Misunderstandings in Communication: Maxims of Conversation and Intercultural Differences between Interlocutors

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the violation of Grice’s maxims of conversation and discuss interculturally conditioned misunderstanding as one of the causes of their violation. Based on 10 examples of conversations between international students in Italy, the situations of misunderstanding in communication will be presented, and the linguistic and cultural background of the participants’ statements and the possible roles they have in communication will be presented. The focus will be on discussing violated maxims of conversation, and which possible contextual factors could have affected the misunderstandings between the participants in conversations created in certain situations.