Cultural and Linguistic Factors In Conversational lmplicature: A Cross-Cultural Study of Native and Nonnative Speakers' of English Interpretation of lmplicature

Abstract

The aim of this cross-cultural study was to provide an account of the way native and nonnative speakers of English interpret and comprehend implicature in English. ln particular, this research attempted to identify the factors which may influence the way nonnative speakers of English interpret conversational indirectness. Interpretation of conversational implicature, namely the ability of nonnative speakers to deduce inferences from utterances in the same way as native speakers, was the dependent variable. Language proficiency, culture, structural complexity and explicit teaching were the independent variables.

Two instruments were employed: a TOEFL Test intended to measure the nonnative

speakers' language proficiency and an Irnplicature Elicitation Task to measure the native and nonnative subjects' ability to interpret implicature. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings of this study supported previous research which has generally concluded that nonnative speakers of English do not interpret implicatures the way native speakers do. Results also indicated that culture has an overriding effect on interpretation of implicature to which that of structural complexity is subordinate. Furthermore, language proficiency and the ability to interpret implicature were found to be distinct skills which cannot be considered determinants of each other. In addition, the findings of this study revealed that explicit instruction has a positive enhancing effect on the nonnative speakers' overall skill in interpreting implicature in English. Such conclusions have cultural as well as pedagogical implications for teaching English as a foreign language.