Exploring pragmatic competence in “New Italians”

This study examines the pragmatic competence of L2 speakers of Italian (N = 101) who successfully passed the Certit B1 exam, focusing on their oral production of refusals and cancellations in voice messages. The data, collected from authentic exam performances, were analyzed through two complementary approaches: an analysis based on pragmatic categories identified in previous work and an evaluation by four non-expert L1 raters. The messages were annotated using a mixed human–LLM procedure, allowing for fine-grained coding of pragmatic categories. Results show that L2 speakers tend to produce long and elaborated messages, often characterized by redundancy and extensive use of greetings and address terms. While raters tolerated diverse realization strategies, they penalized incoherence and ambiguity, particularly in terms of unclear illocutionary force. The findings highlight the need for assessment models sensitive to multilingual pragmatics and for pedagogical practices that promote coherence and efficiency in L2 speech act performance.