Do you "(Mis)Understand" What I Mean? : Pragmatic Strategies to Avoid Cognitive Maladjustment

Jesús Romero-Trillo; Elizabeth Lenn

doi:10.18172/jes.173

Authors

Jesús Romero-Trillo Autonomous University of Madrid
Elizabeth Lenn City University of New York

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.173

Keywords:

Pragmatic markers, adaptive management, intonation, understanding, intercultural communication, maladjustment

Abstract

This article studies misunderstanding as a key factor in identifying the psychological basis of interactional cognitive maladjustment. The study focuses on the linguistic strategies to avoid pragmatic misunderstanding employed in conversations in Spanish and English and between native and non-native speakers of English. In particular, we analyze the use of pragmatic markers as adaptive management to avoid misunderstanding in conversation. Through the classification of pragmatic markers as rhetorical or overt, we study the distribution and use of each type of pragmatic marker and the implementation of pragmatic markers, with the lexical and intonational implications in cross-linguistic conversation for the adaptive Management of misunderstanding.

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