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

Pragmatic Universals

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  Professor Nick Enfield | The University of Sydney

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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.

Metaphors in the Flesh: Pragmatic Poetics of Sports Celebrations

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  Professor Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. | Independent Cognitive Scientist

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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.

“Chinese with a lower status will speak like not very loud”: Metapragmatics and workplace interaction

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  Professor Meredith Marra |  Victoria University of Wellington (co-author Janet Holmes)

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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 demonstrating shared professional values.  While local sociocultural norms  or “ways of doing things round here” are sometimes made explicit (especially when this behaviour is ratified as in the case of a mentor-newcomer relationship), analysis of workplace interaction in a range of New Zealand workplaces indicates that the rules for appropriate behaviour and related professional values are often very subtle and inexplicit. 

Increasingly researchers are turning to metapragmatics for information about the ideas that speakers orient to when evaluating the behaviour of their interlocutors. While there is no direct link between stated ideologies and practices, investigations of talk about talk or talk about social meaning provide access to circulating Discourses. Importantly, the discussions also expose strategies through which a marginalised participant might successfully defend their position and challenge the assumptions of others.

In this presentation we examine instances of metatalk surrounding workplace communication in New Zealand organisations. We highlight the importance of intercultural communication in a country where a monolingual mindset persists, despite overt commitments to bi and multiculturalism  The analysis explores the struggle involved in developing an appropriate professional identity in context, including examples of those who successful enact pushback to ascribed positioning. 

Implicatures revisited from an intercultural perspective

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  Professor István Kecskés | State University of New York

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Abstract

The presentation argues that cognitive mechanisms responsible for implicatures are the same no matter what language someone uses. However, linguistic knowledge, conceptual knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge and contextual effect that are all needed for producing and comprehending implicatures vary significantly in ELF and L2 users. They cannot be expected to act in accordance with the conventions and norms of the societal culture of native English-speaking communities. It is claimed that in intercultural interactions discourse participants must create their own temporary norms and conventions with implicatures among them. Consequently, it seems mistaken to test L2 users or ELF speakers on the use of L1-based conversational and/or frozen implicatures (functioning as idioms) as many studies have done.

The presentation offers a modified understanding of implicatures with the notion of “simplicature”, and a model to explain the relationship and interplay between factors that affect implicature processing: linguistic knowledge, conceptual knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge and contextual effect. It is argued that instead of depending on mutual conceptual knowledge that drives implicature use in L1, interlocutors in intercultural interactions rely on co-constructed and temporarily shared knowledge and emergent common ground. What works for them in implicature processing is a bilateral condition of mutual function recognition rather than a “bilateral condition of mutual norm recognition (Widdowson 2017)”.

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Thank you to our supporting partner for making this conference possible:

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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: 

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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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