9th International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics and Communication – INPRA 2022

Nick Enfield, The University of Sydney

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Pragmatic Universals

Abstract

In this talk I will make a case for certain pragmatic principles that constitute a universal infrastructure for human interaction. These include not only certain aspects of the workings of conversation, but also the morally-grounded elements of joint action and social accountability, without which human interaction would not be the way it is. I will explore some ways in which these pragmatic universals can be calibrated differently in different social and cultural contexts.

Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr., University of California, Santa Cruz

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Metaphors in the Flesh: Pragmatic Poetics of Sports Celebrations

Abstract

Athletes often celebrate their in-the-moment accomplishments by dancing, hugging one another, shaking hands in various ways, or performing various individual or group actions. My claim is that quite a few of the celebrations athletes perform (e.g., after scoring goals or touchdown, or making great plays on the field) convey pragmatic, specifically metaphorical, meaning and, as such, are excellent examples of embodied depictions of pragmatic meaning. Most metaphorical sports celebration depictions refer to success in other sports or competitive events in which an athlete enacts some parts of an overall SOURCE-PATH-GOAL image schema as commentary on their just completed on the field performances. Other sports celebrations, such as when athletes dance, are not metaphorical precisely because they do not allude to events in different sports or competitive domains. I will present an analysis of a large corpus of sport celebrations, and then the results of a series of surveys and experiments to show that observers often infer pragmatic, metaphorical meanings with some, but not all, of the sport celebrations they witness on TV and in real-life. This work has several implications for theories of both metaphorical descriptions and depictions and for the pragmatic understanding of human expressive action.

Janet Holmes, Victoria University of Wellington

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“Chinese with a lower status will speak like not very loud”: Intercultural interaction in New Zealand workplaces

Abstract

Interaction is the main channel through which people establish connections with others at work, but it is also a crucial means of constructing a professional identity and acquiring relevant professional values.  While local sociocultural norms  or “ways of doing things round here” are sometimes made explicit by a mentor or workplace buddy, analysis of workplace interaction in a range of New Zealand workplaces indicates that the rules for appropriate behaviour and the related professional values are often very subtle and inexplicit.  Building on our theoretical model developed to analyse workplace discourse in its wider socio-cultural context (Holmes, Marra and Vine 2011), this presentation uses the concept of the “culture order” (Holmes 2018). to examine some of the challenges faced by workers transitioning from one country or organisation to another.  The analysis explores the struggle involved in developing an appropriate professional identity as part of the transition from legitimate outsider to workplace insider.  The issues of pushback and voluntary vs involuntary positioning at the margins of a workplace community of practice are also considered.       

Holmes Janet. 2018.  Negotiating the culture order in New Zealand workplaces. Language in Society. 47:33–56.

Holmes Janet, Meredith Marra  and Bernadette Vine. 2011. Leadership, Discourse and Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

István Kecskés, State University of New York

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Implicatures revisited from an intercultural perspective

Abstract

The presentation aims to discuss how implicatures work in intercultural interactions. There is evidence that interlocutors in intercultural interactions rely more on semantics than pragmatics (e.g. House 2003; Kecskes 2007; Trbojevic 2019) because context cannot support pragmatic interpretation the way it does in L1 communication. This seriously affects the use and interpretation of implicatures. At the same time in pragmatic theory there seems to be an agreement between the neo-Gricean account (Chierchia, 2013; Horn 2004) and the post-Gricean account (Sperber and Wilson, 1995; Noveck and Sperber, 2007) on the fact that the process of implicature retrieval is context-dependent. But will this contextualism work in intercultural interactions? Is pragmatics impoverished if interlocutors can only partly rely on pragmatic enrichment coming from context and the target language? The presentation will argue that in fact pragmatics is invigorated in intercultural communication rather than impoverished. Instead of relying on the existing conventions, norms and frames of the target language interlocutors create their own temporary frames, formulas and norms. There is pragmaticization of semantics which is a synchronic, (usually) one-off phenomenon in which coded meaning, sometimes without any specific pragmatic enrichment coming from the target language, obtains temporary pragmatic status. This process is expected to support the use and interpretation of implicatures. This synchronic pragmatic enrichment happens as a result of interlocutors’ blending their dictionary knowledge of the linguistic code (semantics) with their basic interpersonal communicative skills and sometimes unusual, not necessarily target language-based pragmatic strategies that suit them very well in their attempt to achieve their communicative goals.

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International flights from Brisbane

Easily accessible, Brisbane is serviced by one of Australia's fastest growing airports with a network of direct flights from 31 international and 50 domestic destinations. As the closest eastern seaboard capital city to Asia, Brisbane offers frequent flights to various Asia Pacific destinations and is a transfer hub from major European destinations. Direct flights arrive several times a day from Asia, the United States, New Zealand, the Pacific and the Middle East.

Brisbane International Airport boasts an extensive network of direct flights to international destinations including but not limited to: 

• Singapore
• Hong Kong                                                                                                  
• Bangkok 
• Shanghai 
• Auckland 
• Dubai 
• Los Angeles
• Vancouver

This allows easy access for international delegates to travel home. 

Brisbane city remains compact and well connected, allowing delegates to easily travel between venues, hotels, parklands, cultural attractions, entertainment precincts and dining locations.

The University of Queensland

Located just seven kilometres from Brisbane's city centre (accessible by car or public transport), UQ St Lucia is renowned as one of Australia's most attractive university campuses.

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