Page 58 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

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36 Vladimir Zegarac

What did Zoë intend to communicate to her lecturer? She overtly communi-
cated that she did not mind coming another time and that she would come to see
him much better prepared as a result of talking first to a fellow student. That was
the informative intention that Zoë made evident (i.e. her communicative inten-
tion). But the lecturer drew a further conclusion on the basis of what Zoë had
said. In his opinion, Zoë’s friend Chloë had been going about her dissertation
project in a way which did not provide the best example to follow, so he insisted
that Zoë should stay and discuss her topic with him. As Zoë had not said (or
otherwise made evident) anything that would indicate a negative attitude to-
wards the lecturer, she did not communicate that she disapproved of waiting,
that she did not think much of the help the lecturer would give her, that she
would like to know what the lecturer thought about Chloë’s work, and so on. A
couple of years after she had graduated, the lecturer saw Zoë. He asked her if
she remembered this incident and he told her how she had inadvertently made
him change his mind, so he decided to talk to her without further delay. But Zoë
corrected him: “No! That worked!” She explained that she had had the intention
to inform the lecturer that it was desirable that he should see her promptly, but
rather than making this intention evident, she had concealed it, hoping that he
might reason in the way he actually did.
This example illustrates an important general point: in instances of overt
communication, the communicator makes the informative intention evident
and, in doing so, takes responsibility for what is communicated. There are vari-
ous reasons for not wanting to convey information overtly, but people generally
resort to covert social interaction when they do not wish to take responsibility
for what they are trying to convey or when making the informative intention
evident would jeopardize its fulfilment. In the situation described in (4), Zoë’s
informative intention (that the lecturer should change his mind and see her
promptly, possibly also that he should reveal his opinion of Chloë’s work) was
fulfilled because it was concealed successfully.
Covert forms of information transmission are particularly important in in-
tercultural social settings. For example, what might be a successful way to con-
ceal the evidence of a particular informative intention in one culture, may seem
transparent in the context of another. The following excerpt, taken from an open
letter by the Cyprus Turkish Airlines’ Acting Manager, published in the airline’s
in-flight magazine Caretta (September 2005), clearly illustrates this point:

(5) Welcome Aboard

The hot summer season will soon be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, the aviation
sector has experienced some uncomfortably hot moments this summer as well.
The accident involving a plane from Southern Cyprus saddened all of us deeply. We
would like to take this opportunity to convey our condolences to the people of South-
ern Cyprus and the aviation community.