A RELEVANCE-THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Globalisation can be seen as an evolution which is systematically
reconstructing interactive phases among nations by breaking down
barriers in the areas of culture, communication and several other
fields of endeavour. (Ohuabunwa, 1999, p. 20)
In the light of Ohuabunwa’s definition above, this paper1 aims to show the
relevance of culture-contextual representation for the global communication process. The paper will base its discussion on the cognitivepragmatic communication theory known as Relevance Theory put forward
by Sperber & Wilson (1995) and in Sperber’s (1996) culture model. In both
the theory and the model, culture is understood as collective
representations of individual mental representations. The basic concepts of
context and assumptions, as described by Wilson & Sperber (2004: 608) for
the global communication process, will be discussed, as will the various
cultural assumptions that characterize societies in the world today. Those
assumptions have been classified by Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner
(1998, p. 29) in dichotomous ways as universal vs. particular, individualism
vs. communitarianism, achievement vs. ascribed status, and diffuse vs.
specific. In the final analysis, though, this paper sees the differences
between cultures not as hindrances, but as challenges that have to be
overcome in global communication.