Deliberate Misinterpretation As A Pragmatic Strategy In Verbal Communication

The present study is a pragmatic analysis of deliberate misinterpretation, which is understood as a communicative strategy in verbal communication.Unlike misunderstanding which is the accidental transmission of information, deliberate misinterpretation occurs when the second speaker (S2) correctly understands the intended meaning which the first speaker (S1) expresses via an utterance (x1), S2 subsequently produces an utterance (x2) which is in some way purposely employed to present the mismatch between the meaning of xl and x2. By doing so, S2 satisfies certain communicative needs of his own. So deliberate misinterpretation is a pragmatic strategy adopted by S2 to fulfil his communicative goals.With Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory (1999) as the general conceptual framework, we concentrated on the dynamic nature of deliberate misinterpretation as a strategy in terms of its prerequisites, its means, and its functioning. Methodologically speaking, this study is a qualitative study based on the data collected from daily conversations, literary works and mass media, etc.The dissertation starts with one of the key issues of deliberate misinterpretation: the prerequisites to its execution. By way of careful observation of the data, we generalized that there are three major prerequisites to the effective use of the deliberate-misinterpreting strategy: (i) mutuality of assumptions; (ii) consistency of searching for relevance; and (iii) triggers of deliberate misinterpretation in Si's utterance.The second part of the dissertation explores the various conversational means employed by S2. We found that two major means are adopted by S2 to actualize the strategy of deliberate misinterpretation, namely (i) deliberately violating theLaw of Identity, and (ii) deliberately ignoring the context. Besides, some specific sub-means are also pointed out in the analysis. Through the analysis of the specific conversational means, the variability of deliberate misinterpretation is demonstrated in the study.Since deliberate misinterpretation is considered as a pragmatic strategy, we argued its functioning in the third part. We found that the functioning of deliberate misinterpretation is closely related with two factors: (i) contextual correlates (especially the social and mental world of S2) affecting the choice of deliberate misinterpretation, and (ii) communicative functions fulfilled through this strategy. The present investigation finds out that the strategy of deliberate misinterpretation can improve interpersonal relationships, manipulate information, and create special communicative needs.Though we have made a preliminary study of the use of deliberate misinterpretation, more substantial research is believed to shed more light on the study of deliberate misinterpretation.