PragmaticFailuresinCross—CulturalCommunication

吳西

【Abstract】Pragmatics was only invented in 1973 and its first major theory，Speech Act Theory，did not take shape until the 50s.G.Leech argues that “we cannot really understand the nature of language itself unless we understand pragmatics：how language is used in communication.” Therefore，the most important element in pragmatics is the context.According to Thomas，pragmatic failure can be divided into two levels：pragmalinguistic failure and socio-pragmatic failure.Therefore，communicative competence must include pragmalinguistic competence and sociopragmatic competence，if inter-cultural pragmatic problems are to be avoided.The paper aims to analyze the causes of pragmatic failures and solutions to this problem will be presented.

【Key Words】 pragmatic failures； pragmalinguistic level； socio-pragmatic level

1.Introduction：The causes for pragmatic failure at pragmalinguistic level

Pragmalinguistics studies “the particular resources which a given language provides for conveying particular illocution.”（He，2000） Cross-cultural pragmalinguistics studies differences in the pragmatic force assigned by people from different cultures to the same or similar linguistic structure in language.Such structures can be at different levels：phonological，lexical，syntactic and discourse.

1.1 The influence by the negative transference of mother tongue

Pragmalinguistic failures occur when words are transferred from one language into another and at the same time，their communicative functions differ significantly in these two languages （Thomas，J，1983）.Nelson （2002） also points out that pragmatic failure occurs when an L1 speaker perceives the purpose of an L2 utterance as something other than the L2 speaker intended.We can see that Thomas and Nelson have analyzed the occurrence pragmalinguistic failures from two different perspectives.However，they mentioned nothing more than the negative transfer of the native language in First Language or Second Language learning.A foreign language learner，if not competent enough in the target language，may borrow expressions from their mother tongue to facilitate their communication.Such borrowing can be helpful sometimes，but unfortunately，due to the differences between the two languages，it may lead to misunderstanding.Thus，failure in communication may occur.

According to Odlin，transfer refers to the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously acquired.Negative transfer occurs when a language element in the native language is transferred into the target language and the target language speaker perceives it differently from what the learner wants to express.

A typical example I came across is when an American teacher commented on a certain thing，a Chinese said seriously，“Yes，you are right.” Hearing this，the teacher was startled at first and laughed after a second thought.Obviously，it was the students improper language that the student used surprised the teacher.This apparently resulted from the interference of Chinese.In Chinese，the expression “dui” which literally equals “Yes，you are right” is often used to show ones agreement.And it is not proper for student to comment on what a teacher said in class，which might imply a challenge to the teachers authority.

Many studies have shown that the negative influence of the mother tongue in the foreign/second language learning cannot be ruled out； however it can，at least，be minimized.

1.2 The lack of pragmatic knowledge

It is not merely the negative transfer of the native language may lead to pragmalinguistic failures.Sometimes，native speakers of the same language also make this kind of failure when communicating with their mother tongue.Lets look at the example as follow.

A：Do you know what Betty ate today？

B：She just had her lunch.

A：Idiot，didnt you have your lunch？

B：I did.

A：I tell you，she ate durian today.I smell it when she stood by me just now.

B：No wonder its so smelly here.

A：Its you whore smelly.Durian is so delicious.Its the king of the fruits.You idiot dont know it.

At the beginning of the conversation，B did not fully understand what A said.A was not satisfied with her answer and said impatiently，“Idiot，didnt you have your lunch？” B once again mistook this for a question，and thus answered，“I did.” This time，A ran out of patience and told B what she really intended to say.But still again，B failed to get As real intention.This is quite evident from what A said finally，“Its you whore smelly.” In this conversation，B failed to communicate successfully with A，because although she had no difficulty in understanding the literal meaning of what A said，she was not able to use contextual knowledge to get As intention.Thus pragmalinguistic failure occurs.

Bs failure to make the conversation successful strongly manifests her lack of pragmatic knowledge which is essential for the listener to understand the illocutionary meaning of the speaker.The lack of pragmatic sense can also lead to the occurrence of pragmalinguistic failure.

2.Causes of socio-pragmatic failures

Socio-pragmatics is the sociological interface of pragmatics.It studies the specific ‘local conditions on language use in a specific culture or language community.It includes differences in varied areas，such as culture differences，title differences，symbol differences and politeness differences.Language cannot be separated from culture.Language is the carrier of culture，and their relationship is part and whole，that's to say，language is a part of culture.Owing to different historical backgrounds and regional environments of different countries，there exist different cultural backgrounds in various countries.Since language is a part of culture，the non-equivalences of languages reflect the non-equivalences of cultures，and the non-equivalences of cultures have influences on languages to a great extent，therefore these influences lead to the non-equivalences of languages.China and English-speaking countries have completely different cultural backgrounds，and Chinese and English belong to two absolutely different language families，so Chinese culture has very great influence on the Chinese language，while the culture of English-speaking countries has great influence on the English language，and these influences will have a great impact on English teaching in China to a large degree.It makes a contrast between China and English-speaking countries in the aspects such as social customs，religious beliefs，regional environment，the way of thinking，fixed concepts，body language，metaphors and associations and their influences on the Chinese and English languages and English teaching in China.In this paper，it will discuss this problem from culture differences，title differences，symbol differences and politeness differences.

2.1 Culture differences

Because of cultural differences，misunderstandings may arise，although the language used in communication may be faultless.The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to different people.Because of cultural differences，a serious question may cause amusement or laughter； a harmless statement may cause displeasure or anger.Because of culture differences，jokes by a foreign speaker may be received with blank faces and stony silence，yet the same stories in the speakers own country would make audiences a lot of fun.

Obviously the culture here does not apply in the sense of sophisticated tastes in literature，music，art，ect.Here we have a much broader meaning.Following the definitions of sociologists and anthropologists，our term culture refers to the total pattern of beliefs，customs，institutions，objects and techniques that characterize the life of a human community.

Culture consists of all the shared products of human society.This means not only such material things as cities，organizations and schools，but also non-material things such as ideas，customs，family patterns and languages.Putting it simply，culture refers to the entire way of life of a society，‘the way of people.

Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it.Some sociologists regard if as the basis of culture.Without language，they maintain，that culture would not be possible.On the other hand，language is influenced and shaped by culture.In some way，we may say，language is the symbol of a people，and it contains their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways to living and thinking.

2.2 Addressing Differences

Addressing terms in a language may reflect different ranks of the people in a society.Appropriate title is quite important to show politeness in communications.However，inappropriate title may get people involved in socio-pragmatic failure.

In outdated English text books，such kind of conversation may appear：when a student on his way to school，he saw an old woman getting trapped in the middle of the street，he would came to her and asked，“Old Grandma，may I help you？” This is the typical example of pragmatic failure.In China，instead of addressing others name，people prefer addressing the professional job title，such as Director Lee.Whereas in Britain，directly addressing names is more common.If one does not know the other ones name，“Sir”，“Miss”，“Madam” are frequently used during conversation.So students greeting to their teachers with “Good morning，Miss/ Mr.Zhang！” is much better than saying “Good morning，Teacher！” Besides，China is a nation of the etiquette.It is highly praised of showing respect to others，especially to the elders.No matter whether they have blood relationship，addressing the elders such as Aunt Wang，Uncle Xia，Grandma Yuan，ect.However，it is quite awkward to addressing others like this for British people.As a matter of fact，it is quite natural for them to addressing elders their names.And，adding “old” before addressing the elders often hurt the elders for they believe they are still robust and vigorous.

2.3 Politeness Differences

One of the leading theories of politeness was developed by Brown and Levinson （1987），who argue that there are two forms of politeness：positive politeness and negative politeness.Positive politeness strategies are attempts by a speaker to treat the listener as a friend or as someone to be included in discourse.Negative politeness，on the other hand，is an attempt by the speaker to save the listeners face by engaging in some formality or restraint.Leech （1983） sees cultural rules at work in expressions of politeness and attempts to categorize in more detail some of the underlying intent behind these forms by articulating a set of rules or Politeness Maxims at work in polite dialogue.The potential of pragmatic failure is apparent when reviewing specific contrastive examples of politeness features across cultures.

Chen （1993） brings a focus on Chinese and American subjects to her study of politeness.She found Brown and Levinsons theory to be insufficient for explaining certain findings in her research and argued that in Brown and Levinsons theory individuals always respond to compliments by accepting them since the compliment is a form of positive politeness and failing to accept threatens the complimenters positive face.However，both American and Chinese speakers were found to engage in deflection responses （e.g.“Did I really do that well？”），and Chinese speakers frequently responded to compliments with rejection followed by self-denigration.Given certain difficulties analyzing these actions according to Brown and Levinsons theory，Chen proposes instead the use of Leechs Politeness Maxim，as described previously.

It was found that the AESs are primarily motivated by Leechs Agreement Maxim （compliment acceptance） while the CSs are motivated by his Modesty Maxim （compliment rejection and self-denigration）.This difference appears to be related to differences of social values between the two cultures，particularly in their respective beliefs regarding what constitutes self-image.

3.Solutions for pragmatic failure at pragmalinguistic level

In order to improve pragmatic competence，it is not enough to pay attention to sentence-analysis or listen and speak English as often as possible.We should also take notice of some important things，such as promoting more context-teaching，receiving more authentic English.

3.1 Promoting more context-teaching

The main purpose of context-teaching is to develop the students ability of communicating in pure English （Stern，1992）.In order to achieve a same communicating purpose，we can use different forms of language expression，because a certain meaning does not mean that there is only one sentence in correspondence with it.

3.2 Receiving more authentic English

If learning a foreign language，one should get as many opportunities as possible to communicate with native speakers so that he/she could get more authentic English.According to a report，a person who spend 2 hours a day listening to the English broadcast or watching a movie in original version or reading novels would master English much better than who do not do so.It is quite obvious that receiving more authentic English will help to avoid pragmatic failure in communication.

4.Solutions for pragmatic failure at socio-pragmatic level

In order to avoid pragmatic failure at socio-pragmatic level，cultivating the pragmatic sense and cultivating the sense of culture are two ways.

4.1 Cultivating the pragmatic sense

Cultivating the pragmatic sense means we should think of a good way to deal with the relationship between the form and the meaning of a language.When leaning and mastering the language form，we should also understand the sentence and express their meaning correctly.In concrete communicating situations，a great many factors will affect someone to choose different kinds of expressions.Different contexts ask for different language forms.Otherwise it will cause pragmatic failure and meanwhile cannot achieve the purpose of language communication.

4.2 Cultivating the sense of culture

As language and culture cannot be separated，each influencing and shaping the other.It is now broadly accepted in most parts of the world that learning a foreign language is not simply mastering an object of academic study but is more appropriately focused on learning a means of communication.Communication in real situations is never out of context，and because culture is part of most contexts，communication is rarely culture-free.Thus，it is now increasingly recognized that language learning and learning about target cultures cannot realistically be separated （Byram，1989）.

The term culture has different meanings.Some language teachers use the term to refer to cultural products （e.g.，literary works or works of art）.Others use it to refer to background information （e.g.，facts about the history or geography of countries where the target language is spoken）.Here，the term culture includes such aspects，but it also includes behavior and attitudes，and the social knowledge that people use to interpret experience.Moerman's （1988） definition is useful："Culture is a set-perhaps a system-of principles of interpretation，together with the products of that system." In this way，culture can be seen as the framework of assumptions，ideas，and beliefs that are used to interpret other people's actions，words，and patterns of thinking.This framework is necessarily subjective and is commonly taken for granted.However，it is crucial that foreign language learners should become aware of differing cultural frameworks，both their own and those of others； otherwise they will use their own cultural system to interpret target-language messages whose intended meaning may well be predicated on quite different cultural assumptions.

Following this line of thinking，we can argue that even to integrate communicative competence and learning about target cultures is insufficient.Indeed，communicative competence can be too general a term，in one well-known analysis，communicative competence is divided into the four aspects of grammatical，sociolinguistic，discourse，and strategic competences，but this list can be extended by adding intercultural competence.This concept has been widely used in social psychology and studies communication.In these fields，intercultural competence is seen in social effectiveness （i.e.，the ability to achieve instrumental and social goals） and appropriateness （i.e.，suitable communication in a given situation in a particular culture.It has been defined in foreign language learning as“the ability of a person to behave adequately in a flexible manner when confronted with actions，attitudes and expectations of representatives of foreign culture”.

It is not difficult to see strong arguments for developing students' intercultural competence，given the increasingly international nature of the work of many professors.In the contemporary world，a person does not need to travel to encounter representatives of other cultures：popular music，the media，large population movements，tourism，and the multi-cultural nature of many societies combine to ensure that sooner or later students will encounter members of other cultural groups.Developing students' skills in intercultural communication is therefore appropriate as a part of language teaching.It is，moreover，a worthy aim of education in general.Damen （1987） summarizes this point forcefully：“The current dedication to the development of the communicative competence of language learners mandates the development of intercultural understanding of the processes students and teachers alike.”

5.Conclusion

In this paper the two causes for the pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication have been explored from two levels：pragmalinguistic level and socio-pragmatic level，so give the solution of avoiding the problem from these two aspects.

Cross-cultural communication is an extremely complicated process.Nowadays，as the globalization of world economy gathers its pace faster than ever before，with the internet tearing down national boundaries，cross-cultural communication is part of our everyday life.On the cultural level，particularly in relation to misunderstanding，more research on cross-cultural pragmatic failure is urgently needed.Though the paper in this thesis has touched upon the problem，there still exist so many limitations.Very important research is strongly recommended here for the exploration a different view to analyze pragmatic failures.

References：

[1]Byram，M.（1989）.Culture Studies in Foreign Language Education.Clevedon：Multilingual Matters.

[2]Damen L.（1987）.Culture Learning：The Fifth Dimension in the Language Classroom.U.S.A.：Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

[3]Leech，G.（1983）.Principles of Pragmatics.London：Longman.