【英语专业毕业论文】A Pragmatic Failure Analysis of And Used in English.docVIP

An Analysis of Pragmatic Failure in Cross-cultural Communication and the Countermeasures ［Abstract］ Communication may break down due to pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication. This paper not only analyzes the categories and causes of pragmatic failures but also concludes with suggestions on the effective ways of overcoming pragmatic failures and developing students’pragmatic competence. ［Key words］ cross-cultural communication; pragmatic failure; pragmatic competence Ⅰ. Introduction Pragmatic failure was first proposed by Thomas (1983:91) to refer to the inability to understand what is meant by what is said. In cross -cultural communication people from different cultures speak the same language, but their communication may break down due to pragmatic differences in ways of think－ ing, rules of speaking, social values, lexical connotations and other factors. Pragmatic failures, which arise when speakers can’ pro－ t duce appropriate utterances or can’ reach properly to an ut－ t terance or context, are quite common among English learners in China. Pragmatic failure is not caused by the aspect of wrong grammar, or inappropriate syntax, but mainly due to the unsuitable speaking manner, or speaking at unsuitable time or failure to keep up with the native speaker’ expressive habit s or neglecting the cultural backgrounds of the counterparts, etc. Such failures bring about great difficulty for cross -cultural communication and have become the main causes of communi－ cation failures. Although both grammatical and pragmatic fail－ ures can led to communicative failures, native speakers are usually tolerant of the former and attribute it to speakers’in－ ability to speak English well since it can be found from the surface structure. However, if a man with fluent spoken Eng－ lish makes a pragmatic mistake, the hearers will not attribute it to his lack of linguistic competence, instead, they mostly at－ tribute it to his rudeness or ill