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1、Pragmatic Failures in Intercultural Communication A thesisSubmitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degreeof Bachelor of Arts in the English DepartmentPragmatic Failures in International CommunicationAbstract: With the globalization of economy and the rapid development of high tec

2、hnology, international communication has become a significant concern in the world nowadays. However, there is a great potential for communicators to suffer communication breakdowns in intercultural context because of the cultural differences. pragmatic failures are arisen therefrom. The thesis aimi

3、ng at expounding pragmatic failures in international communication, explains the definitions of intercultural communication and of pragmatic failure, illustrates the expressing forms of pragmatic failure in the intercultural communication, analyzes the reasons of pragmatic failure in the intercultur

4、al communication, and deals with precaution strategies of pragmatic failure in the intercultural communication. All above can help foreign language learners acquire sound linguistic and communicative competence, and participate in international communication flexible and properly.Key words: pragmati

5、c failure; intercultural communication; precaution strategiesTable of ContentsAbstract()Introduction.()1 Brief Review of Relevant Theories.()1.1Intercultural Communication.()1.1.1 Culture and Communication.()1.1.2 Definition of Intercultural Communication()1.1.3 Three Elements of Intercultural Commu

6、nication.()1.2 Pragmatic Failure in Intercultural Communication.()1.2.1 Definition of Pragmatic Failure.() 1.2.2 Classification of Pragmatic Failure.()2. Expressing Forms of Intercultural Pragmatic Failure.()2.1 Pragma-linguistic Failure.()2.2 Socio-pragmatic Failure.()2.3 The relationship between t

7、hem.()3. The Causes of Intercultural Pragmatic Failure.()3.1 Different Cultural Values and Norms.()3.1.1 Modesty vs. Self-denigration.()3.1.2 Privacy vs. Mutual care.()3.1.3 Directness vs. Indirectness.()3.2 Inappropriate Transfer.()4. Precaution Strategies of Intercultural Pragmatic Failure.()4.1 C

8、ultivating Our Pragmatic Competence()4.2 Strengthening Cultural Awareness.()Conclusion.()References.()中文摘要()Acknowledgements()IntroductionNowadays, the development of worldwide transportation and communication networks, the growth in foreign travel for pleasure, study and business, the expansion of

9、international trade and the migration of people seeking work in the multinational companies have naturally led to a concomitant increase in contacts across national boundaries. The international and domestic changes in the past few decades have brought us into direct or indirect contact with people

10、who, because of their cultural diversity, often behave in ways that we do not understand. It is no longer difficult to find social and professional situations in which members of once isolated groups of peoples communicate with members of other cultural groups. Now these people may live thousands of

11、 miles away or right next door to each other. In other words, intercultural communication prevails in the so-called global village.1 Brief Review of Relevant TheoriesIn this chapter, brief review of Intercultural Communication and Pragmatic Failure in Intercultural Communication will be made. This h

12、opefully provides theoretical background for analyzing the causes of intercultural pragmatic failure in chapter four and dealing with precaution strategies of intercultural pragmatic failure in chapter five.1.1 Intercultural CommunicationIn this section, such concepts as culture, intercultural commu

13、nication and pragmatic failure will be discussed one by one.1.1.1 Culture and CommunicationAccording to sociolinguists and anthropologists, culture refers to the total patterns of beliefs, customs, institutions, objects and techniques that characterize the life of a human community. In communicative

14、 process, culture is a critical factor. But what is culture? Culture is omnipresent. What people talk about, how they talk about it, what they see, attend to, or ignore, how they think and what they think about are influenced by their culture. Culture consists not only of such material things as cit

15、ies, schools and organizations, but also of non-material things such as languages, ideas, family patterns and customs. Put it simply, culture refers to the entire way of life of a society, “the ways of a people” (Klineberg 1935). In order to suit the goal of this thesis, I adopt the concept of cultu

16、re defined by Samovar, Porter and Stefani in their book Communication between Cultures (2000), that is, “We define culture as the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religions, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe and ma

17、terial objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving”(Samovar, Porter & Stefani, 2000:36).Everyday when people share ideas and emotions with others they are communicating, regardless of their gender, age, occupation, or even

18、culture. Despite the differences in culture, they are in fact performing the same communicative activity. The methods and the results may be different, but the process is the same. Communication occurs whenever meaning is attributed to behavior or the residue of behavior-those things that remain as

19、a record of our actions (Samovar and Porter, 1994:8). It is also the basis of all human contact. But it is not enough, and this term needs further explanation. It is impossible for people to share their feelings and experiences by means of direct mind-to-mind contact. People all isolated from one an

20、other by the enclosure of their skin, so what they know and feel remains insides of them, unless they communicate. In fact, whenever people interact they must communicate.Hall once noted, “Culture is communication, and communication is culture” (Hall, 1977:14). The link between culture and communica

21、tion is crucial to the understanding of intercultural communication. Culture and communication are inseparable. Communicative behavior is largely dependent on cultures, and culture is the foundation of communication. Whenever people interact they communicate. To live in societies and to maintain the

22、ir cultures they have to communicate. Culture is learned, acted out, transmitted, and preserved through communication. Culture and communication act on each other. As the carrier of culture, communication influences the structure of a culture, and culture is necessarily manifested in our communicati

23、on patterns by teaching us how we should talk and behave. The relationship between culture and communication is the key factor to understanding intercultural communication.1.1.2 Definition of Intercultural CommunicationOnce we understand the meaning of communication and culture it becomes clear that

24、 intercultural communication refers to the communication between people from two different cultures. (Chen Guoming & Starasta, 1998:28) Intercultural communication refers to communication between different socio-cultural groups. Samovar (1981:19) claims that intercultural communication occurs “whene

25、ver a message that must be understood is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a member of another culture”. Precisely speaking, intercultural communication is the communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbols are distinct enough to change communication events.

26、The term “intercultural communication” includes the entire range of communication across boundaries of groups or discourse systems, form cultural groups to the communication which takes place between men and women. In linguistic, one can explain intercultural communication as taking place whenever p

27、articipants introduce different knowledge into the interaction which is specific to respective socio-cultural groups. Increasing the shared cultural knowledge is essential in communication, because language is intrinsically ambiguous. Since meanings are constructed jointly by the speaker and the lis

28、tener, it is always necessary for the receiver to draw inferences about the intentions of the sender.1.1.3 Three Elements of Intercultural CommunicationCulture is very complex and influences peoples life in every aspect. There are many important elements contained in the study of intercultural commu

29、nication. Among them, perceptual process, verbal process and nonverbal process are three main elements. Perception is the internal process by which people select, evaluate, and organize stimuli from the external environment. It is the process by which people construct their unique social realities b

30、y attributing meanings to social objects and events they encounter in their environment. It is an extremely important aspect in communications. There are three major elements that have direct influences on the development of peoples perception; they are belief/value/attitude systems, world view and

31、social organization. As far as belief is concerned, there are no right or wrong judgments in matters of intercultural communication. If someone believes that voices in the wind can lead ones behaviors in the right way, no one can say the belief is wrong. People should be able to recognize and to dea

32、l with different beliefs if they wish to obtain satisfactory and successful communications. Value is the valuative aspect of belief/value/attitude systems. Although everyone has his/her personal values, cultural values penetrate personal values. Cultural values are a set of organized rules for peopl

33、e to make choices, reduce uncertainty and conflicts within a certain society. These values are generally normative, which inform the member of a culture what is good and bad, right and wrong, true and false, etc. they also specify what behaviors are important and what should be avoided. Belief and v

34、alue contribute to the development of attitudes. An attitude may be defined formally as a learned tendency to respond in a constant manner to a given object of orientation. In other words, people tend to avoid those things they dislike and to keep those they like.World view is one of the most import

35、ant elements formed in the perceptual aspect of intercultural communication. It deals with a cultural orientation toward such philosophical issues as God, humanity, nature and the universe. World view has a deep influence on culture and intercultural communication. Social organization is the place i

36、n which a culture organized its institutes and affects how members of the culture perceive the world and how they communicate. Family and school are two dominant social organizations which influence the development of values and the pursuing of goals.The second element of intercultural communication

37、 is verbal process, which includes not only how people talk with each other, but the internal activities of thinking to interact with others. Verbal language is an organized system used to represent human experiences within a geographic or cultural community. In fact, language is the primary vehicle

38、 by which one culture transmits its beliefs, values, and norms.The third element of intercultural communication is nonverbal process. Although verbal process is the primary means for communication, nonverbal process is important in intercultural communication as well. Nonverbal process consists of t

39、he following topics: gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, silence, space, time and paralanguage.1.2 Pragmatic Failure in Intercultural CommunicationLearning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms. It means learning also to see the

40、world as native speakers of that language see it, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs and behavior of their society, learning to understand their ”language of mind”. Because of cultural differences, misunderstandings and miscommunications may arise in spite of gramm

41、atically correct utterances. The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to people from different cultures. A serious question may not cause seriousness, and a happy statement may cause unhappiness or anger because of cultural differences. Among these errors, pragmatic failures derived

42、 from cultural transfer are more serious in that they contribute to communicative failure directly in intercultural communication.1.2.1 Definition of Pragmatic FailureIf people fail to achieve the desired communicative effect in communication, pragmatic failure will be likely to occur. It can be sum

43、marized that they are unable to understand what is meant by what is said. Jenny Thomas (1983:91-94) defines pragmatic failure as “the inability to understand what is meant by what is said” and she notes that pragmatic failure has occurred on any occasion ”on which the hearer perceives the forces of

44、the speakers utterances as other than the speaker intended he or she should perceive it”. Li Yuansheng (2004: 27) defines pragmatic failure as follows: Pragmatic failure is those failures (excluding linguistic errors such as ungrammaticality and misspelling) committed in the process of understanding

45、 or expressing utterances (both verbal and non-verbal).The definition of pragmatic failure can be understood from four aspects. Firstly, pragmatic failure can be studied in two senses. In a broad sense, it includes all the errors in language use, such as spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes and d

46、iscourse mistakes. In a narrow sense, it indicates not grammaticality but acceptability of language use. Secondly, Appropriateness is the most important principle of language use(Li, R. H., No. 3, 1994), therefore pragmatic failure can be considered as the result of language users violation of the p

47、rinciple of appropriateness. In other words, language users violate interpersonal norms and neglect social cultural context and concrete communicative occasions out of unconsciousness or for the purpose of obtaining certain effect. Thirdly, the judgment of pragmatic failure is speaker-oriented witho

48、ut consideration of the hearers comprehensive ability and process, though the ultimate judgment of failure depends on perlocutionary act. Thus, whether communication is successful or not depends on whether the communicative value (A) of the language used is equivalent to the intended meaning (B) of

49、the speaker. If C is used to stand for the unintended meaning of the speaker, pragmatic failure can be formulated as: A=B+C or A=C (Sun Y and Dai L., No. 3, 2002). Finally, the categorization of pragmatic failure is in terms of different criteria. In intercultural communication, according to Jenny T

50、homass theory, pragmatic failure is often divided into pragmalinguistic failure (on account of language users improper assurance of linguistic context) and sociopragmatic failure (on account of language users improper assurance of social cultural context). Pragmalinguistics, in Leechs definition, re

51、fers to our linguistic knowledge of language use, and sociopragmatics is related with how our sociological knowledge influences our interaction (Leech, 1983:10). In China, according to the criterion of whether communication occurs in the same cultural context or in cross-cultural context, pragmatic

52、failure is divided into intralingual pragmatic failure and interlingual pragmatic failure. Since this thesis mainly deals with intercultural communication, Jenny Thomass theory is adopted.1.2.2 Classification of Pragmatic FailureAs Thomas pointed out, pragmatic failure refers to the inability to und

53、erstand “what is meant by what is said”. She further divided pragmatic failures into two types: pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure (Thomas, 1983:95). This distinction can, of course, cover any sort of pragmatic failures and therefore is adopted by many scholars (e.g. Hu Wenzhong, Hu

54、ang Cidong, etc.) in their study of pragmatic failures. Sun Ya and Dai Lin (2002) distinguished pragmatic failure in the broad sense and in the narrow sense in their survey of pragmatic studies in china. Qian Guanlian (2001) noticed that pragmatic failure can be divided into pragmatic failure in int

55、ercultural communication and pragmatic failure within the same mother tongue communication, or in SunYas term inter-lingual pragmatic failure and intra-lingual pragmatic failure. Based on their research findings, the author arranged and grouped the data collected into 3 categories, namely, pragmalin

56、guistic failure, sociopragmatic failure, and value-related behavioral failure.2 Expressing Forms of Intercultural Pragmatic FailureThere are various expressing forms of pragmatic failure. And we will discuss some of them in this section.2.1 Pragma-linguistic FailurePragmalinguistics and sociopragmat

57、ics belong to two sub-branches of general pragmatics. Leech (1983:11) points out the distinction between pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics. In Leechs definition, the term pragmalinguistics “can be applied to the study of the more linguistic end of pragmatics- where we consider the particular res

58、ources which a given language provides for conveying particular illocutions”. Pragmalinguistic failure occurs “when the pragmatic force mapped by a speaker onto a given utterance is systematically different from the most frequently assigned to it by a native speaker of the target language, or when s

59、peech act strategies are inappropriately transferred from L1 to L2”(Thomas, 1983:95). To make it easier, pragmalinguistic failures are caused by peoples different understanding on a linguistic token or structure. They have something to do with linguistic features such as sentence structure and lexic

60、al connotations. Pragmalinguistic failure may arise from two identifiable sources: teaching-induced errors and pragmalinguistic transfer. The latter refers to “the inappropriate transfer of speech act strategies from one language to another, or the transferring from the source language to the target

61、 language of utterances which are semantically/syntactically equivalent, but which, because of interpretive bias, tend to convey a different pragmatic force in the target language.” (Thomas, 1983:101)2.2 Socio-pragmatic FailureCompared to pragmalinguistic failure, sociopragmatic failure involves not

62、 only students linguistic knowledge of the target language but also students culture knowledge of the target language. Sociopragmatic failure is caused by mistakes which arise from intercultural different assessments within the social parameters affecting linguistic choice-size of imposition, social

63、 distance between speaker and hearer, relative rights and obligations, etc. Because of the different cultural backgrounds and social conventions, people respond to the same utterance differently. Chinese culture has been rooted in our mind so that we always behave according to the rules and principles of the society. The standards to judge what is right and what is wrong have been acquired since we were born. Its safe to say that we do things unconsciously under the