Semantic Changes and Pragmatic Functions of Address Form “Bao” in Chinese Media Context

As an emerging address form, "Bao" is popular and widely used in media and has its own place in lovers' prattles. This article compares the newly fashioned address "bao" with the other two address forms, "bao bao" popular in 2015 as one of the ten buzzwords and "bao bei", respectively. It is found that the three shares the basic semantic meaning, but the degrees of their semantic extension differ. There are three semantic meanings: to refer to children from the parents' part, refer to someone in close relation, and refer to all the people. Meanwhile, "bao" has its distinctive features in pragmatic functions. The first one is to maintain a harmonious relationship, and the second is to achieve communicative goals. Therefore, we should consider when choosing among the three addresses, albeit their semantic generalization, in case of pragmatic failure.

Introducing ‘Pragmatic Intelligence’ as a Prerequisite for Pragmatic Competence in Communication

There have been various approaches to the definition of the elusive term ‘intelligence’ from the perspectives of psychologists, computer language experts, natural scientists, linguists, philosophers, and others. However, no unanimous definition has so far been made for the term. On the contrary, new readings and understandings arise as the outcome of theoretical and experimental studies. This paper is an attempt to introduce the term ‘pragmatic intelligence’ as a prerequisite and a basic requirement for pragmatic competence to avoid pragmatic failure and secure a felicitous communication among interlocutors. The paper hypothesizes that ‘pragmatic intelligence’ is a prerequisite for ‘pragmatic competence’. In order to verify the hypothesis, the researcher theoretically analyzed the necessity of associating pragmatic competence with a mother concept of the same origin rather than connecting it to either Chomsky’s grammatical competence or Hymes’ communicative competence. The paper concluded that ‘pragmatic intelligence’ encompasses innate factors that human beings are born with, which could be shaped in the form of pragmatic competence depending on the quantity and quality of the obtained knowledge. Nonetheless, the paper also proposes for researchers to study the universal characteristics of ‘pragmatic intelligence’ and its pedagogical implications on first and second language acquisition

Pragmatic Competence: Difficulties faced by Pakistani EFL Learners

The study investigates the pragmatic knowledge; pragmatic competence level as well as speech act strategies used by Pakistani EFL learners. It reveals that Master level English language learners are unable to produce and comprehend the intended meanings in the target language. As a result, pragmatic failure and misunderstanding occurred. Pragmatic comprehension and production is essential for effective communication especially for EFL learners in this modern age where people have to communicate cross-culturally as English is being used as lingua franca internationally. The study explores the problems faced by EFL learners in comprehending and producing the correct speech acts in English. The study used two data collection tools: a WDCT in which speech acts of refusal and apology are used to find out pragmatic competence level and difficulties faced by Pakistani EFL learners. A Likert Scale questionnaire is used to know about the views and suggestions of the Pakistani EFL learners about the teaching and learning environment regarding the pragmatics. The data of speech acts of refusal is analyzed qualitatively according to the taxonomy of Beebe, keeping in view frequency, shift and content of semantic formulas. While the data of speech acts of apology is analyzed according to the speech act strategies of Cohen. Data collected through the Likert scale questionnaire is analyzed quantitatively. The study finds out that pragmatic competence level of Pakistani EFL learners is very low as well as they have to face many difficulties which result in pragmatic failure. Findings of the study show that Pakistani EFL learners lack knowledge of pragmatics in the target language. EFL learners acknowledged that pragmatic knowledge is very important for effective communication and it should be an integral part of syllabus and classroom activities.

Examining pragmatic failure and other language-related risks in global aviation

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the pragmatic failure and other language-related risks between pilots and air traffic controllers in intercultural aviation communication. The paper attempts to provide recommendations for the minimization of these risks, thereby improving aviation safety by reducing the rate of aviation incidents and accidents. Pragmatic failure refers to the miscomprehension of intended pragmatic meaning. As opposed to semantic meaning, it depends on the context and is highly influenced by culture. Design/methodology/approach The risk of pragmatic failure in aviation is presented hypothetically, and examples of language-related communication failure in air-to-ground communication between pilots and air traffic controllers (ATCOs) involving language are examined, including an example involving pragmatic failure. A questionnaire has been developed to survey pilots and ATCOs who communicate over radiotelephony. Results from 212 respondents are presented and conclusions are drawn. Findings The authors propose, based on linguistic theory and the results of this survey, that native English-speaking aviation operators gain more familiarity with the inner workings of the English language, in particular regarding the difference between semantic and pragmatic meaning. They benefit from this awareness whenever communicating with people of other cultures to develop the valuable skill of focusing on semantic meaning while avoiding adding pragmatic meaning. This minimizes the potential of misunderstanding when an emergency arises that cannot be dealt with through the International Civil Aviation Organization standard phraseology and when the listener of this message is someone from a different culture. Practical implications Language and communication are the main tools that play a vital role in reducing the rate of aircraft incidents and accidents. In aviation, pilots and ATCOs are neither in face-to-face contact nor have a video speech interface between them while communicating with each other. Their communications are conducted entirely through radio messages using a specialized language designed to make communication as accurate and efficient as possible. This study, therefore, is important in terms of investigating the risks of pragmatic failure and of language errors in general between pilots and air traffic controllers. This research will be a useful guide for designing training for operators (pilots and ATCOs) as well. Originality/value The main focus of the study is to investigate reasons for pragmatic failure and other language-related causes of misunderstanding between pilots and air traffic controllers over air-to-ground communication. To illustrate these roles, a questionnaire has been developed for pilots and ATCOs who communicate over aeronautical radiotelephony and examples of aircraft accidents were given.

A PROPOSED FRAME OF REFERENCE FOR RESEARCH OF SAME-DIFFERENCE IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND PRAGMATIC FAILURE IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: REFERENCE OF EXPRESSION (CULTURE)

The author of this article proposes a frame of reference for research on same-difference and pragmatic failure in cross-cultural and intercultural communication. This frame is developed with three dimensions of reference: ‘Expression’ (Culture), ‘Impact’ (Communication) and ‘Level’ (Layers of reference). Review of different approaches to the dimension of ‘Expression’ by different scholars, such as Hofstede, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, Hall and Lewis is presented with comments before the author’s own is to be given in the next article.

Native Speaker’s Perception Of The Naturalness In The Japanese Speech Act Response Of Compliment Among Japanese Learners In Indonesia

Responding to compliment sometimes puts the speech partner in a dilemma. Receiving a compliment can cause a chance of a self-compliment impression. If you refuse a compliment, it will give the impression of not appreciating the reasonable judgment of the speech partner (complimenter). This dilemma will be more complicated for foreign language learners, including those who have linguistic skills at an advanced level. This article contains how native speakers provide an assessment for the compliment responses of speeches to Japanese learners, especially in Central Java and D.I.Yogyakarta. Fifty-three respondents were Japanese learners, and five were native Japanese speakers as judges to assess the naturalness of the respondents' compliment speech responses. Among 424 responses of Japanese learners' compliment speech, 55 per cent of the respondents' speech was considered unnatural. It indicates that there has been a socio-pragmatic failure and a pragma-linguistic failure. Socio-pragmatic failure can be seen in the "lack of competence" to consider extra-linguistic factors, such as the failure to consider whom the partners are speaking, the failure to understand the horizontal distance and vertical distance speech partners. The use of speech levels that are not under the conversation context is quite visible in the data.

Cultural Diversity in Native and Non-Native Speakers of English Communication

With the advancement of technology ,the study of cross-cultural communication via on line has become an important and researchable topic in linguistic theory and its applications.The aims of this study are two- fold (a) exploring the influence of cultural diversity on on-line interaction between American native speakers (NSs) and Iraqi non-native speakers (NNSs) of English which, together with other factors might potentially lead to what Thomas(1983) calls "pragmatic failure" (PF), a main cause of communication breakdowns and (b) specifying which type of PF occurs more frequently between the two groups along with the reasons behind such failures. To achieve these objectives , a number of online chats conducted between (10) American speakers of English and (8) Iraqi graduate students of English were collected and analyzed on the basis of Thomas' (1983) division of PF in an attempt to verify the assumption that pragmatic failure is a result of cultural diversity between the two groups of participants.Results revealed that the cultural differences between the two groups could be a major cause of misunderstanding ie. PF., a finding which can be of value to textbook designers and teachers of English as a foreign language (FL)who are required to improve students' pragmatic ability in classroom by focusing not only on their grammatical competence but also on their pragmatic competence.