language, and c) the interactive inter-cultural approach, “by examining and comparing the discourse of people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds interacting either in a lingua franca or in one of the interlocutors’ languages”έ The discourse transfer hypothesis has principally focused on the English language as the target L2, for the most part as a foreign/second language and less as a lingua franca. Comparatively less has been discussed with reference to the study and teaching of writing of other non- international or less-widely spoken languages. 1. 1 This study The purpose of this study was to identify persuasive discourse conventions in a specific context, that is, letter of application for a scholarship, using the interlanguage approach. We investigated forms of expression, rhetorical and persuasive strategies, norms and expectations about self-presentation of Russian and Spanish speakers when writing in Greek. Our initial hypothesis was that these conventions would be transferred from an L1 to the L2.