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语用失误

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ChapterThreeAnalysisofPragmaticFailure

Incross-culturalcommunicationpeoplewithdifferentculturalbackgroundsoftenencounter

misunderstandingbetweeneachothereventhoughtheyfindlittledifficultiesinunderstanding

theliteralmeaningoftheirutterances.Asitisdemonstratedinthefollowingcommunication

event,aChinesesportcorrespondentwasgoingtocovertheWorld’sFastestWoman100-meter

raceinChengdu,China.HehadachancemeetingwithMarionJonesoftheUnitedStates,World

100-meterchampion,andherfriend,Hunter,onboardthesameflight.

Correspondent:

（eagertostrikeupaconversationandcomplimentary）

YoulookverymuchlikeO’Neil.

Hunter:

（flaringupwithwide-openeyes）

Nonsense!

Idon’tlooklikehim.

Obviously,theconversationcametoanabruptendbecauseofHunter’sstrongresentmentto

belikenedtoO’Neil.Meanwhile,thecorrespondentmightbeatacompletelossastowhy

Huntergotirritatedsincewhathesaidisawell-acceptedconversationalbeginningandapolite,

good-humoredcomplimentforaverageChinesepeople.Suchmiscommunicationoftenhappens,

notbecauseofthenon-nativespeakers’grammaticalincompetenceasrevealedintheirinaccurate

pronunciationorgrammaticalmistakesofthetargetlanguage,butbecauseoftheirpragmatic

incompetence,whichiscalledpragmaticfailureasdistinguishedfromgrammaticalerror.

Therefore,pragmaticfailure,whichcausescommunicationbreakdown,hasbecomemoreand

moreworthyofattentionincross-culturecommunication.Inthischaptertheissueisgoingtobe

explored,whichmainlyconcernsthecommunicationbetweenChineseEnglishlearnersand

Englishnativespeakers.

3.1DefinitionofPragmaticFailure

PragmaticfailurewasfirstproposedbyJennyThomas（1983:

91）toreferto“theinabilityto

understandwhatismeantbywhatissaid.”Thomasnotesthatpragmaticfailurehasoccurredon

anyoccasion（1983:

94）onwhichH（thehearer）perceivestheforceofS’s（thespeaker’s）

utteranceasotherthanSintendedheorsheshouldperceiveit.Forexample,pragmaticfailure

willoccur,if:

A:

HperceivestheforceofS’sutteranceasstrongasorweakerthanSintendeds/heshould

perceiveit;

B:

Hperceivesasanorderanutterance,whichSintendeds/heshouldperceiveasarequest;

C:

HperceivesS’sutteranceasambivalentwhereSintendednoambivalence;

D:

SexpectsHtobeabletoinfertheforceofhis/herutterance,butisrelyingonthesystem13

ofknowledgeorbeliefswhichSandHdonotshare.

HeZiranpointsoutthatpragmaticfailuresarenottheerrorsindiction,butthosemistakes

failingtofulfilcommunicationbecauseofinfelicitousstyles,incompatibleexpressionsand

improperhabit（HeZiran,1997:

205）.QianGuanliandefinesthatalthoughthespeakerusesthe

sentenceswhicharegrammaticallycorrect,heunconsciouslyviolatesthenormsofinterpersonal

relationshipandsocialnormsinspeech,ortakesnonoticeoftime,hearerandcontext（Qian

Guanlian,2001:

59）.Incertaindegree,HeZiranandQianGuanlianhavethesameopinionand

discusspragmaticfailuresinthesocialandculturalcontext,pointingoutthatwhenpragmatic

failuresoccur,thetwosidesinthecommunicationareintheconditionofbeingunconscious

abouttheirreasons,whichcausepragmaticfailures.Thenatureofpragmaticfailureisthatitfails

toachievethespeaker’sgoal.Thiskindoffailureoftenhappensespeciallyinthecross-cultural

communication.

3.2ClassificationofPragmaticFailure

JennyThomas（1983）hasdistinguishedtwokindsofpragmaticfailure:

pragmalinguistic

failureandsociopragmaticfailure,whicharederivedfromLeech.Leechputforwardthe

distinctionbetweenpragmalinguisticsandsociopragmaticsastwosub-branchesofpragmatics,

bywhichhemeanttofacilitatethegeneralpragmatics,since“generalpragmatics,asstudiedhere,

isafairlyabstractstudy”.Therefore,weneed“detailedpragmalinguisticstudieswhichare

languagespecificanddetailedsociopragmaticstudieswhichareculturespecific”.（1983:

11）.

Thomasthenadoptedthetermstofacilitatestudiesonpragmaticfailure.

3.2.1PragmalinguisticFailure

Pragmalinguisticfailureoccurswhenlearnersdonotexpressthemselvesinalinguistically

appropriatemanner.Incross-culturalcommunication,it“ariseswhenthepragmaticforce

mappedbystudentsontoagivenutteranceissystematicallydifferentfromtheforcemost

frequentlyassignedtoitbynativespeakersofthetargetlanguage,orwhenspeechactstrategies

areinappropriatelytransferredfromL1toL2”（Thomas,1983:

99）.Onekindofsuchfailures

ariseswhentwolanguagessharethesameexpressionbutuseitindifferentsituations.For

example,itiscommoninChinesetogivearesponsetothanksbysaying“没关系（meiguanxi）”.

If,however,aChineselearnerofEnglishweretotranslate“meiguanxi”intoEnglishliterallyas

“Nevermind”inresponsetoanexpressionofgratitudesuchas“Thanksalot.That’sagreat

help.”,theEnglishaddresseewouldnotbeabletointerprettheutteranceasanacknowledgement

ofthanks.Thoughtheliteralmeaningof“Nevermind”isequaltotheChinese“meiguanxi”,the

communicativeconventionsbehindthetwoexpressionsaredifferent.“meiguanxi”inChinese14

isutteredinresponsetoeitherthanksorapologywhiletheEnglishexpression“Nevermind”is

usedonlyindeclinationtoanapology.Thus,theforceoftheutterancewouldbelostandthe

ChineselearnerofEnglishwouldhavefailedtomakehisorhermeaningunderstood.

Pragmalinguisticfailurealsostemsfrompragmaticambiguity,thatis,aspeakerintendsone

force,butanotherinterpretationoftheintendedforceispossible.Takethefollowing

conversationforexample:

Atelephoneconversationbetweenaprofessorandaforeignstudentillustratesthestudent’s

failuretointerprettheintendedspeechact:

Professor:

Hello,isMr.Mathereplease?

Student:

Yes.

Professor:

Oh---mayIspeaktohimplease?

Student:

Yes.

Professor:

Oh---areyouMr.Ma?

Student:

Yes,thisisMr.Ma.

Herestudentrespondstoprofessor’squestionasifitwereanexistentialquestionratherthan

asummons.Inthiscase,thespeakerisgenerallyunawarethatmorethanoneinterpretationis

available.Suchpragmaticambiguityisnotdifficultfornativespeakerstointerpretbecauseina

specificcontextonemeaningisusuallymoreprominentthantheothers,andthusisusuallytaken

first.TheChinesestudents,whoarenotexposedtotheeverydayconversationofthetarget

language,however,havegreatdifficultyininterpretingit.

3.2.2SociopragmaticFailure

Sociopragmaticfailurereferstothatkindofmiscommunicationresultingfromignoranceor

negligenceofsocialorculturaldifferencesofthespeakerorthelistenerincross-cultural

communication.Thediversityinsocialvaluesystemsandculturalandlanguagenormsarenot

alwayswellinterpreted.Thus,misunderstandingofone’sintentionisinevitablycausedandisfar

moredelicateanddifficulttodealwithsinceitinvolvesthespeaker’sculturalknowledgeofthe

targetlanguage.Letuslookatthefollowingexamples:

Situation:

Intheclassroom,Mr.SmithcongratulatesLiYingonhersuccessinthe

examination.

Mr.Smith:

Iwastoldthatyoupassedthecollegeentranceexamination.Congratulations.

Youreallydidaverygoodjob.

LiYing:

Justlucky.

Li’sresponseshowsmodestyandhumility,forinChineseculture,directacceptanceofa

complimentwouldimplyconceitorlackofmanner.InEnglishculture,peoplewouldaccept15

praisenaturallybysaying“Thankyou”or“Iamgladyouthinkso.”withoutbeingthought

immodestorarrogant,onthecontrary,theythinksuchhumilityandmodestyimplyweakness,

incompetenceandalackofself-confidence.Differentreactiontopraiseleadstosociopragmatic

failure.Whilethewaytooffercommendationmaysometimesbringaboutthefailure.For

example:

AfterProf.Smithfinishedhislecture,severalstudentswentuptohimandsaid,“Prof.

Smith,you’vemadeawonderfullecture.”

InaninvestigationcarriedoutbyHeZiran（1985）almostonehundredpercentofthe

subjectsconsideredthestatementofcommendationcompletelyappropriateandthoughtsurely

theaddresseewouldacceptithappily.ButinEnglandorinAmerica,agoodacademiclecture

meansthatitmustbepracticalandrealistic,notwonderful.Suchastatementgivesthe

impressionthatthespeakerisflatteringandinsincere.

WecanseesuchsociopragmaticfailuresareduetothedifferentsocialvaluesbetweenChinese

andwesterners,whicharerelatedtothebeliefs,customs,conceptsoftheworld,andother

culture-specificfactorsofEnglishspeakingcommunity.Withoutadequateculturalknowledge,

wecan’tidentifythematall.

3.3CausesofPragmaticFailure

Today,fewwoulddenythatcross-culturalcommunicationisaprocessofavoiding

pragmaticfailurewiththepurposetoachievesuccessfulcommunicationbetweenpeopleunder

differentculturalbackgrounds.Thenwhatexactlycausespragmaticfailure?

Therearevarious

reasonsbehindpragmaticfailure.Themajorcausesare:

1）CultureDifference,2）Inappropriate

Transfer,and3）IgnoranceoftheContext,4）LackofPragmaticKnowledge,and5）

Ethnocentrism.Thefollowingpartwillexplaineachofthem.

3.3.1CultureDifference

Incross-culturalcommunication,culturaldifferenceinevitablycreatesbarrierstoeffective

communication,becauseChinesepeopleandwesternpeoplecomplywithdifferentsetsofnorms

andrulesofsocialinteraction.TheChineselearnersofEnglishmaybequitefamiliarwiththe

Englishgrammaticalrules,buttheymayignorethefactthatthenativespeakersofEnglishspeak

differently,respondtocomplimentsandapologizedifferently,engageindifferentformsofpolite

interaction,adoptdifferentwaysofmakingrequestsandsoon.Unawareofthedifferences

betweenChine