Introduction [Current issues in intercultural pragmatics]

Abstract

Intercultural Pragmatics is a relatively new field of inquiry whose theoretical frame has been shaped by scholars from all over the world for more than a decade (e.g. Kecskes 2004, 2013a; Mey 2004; Moeschler 2004; Haugh 2008; House 2008). This discipline is concerned with the way in which the language system is put to use in social encounters between human beings who have different first languages, but communicate in a common language, and, usually, represent different cultures (cf. Kecskes 2004, 2013a). In these encounters, the communicative process is synergistic, in the sense that existing pragmatic norms and emerging, co-constructed features are present to a varying degree. In this respect, what intercultural pragmatics attempts to offer is an alternative way to think about pragmatics. [Excerpt]