INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
Knowledge of basic notions of Linguistics is beneficial. Nevertheless, if necessary, basic notions will be discussed again during lectures.
A written test structured in 5 exam questions (time: 2 hours). Three questions will be on theoretical topics covered in the course. One question will be about “pragmatic” commentary on a dialogue (identifying politeness strategies, discourse markers, etc.). Finally, one question will cover the analysis of an advertisement or short political text.
The module comprises two parts, a theoretically-oriented one and a practically-oriented one.
The first part aims at providing the students with basic notions in intercultural communication, a discipline that deals with the language-specific and culture-specific aspects of speech acts and conversation. When communicating in a foreign language, mastering conversational routines is one of the most difficult tasks. Such an ability is relevant to both translators, who mostly operate with written texts, and mediators, who often face unplanned conversational situations in their profession.
The main theoretical notions of intercultural pragmatics (such as, for instance, the notions of face, politeness) will be critically presented, and their usefulness will be evaluated through a rich exemplification drawn from recent studies, mostly concerned with the language- and culture-specific declinations of these notions in various European and extra-European contexts.
The second part will deal with intercultural communication in multilingual professional settings. Through the analysis of real case studies, the students will identify the possible sources of intercultural misunderstandings and impoliteness, and to sort out the common problems that arise in intercultural conversation. They will also identify good practices in dealing with this sort of problems.
At the end of the module, students will be able to apply the theoretical notions to a wide range of real and potential situations of conflict and to propose ways to prevent or resolve the conflict.
1. The pragmatic dimension of linguistic communication.
a. Communication models: production and understanding of meanings.
b. The role of expectations and context: communication as cooperation and interaction.
2. To produce and understand utterances: speech acts and communication of the implicit
a. Speech act theory and performativity.
b. The logic of conversation and the interpretation of the unsaid: encoding vs. inference.
c. Main types of inferences: presuppositions & implicatures
d. Grice and conversational implicatures
e. Post-Griceans: cognitive pragmatics and relevance theory
f. Implicitness in political discourse and in advertising
3) Politeness and face
a. Notion of politeness
b. Politeness theories (i): R. Lakoff
c. Politeness theories (ii): Leech
d. Politeness theories (iii): Brown & Levinson
i. The concept of “face”
ii. Face-threatening acts
iii. Positive and negative politeness strategies
e. Criticisms of Brown & Levinson’s model
4) Politeness strategies: discourse markers
a. Definition and functions of discourse markers
b. The sociolinguistic variability of discourse markers
5) Language & culture
a. Hofstede’s model
b. Bilingualism and biculturalism
c. Intercultural pragmatics
d. Speech acts in an intercultural perspective
6) Case studies
a. Intercultural communication in the classroom
b. Intercultural communication in the workplace
1. The pragmatic dimension of linguistic communication.
a. Communication models: production and understanding of meanings.
b. The role of expectations and context: communication as cooperation and interaction.
2. To produce and understand utterances: speech acts and communication of the implicit
a. Speech act theory and performativity.
b. The logic of conversation and the interpretation of the unsaid: encoding vs. inference.
c. Main types of inferences: presuppositions & implicatures
d. Grice and conversational implicatures
e. Post-Griceans: cognitive pragmatics and relevance theory
f. Implicitness in political discourse and in advertising
3) Politeness and face
a. Notion of politeness
b. Politeness theories (i): R. Lakoff
c. Politeness theories (ii): Leech
d. Politeness theories (iii): Brown & Levinson
i. The concept of “face”
ii. Face-threatening acts
iii. Positive and negative politeness strategies
e. Criticisms of Brown & Levinson’s model
4) Politeness strategies: discourse markers
a. Definition and functions of discourse markers
b. The sociolinguistic variability of discourse markers
5) Language & culture
a. Hofstede’s model
b. Bilingualism and biculturalism
c. Intercultural pragmatics
d. Speech acts in an intercultural perspective
6) Case studies
a. Intercultural communication in the classroom
b. Intercultural communication in the workplace
Lectures
Office hours: by appointment only (write an email to alessandra.barotto@uninsubria.it)