跨文化非言语交际语用失误研究

论文总字数：42851字

摘 要

随着经济全球化的不断发展，世界各国之间的联系不断加强，与此同时各国人民间的交际也日益频繁。但是，人们在跨文化交际过程中往往只重视语言交际，却忽视了非语言交际，由此引起了许多非语言交际语用失误的现象，从而导致交际障碍。本课题从跨文化交际和语用学的角度研究非语言交际中的语用失误现象及其产生的根源，并提出相关的解决措施。借此增强人们的跨文化非语言交际能力，减少交际中产生的摩擦。

关键词：非语言交际；文化差异；语用失误

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Studies of nonverbal communication 1

2.2 Studies of pragmatic failures 2

3. The manifestations of pragmatic failures in nonverbal communication 4

3.1 The definition of nonverbal communication 5

3.2 The definition of pragmatic failure 5

3.3 Pragmatic failures in body language 6

3.4 Pragmatic failures in paralanguage 8

3.4.1 Failures in intonation 8

3.5 Pragmatic failures in object language 9

3.6 Pragmatic failures in environmental language 11

4. The Causes of Pragmatic Failures in Nonverbal Communication 13

4.1 Values 13

4.2 Thinking patterns 14

4.3 Cultural prejudice and stereotypes 14

4.4 Cultural differences 15

5. Ways to Avoid Pragmatic Failures in Nonverbal Communication 16

5.1 Adapting to differences in nonverbal behavior actively 16

5.2 Respecting different cultures and learning relative cultural background knowledge 16

5.3 Observing the principle of politeness in cross-cultural communication 17

5.4 Improving pragmatic competence in nonverbal communication 17

6. Conclusion 18

Works Cited 20

1. Introduction

Cross-cultural communication consists of verbal communication and nonverbal communication. The first method attaches great importance to convey the meaning of language itself, while the second one refers to all means of communication except language, including body language, clothes, hairstyles and so on. Samovar (1981) believes that “in face-to-face communication, seven-tenths of the information is conveyed by nonverbal methods, and only three-tenths by nonverbal methods.”(Samovar 155). According to Zhang Yan (1995) : “when people talk, the weight of the words themselves only accounts for 7%, the intonation accounts for 38%, and the facial expression accounts for 55%. Sometimes a thousand words are said, and a gesture can be completely overturned.” (Zhang 101). Li Jiequn, a linguist of our country considers that the same nonverbal communication means have different meanings under different social conditions and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, not only should we recognize the importance of nonverbal communication in our daily life, but also explore relevant issues in depth which can effectively avoid and overcome cultural conflicts in cross-cultural communication.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Studies of nonverbal communication

Non-linguistics began in the 19th century. In 1872, Darwin published the Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, which initiated the study of modern body language. Since then, a large number of his opinions and surveys have been authenticated by researchers in various countries. Scientists have observed and recorded about 1 million nonverbal cues and signals from people, and a number of influential theoretical monographs and scientists have emerged. Less and less people not began to notice the development of this science.

In the 1980s, non-verbal communication, as a new frontier discipline, developed widely all over the world. The study of non-verbal communication in China developed rapidly in this period, and a large number of papers and works emerged subsequently, including the General Survey of Body Language of Geng Erling, the Magical Silent Language of Wang Fuxiang, the Introduction to Nonverbal Communication of Li Jiequn, the Cross-cultural Non-verbal Communication of Bi Jiwan and so on. At present, with the in-depth development of intercultural studies, linguistic culturology and language teaching theories, cultural factors in intercultural communication are attracting more and more attention from scholars and educators. Domestic studies on cultural differences in non-verbal communication have made great progress, and its role in foreign language teaching has been gradually recognized.

In 1952, the publication of Bird Whistler’s Introduction to Kinesics laid the foundation for the study of non-verbal communication as an independent branch of learning. In 1959, Hall published his monograph The Silent language on non-verbal communication. Through systematic observation and research on non-verbal communication behaviors of different nationalities, Hall put forward the role of cultural factors in communication, which provides a rich theoretical basis for the study of non-verbal communication. In the 1970s, a large number of research results and works were published. Among them, Faster’s Body Language introduces the research results of Western body language, and tells readers how to accurately understand non-verbal information in social communication and how to control their body language.

The history of cross-cultural communication research in various countries is relatively short, and this type of research mainly focuses on one aspect of verbal communication and nonverbal communication, that is, the study of the relationship between culture and verbal communication, but seldom involves the study of ideas, history, culture and values related to nonverbal communication.

2.2 Studies of pragmatic failures

Pragmatic failure was proposed by Jenny Thomas, a British scholar, in 1983. Thomas holds that pragmatic failure refers to the inability of the listener to understand the meaning of the speaker’s utterance. In communication, pragmatic failure occurs as long as the meaning of the utterance perceived by the listener is not the real intention of the speaker.(Thomas 94) Referring to Leech’s general pragmatics, which includes pragmatics and social pragmatics. She classifies pragmatic failures into two categories: pragmatic language failures and social pragmatics failures. Many scholars at home and abroad regard this theory as one of the contents of cross-cultural pragmatics and cross-cultural communication, which makes the research in this field flourishing.

Over the past 30 years, Chinese scholars have studied the theory of pragmatic failure through theoretical introduction, description, application and quantitative empirical research. Two scholars, Huang Cidong and He Ziran, contributed to the introduction of pragmatic failure theory. He Ziran put forward the “dichotomy theory” of pragmatic failure, which lays a solid theoretical foundation for the study of pragmatic failure in China.

The theoretical application stage is the first climax of pragmatic failure research in China. At this stage, Chinese scholars began to follow the questionnaire test method of He Ziran to conduct quantitative empirical research, in order to verify the correctness of pragmatic failure theory. More scholars have begun to make a comparative study of pragmatic failures in terms of cultural differences.

In the stage of theoretical development, Liu Shaozhong and Zhong Guoshi questioned Thomas’s “dichotomy” of pragmatic failure, believing that the “dichotomy” of errors neglected the pragmatic behavior and process in verbal communication.

Recently, quantitative empirical research on pragmatic competence is increasing. In the practice of interpretation teaching, Bao Xiaoying and Qian Mingdan put forward the trinity model of “textbook-teacher-teaching”. That is to say, textbooks should increase the input of real pragmatic knowledge, and teachers should establish the concept of improving students’ pragmatic competence, and construct a situational teaching model that simulates real life situations.

In the field of teaching and translation, Manuel Padilla (2013) explained the reasons for errors from the perspective of communicative relevance theory and believed that learners’ comprehension ability was different from that of native speakers. Therefore, during the process of understanding and overcoming pragmatic errors, emphasis should be placed on the speaker rather than the listener.

In the field of harmonious management, Italian scholar Chiara Zamborlin (2007) pointed out that he preferred to use “dissonance” rather than “error”. His purpose is to put forward a dynamic view of cross-cultural misunderstanding analysis on the possible causes and potential results of wrong communication. It is also what he calls “dissonance”.

Field Richard W. (2007) explained pragmatic failures from the perspective of national belief and philosophical belief, and pointed out that there should be no compelling reason to terminate the actions implied by these attributions that are dominated by the current belief. But in these cases of pragmatic lapses, we attribute hypothetical prelapses to beliefs based on the intent of all actions and the understanding of the relevant context.

There are also many shortcomings in the study of pragmatic failure by Chinese and foreign scholars. Firstly, most of the studies on pragmatic failures by Chinese scholars are based on Anglo-American culture, which makes the discourse power of the pragmatic rules of the communicators lose balance, and the conclusions of the study are difficult to be fair. Secondly, they pay more attention to the empirical study of pragmatic failures from the perspective of horizontal research, and the scope of the study is mostly cross-cultural pragmatic failures, while the quantitative empirical study of pragmatic failures with vertical and dynamic research methods is rare.

3. The manifestations of pragmatic failures in nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication can be split into four categories: body language, paralanguage, object language and environmental language. Pragmatic failures in cross-cultural nonverbal communication widely exist in these four aspects. Body language includes basic gestures, basic courtesy gestures and body movements. Paralanguage is also known as analogous language or adjunct language which has broad and narrow meanings. In broad sense, paralanguage includes pitch, posture, costume and communicative situation of nonverbal features. In narrow sense, it is limited to non-semantic sounds. Object language includes dress, appearance, smell, etc. Environment language includes space information, time information and so on. Spatial information includes the attitude towards crowding, the concept of territory, the distance between the two sides of communication, the arrangement of seats and so on. Time information includes time calculation and attitude, etc.

3.1 The definition of nonverbal communication

Samovar (1981) proposed the definition of non-verbal communication: Non-verbal communication refers to those factors which contain information value to the exporter or the recipient other than linguistic factors in a certain communicative environment.(Samovar 156) Chinese scholar Yang Quanliang (1990) holds that the so-called nonverbal communication refers to the process of transmitting information by means that do not belong to the category of speech(Yang 341). There are various forms of nonverbal communication. While verbal communication just can be split into spoken and written language. It includes all means of transmitting information except using language and words, such as body movements, facial expressions, space utilization, touch behavior, voice hints, dressing, decorations, etc. Even expressions without expressions and movements without movements are effective ways of nonverbal communication.

3.2 The definition of pragmatic failure

According to Thomas(1983), the definition of pragmatic failure is that it occurs when the meaning perceived by the listener is different from the meaning intended or perceived by the speaker.(Thomas 96) Thomas defines pragmatic failure from the perspective of the speaker and the listener. She splits pragmatic failure into two categories: pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. The former occurs in different languages. The latter can occur in the same or different languages. It refers to the failure of the speaker and listener choosing the language form in communication because they do not know the cultural background of the other party. It should be noted that the two types of pragmatic failures cannot be absolutely distinguished. From one perspective, it may be pragmalinguistic failure; from another perspective, it may be sociopragmatic failure. The reason lies in the different context.

3.3 Pragmatic failures in body language

Body language was proposed by R.Birdwhistell, an American psychologist, in 1970. He believes that more than 65% of the means of expression of meaning and emotion are completed by facial expressions, movements, gestures and other body language. Communication scientist Roger E. Axtell has shown that humans can produce up to 700,000 body signals (Roger 7). It can be seen that body language has a significant impact on communication. In various cultures, one body language may express many meanings. Moreover, many body languages have obvious regional and cultural characteristics, and people can’t understand them if they don’t know about the culture and local habits. For example, in our country, nodding refers to affirmation, consent, recognition, approval, satisfaction, understanding, obedience, thanks or greetings. Contrary to nodding, shaking one’s head means denying, disagreeing, disapproving, etc. However, in India, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Nepal, Pakistan and other countries or regions, shaking one’s head means agreement, while nodding one’s head means disagreement.

3.3.1 Failures in hand gestures

The hand is the most powerful body part for expressing emotions and wishes, and researcher M.H. Krout believes that there are 5,000 different human gestures, which he believes are equivalent to verbal expression (Roger 7). Usually, people can understand each other"s mental activity or state through the touch or movement of hands. For example, shaking hands means greeting and friendliness, clapping hands means encouragement or congratulations, shaking hands involuntarily in anger or fear, and so on. However, the meaning of gestures can vary from culture to culture. While Europeans draw a circle of their index fingers around their temples to indicate that something is crazy or weird, the Chinese move is mind-blowing. The Chinese praise other people’s inventions and creations as great, so they put up their thumbs and show their little fingers to the mediocre ones. Europeans standing by the side of the road with their arms outstretched and their thumbs up indicate a need for a lift, which is quite different from the Chinese gesture.

3.3.2 Failures in eye contact

One important aspect of body language is eye contact. Eye contact can mean a lot, but it can mean different things in different countries. In some regions of the Middle East, looking at the other person in conversation is considered impolite. In Japan, South Korea and Thailand, it is considered rude to stare at people for long periods of time. Some Spanish speakers, such as Puerto Ricans, West Indians and some Orientals, do not look directly into the eyes of the elderly to show respect. In England, a polite listener keeps his eyes on the other person and blinks frequently to show that he is interested in the conversation. The United States, Canada, Britain, Eastern Europe, and Jewish cultures all prefer “face to face” communication.

3.3.3 Failures in facial expression

Facial expressions are the most powerful and direct way for people to express their feelings and intentions. Faces express emotions faster than words. In fact, the face is the most important nonverbal channel through which humans transmit their feelings and attitudes to others. Facial expression plays a very important role in people’s life. Bird whist estimates that a human face can produce at least 250,000 expressions. According to Leeders, the ten most important facial expressions humans make are: happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, interest, and frustration and determination (Leathers, 1996). The face accounts for less than one-twentieth of the body’s surface area, but it can express more than 80% of the emotions that the human body can express. Therefore, it is particularly important to accurately use facial expressions and judge the true intentions and emotions expressed through facial expressions. A person’s facial expressions can influence how others react to them. A person is liked or disliked, often not for what he says, but for the way he says it. Frowning denotes “intense anxiety or meditation”; Sweat on the forehead means “mental tension or hard work”; Smiling and a good belly laugh can convey emotions such as “friendliness, cheerfulness and contentment”. People all over the world smile, but the extent, duration, and causes of smiles vary from culture to culture. In the United States, smiling is considered a sign of happiness and friendship, but in South Korea, too much smiling is considered superficial.

3.4 Pragmatic failures in paralanguage

Paralanguage refers to the general term of non-verbal behaviors used by people in the process of communication to assist spoken language, convey information, express emotions and show attitudes. In a narrow sense, paralanguage only refers to some pronunciation features and language phenomena that accompany language when people speak, including pause, speed, rhythm, intonation and stress, which are often unconscious and subconscious. Broadly speaking, paralanguage also includes a variety of body language, such as facial expressions, head movements, eyes, gestures, etc., which mainly plays an auxiliary role in the communication of spoken language. Paralanguage, which reflects the real attitude, psychological activities and values of the speaker, is more credible than spoken language.

3.4.1 Failures in intonation

Chinese is a tonal language in which the tone is part of the word, while English is a kind of intonation language. Its intonation does not belong to the word, but belongs to the utterance. In Chinese culture, superiors talk to subordinates and parents talk to their children in rising or falling tone. In turn, subordinates to superiors, children to parents with a lower tone. This is determined by the traditional hierarchy in China, because the falling tone means command, while the rising or rising tone means respect, which is a tone of request and consultation. In cross-cultural communication, westerners are not familiar with the habits of Chinese people. When they see or hear the intonation adopted by Chinese people for children and subordinates, they will have pragmatic misunderstanding. In their view, these relationships are equal and there is no distinction between superior and inferior. Therefore, it is necessary to figure out the pragmatic meaning of intonation, understand the speaker’s intention, and make the communication more harmonious.

3.4.2 Failures in pause

The pause or silence can directly show the speaker’s pragmatic purpose, which restricts the confirmation and expression of the pause. The speaker can express different pragmatic effects by using different pauses for different purposes.

In eastern and western cultures, it has been endowed with completely different meanings. Chinese people believe that “silence is gold” and use silence to express acquiescence, reservation, consideration or opposition. Westerners tend to think silence is negative and regard it as a sign of bad manners or lack of confidence. From the perspective of Chinese people, “silence” can mean either silent approval or protest. It can be a willful acquiescence or self-assertion. It can be a sign of agreement or determination. A proper pause can produce amazing effects which has the artistic charm that “silence is stronger than sound”. Therefore, some people call it “silent language” and consider it as a climax conversion mode beyond the power of language. In daily communication, Chinese people always keep silent and refuse to answer when they are faced with difficulties or embarrassment. In the British and American view, this is contempt or reluctance to contact, because they want to get an immediate response.

3.5 Pragmatic failures in object language

Object language includes skin modification, body odor concealment, clothing and make-up, the communicative function of personal goods, and the communicative information provided by furniture and vehicles, which can convey non-verbal information and display the personal and cultural characteristics of the communicative subject. The misunderstanding of object language is not uncommon in cross-cultural communication, which is closely related to cultural variations.

3.5.1 Failures in skin modification

Many Chinese people are fond of white skin, as a saying vividly reveals the phenomenon that “A white complexion is powerful enough to hide seven faults.” On the contrary, foreigners usually like to sunbathe, and even carry out professional tanning. They are fond of dark skin because it makes them more beautiful. Different aesthetics make the world colorful, but we should keep in mind that we should respect the beauty of others while showing our own beauty.

3.5.2 Failure in clothing

As a symbol, clothing conveys information in communication and is a kind of intentional implication, which can indicate people’s identity, status, occupation, personality and aesthetic information. In Arabia, women are required to wear robes and veil, and their clothes must cover most of the body. It is a great taboo to show a part of the body in public. In other democratic and open countries, people dress according to the temperature and their preferences. Westerners believe in Christianity, advocate equality for all and emphasize individuality. Arabs believe in Islam and demand obedience to the will and authority of Allah. Therefore, the Arabs strictly discipline themselves and abide by the teachings. Therefore, in cross-cultural communication, we should pay attention to the issue of whether the clothes are appropriate.

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