Contextualizing intercultural communication and sociopragmatic choices

Abstract

This paper examines intercultural communication from the standpoint of language as a social phenomenon (Searle) and argues for the consideration of context as basic to this approach. Based on conversation analysis of transactional exchanges between native and non-native speakers of English, it is found that miscommunication is the result of participants applying culture-specific rules to the interpretation of a single message. The analyses of verbal repertoire and verbal behavior of non-native speakers show that interlingual transfer is a common phenomenon. Lack of speech convergence in the speech styles of both native and non-native speakers may be attributed to differing participant backgrounds in cultural and communicative conventions. There is empirical evidence to suggest that successful intercultural communication in a multilingual, cross-cultural setting is dependent, amongst other factors, on the observation that: 1. verbal politeness is culture-specific; 2. speech acts are speech variety-specific; 3. speech styles are influenced by interlingual transfer.