OVERVIEW

The course addresses topics in pragmatics from an interlinguistic and intercultural perspective. Intercultural pragmatics is a discipline that explores the connection between language and culture in concrete communicative acts, examining language use in multilingual communicative contexts and investigating how cultural norms influence the linguistic choices we all make. In this course, we will consider the implications of the complex relationship between language and culture across a wide range of intercultural interactions, focusing on concrete "communication incidents" in multilingual professional settings and reflecting on possible strategies to identify, prevent, and address them.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide knowledge on intercultural and cross-cultural pragmatics, focusing on various contextual variables linked to multiple dimensions of cultural variation. The objective of the course is to present linguistic tools for analyzing pragmatic phenomena and conversational strategies typical of interactions that cross linguistic and cultural boundaries, both in institutional and everyday contexts.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course offers an introduction to the linguistic study of pragmatics from an intercultural perspective and provides tools for analyzing pragmatic strategies and conversational routines in relation to various contextual variables linked to multiple dimensions of cultural variation. Particular attention will be given to interactional models that characterize institutional and business communication, though everyday communicative contexts will also be analyzed.

Students will also explore a series of case studies illustrating different causes of “critical incidents” from an intercultural pragmatic perspective and will learn various methods for analyzing the relationship between language and culture, acquiring a set of resources applicable in diverse professional contexts.

By the end of the course, students will:

• Be able to identify and interpret the information conveyed in intercultural communication.
• Understand the rules of effective communication in intercultural contexts.
• Be able to apply theoretical approaches in the field of intercultural and cross-cultural pragmatics to the analysis of diverse communicative scenarios.

Possess the tools to enhance their intercultural communicative competence, identifying potential sources of misunderstanding and challenges in constructing various speech acts, managing face-related and (im)politeness issues, and handling conversational routines.

PREREQUISITES

The course requires basic knowledge of general linguistics.

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal teaching accompanied by discussions on linguistic data, where the active participation of students will be stimulated.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course consists of two parts:

1.     Theoretical Component: This section is dedicated to foundational concepts and interpretative frameworks in the pragmatics of intercultural communication. Topics include descriptive models of culture and communication, theories of (im)politeness, facework strategies, principles of conversation analysis from an intercultural perspective, and the analysis of various speech acts and their cross-cultural variation.

2.     Practical Component: This section focuses on discussing the main types of problems and conflicts that may arise in multilingual and multicultural communicative contexts, with particular emphasis on workplace and mediation environments. Through the presentation of case studies, students will reflect on the language-specific and culture-specific dimensions in the expression of speech acts and conversational routines.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Bettoni, Camilla. 2006. Usare un’altra lingua. Guida alla pragmatica interculturale. Bari: Laterza, Chapters 1, 4, and 5.
• Two chapters of your choice from the Handbook of Intercultural Pragmatics, edited by Istvan Kecskes, Cambridge University Press, 2022 (a list of suggested chapters will be provided during the lectures).
• Lecture slides (available on AulaWeb).

The program is the same for non-attending students. However, attendance is highly recommended due to the partially workshop-based nature of the course, which involves discussing case studies and exercises on corpora not included in the bibliography. Non-attending students are encouraged to contact the instructor for guidance.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

CHIARA FEDRIANI (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Second semester

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The learning objectives will be assessed through an oral exam, composed of open questions aimed at verifying the mastery of the theoretical bases of the discipline and of exercises involving the application of the theoretical notions to actual linguistic data.

The evaluation takes into account both the mastery of the contents and the correctness and formal clarity of the answers.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.