A Tentative Study on Pragmatic Failure in Cross—culture Communication

劉佳 田慶武

【Abstract】The paper analyzes the phenomena of the pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication， and discusses its classification and causes. Recommendations are also made on how to raise the pragmatic awareness， to develop the pragmatic ability， and to increase cross-cultural communicative competence in English.

【Key words】cross-cultural communication， pragmatic failure， pragmatic competence

Ⅰ Introduction

With the increasing process of globalization， cross-cultural communication becomes more and more prevalent in our daily life. Developing communication makes the cultural exchange much easier than before. Cultural communication involves the communication of the people from different backgrounds and relationship is complicate and intricate. Differences exist within language， and so does the culture. As an international language， English is the most widely used throughout the world. English as a communication tool is becoming increasingly more important in China. If we neglect the distinction， the pragmatic failures are easily made.

Ⅱ Cross-cultural communication

The cross-cultural communication only emerged a few decades ago as an independent subject. Hall put forward the term cross-cultural communication first in his book The Silent Language. It can be defined as the interpersonal communication between members of different cultures. Some of the researches in this field are popular， which lie in the research on the world and value outlook， the study of the cultural characteristic factor on language behavior and the research on the non-verbal communication.

Ⅲ Pragmatic failure

The concept of pragmatic failure is first advocated by British linguist Jenny Thomas （1983） in her Applied Linguistics. She holds that in the cross-cultural communication， when the hearer cannot understand the semantic meaning of what the speaker says or gives an inappropriate response to what the speaker means， communication failure or pragmatic failure occurs. Pragmatic failure is not just the sample syntax errors， but also because of wrong way of speaking does not conform to language conventions， which leads the communication cannot reach the expectation effect.

In addition， Jenny has distinguished two kinds of pragmatic failure： pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. They occur in verbal communication and no clear demarcation exits between them. Different culture values， different thought patterns， pragmatic transfer and improper learning or teaching techniques may result in such failures.

Ⅳ Successful Cross-cultural communication Tactics

The aim of pragmatic failure researches is to overcome the conflicts under the condition of cross-cultural communication in order to have successful communication. Language learners must not only acquire the correct forms and sounds of the target language， but also the knowledge of how language is pragmatically used in the target culture. Therefore， some tactics to develop cross-cultural communicative competence and avoid pragmatic failure are worth noted.

Firstly， we should make efforts to understand ours and others cultural values， norms， customs and social systems. Secondly， the better English environment should be provided creatively for English learners under the infinite conditions to practice their pragmatic competence. Whats more， culture exchange asks us to respect the difference of different counties and we should learn and catch up with each other but not eliminate the advantages of other counties.

Ⅴ Conclusion

Cross-cultural communication happens everywhere in our global village. These pragmatic failure analyses may help us to avoid pragmatic failure， gain chances and success in real communication.

Bibliography

[1]E. T. Hall. The silent language[M].Doubleday Press， 1990

[2]Thomas Jenny. Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure[J].Applied Linguistics， 1983（4）