Intercultural communication in English: Arguments for a cognitive approach to intercultural pragmatics

Abstract

Until now, academic interest in intercultural communication has largely ignored the fact that much if not most of these interactions go on in second and foreign language varieties (cf. Kachru 1994: 13), and, specifically, the role of English as a lingua franca (House 1999: 74). Another shortcoming of studies of intercultural communication is an undue theoretical restriction in functionalist pragmatic approaches that excludes crucial aspects of the category “culture,” on the grounds that they lie outside of the scope of linguistic pragmatics (e.g., Blommaert 1991). In opposition to this tenet, the study of the relation between language and culture has been on the agenda of cognitive linguistics from the very beginning, and recent works in this field highlight the usage-based nature of the cognitive linguistic enterprise, which in turn shifts the focus to questions of sociolinguistic and socio-cultural variation (Dirven 2005; Geeraerts 2005). To our minds, cognitive linguistics, and cognitive sociolinguistics (Kristiansen & Dirven forthcoming) in particular, have much to contribute to overcome the limitations of functionalist pragmatics. So the aim and scope of our paper are as follows: First, we will discuss the implications of the use of English in intercultural communication against the backdrop of current debates in the field of world Englishes. Following this short discussion, we will present the results of studies involving second language (L2) speakers from different cultural backgrounds that highlight differences in conceptualizations pertaining to the domain(s) of family, age, and ancestors. We will argue that these differences are likely to result in intercultural incomprehension or misunderstanding (in a wide sense). Abstracting from this cognitive-pragmatic level, we will use our examples to highlight shortcomings of mere functionalism, and to demonstrate that cognitive linguistics, with its semantic and conceptual orientation, can enhance our understanding of the different cultures of speakers engaged in intercultural communication. Finally, at the metatheoretical level, we will point out that the application of cognitive linguistic methods to the study of intercultural communication entails a further recognition of hermeneutics in cognitive linguistics (cf. Geeraerts 1992).