It is essential to remember that in our surrounding there are many contexts upon which we build our understanding to the situation rather than the utterances spoken. Let us imagine a situation of performing a conversation between 3 people :
A. I took lessons in Piano , but I never had one.
B. oh ya.
C. Aha. Why do not you buy one? I saw a place where they sell Guitars in Crater.
If we analyze the latter conversation, we will notice that non of the persons engaged in the conversation followed the rules of linking the sentences ; however it was clearly comprehended that one of them was speaking about his experience while the other two went on with replying to him ,one with a short answer and the other one as a suggestion.
Cultural Aspects play a vital role in conversation and mainly in conveying messages. In the above example, we took a daily situation that would occur to anyone of us passing by friends in the bus station or in college or work. Thus, we grasped the intended meaning without looking deeply into the context , as it is the main goal of this conversation. Although , it is true in our latter example, in most cases we should consider the background of A , why he expressed his need . Moreover, person B's answer was not formal answer uttered by an educated mature person rather he expressed his ignorance with a complementary way. Further, person C and his irrelevant answer as if he did not understand the question , but genuinely he understood the need and respond to it in zero use of formal links. In short, we go beyond formal links as they are not the only important factors in our discourse. Culture factors are considered of paramount importance of language usage that leads to proper utterances.
To make it more vivid , here is another cultural examples:
1-
هل ترغب بكوب من القهوة ؟
Would you like a cup of coffee?
نعم , شكراً.
Yes, Thank You .
2- Would you like a cup of tea?
No, thanks.
3- Would you like a cup of tea?
Yes , Please.
The first example represents the Arab culture when someone offers a drink to his invitee. We usually express our gratitude and appreciation upon the offer as it is a sign of politeness and generosity. Thus, in the dialogue, the invitee responded as : Yes , Thank You. However, in the Western culture , it would create a confusion to say that as example 2 and 3 explained. All in all , although in the three examples we used the same form in offering, however the function differs between one culture and thus it is important to consider these differences.
In another case of conversation, a language students who has recently studied simple present tense and present continues tense will not be familiar with the use and form of verbs that he should use and what he should avoid. In order to practice his new lessons ,he would utter as follows:
I am waking up in the morning then I sleep in the evening.
Although his meaning is conveyed, he failed to use the correct form of verb. However, it is understood and accepted according to the communicative approach theory which is : the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Therefore, we have no problem with having one sentence that contains different forms of verbs as long as the meaning is fully delivered to the receptor.
Sometimes we utter in a way that is correct in form and function although our speech would be illogic. An example if followed:
Mother: oh , dear son . You should eat broccoli. It is full of iron.
Son: Mom , I am not an Iron man to eat Iron!!!
In the latter example , the mother spoke very true about broccoli and its benefits as every adult will know what she meant. On the other hand, the son was surprised with his mother's utterances as it has gone beyond his level of knowledge. Although the form was clear, the meaning was not delivered to the son for that there are individual differences that were not taken care of between the mother and the son.
As stated in the beginning of this debate, culture takes a high rank when it comes to understanding a bi or multi cultural spheres and thus language with its forms and functions alone are not enough. Further, Conveying the meaning is the main goal in whatever context the utterance takes place. Thus, we should not discourage people when they commit slight mistakes when using a foreign language. Furthermore, we should expect that using metaphor or idiomatic expressions could be ambiguous to some people although we follow the language rules. Thus , for all the above reasons , formal links, in my opinion, are not enough.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching
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