At the level of sentence grammar, mappings between one language and another can be relatively straightforward; however even with simple sentences, the communication context can influence the interpretation of an utterance. It is at the level that might be called ‘reading between the lines’ that cultural differences may arise and these may contribute to misunderstandings in intercultural communication. In this chapter we will examine some of the ways in which we can identify and understand aspects of this complexity.

During the 1950s and 1960s the philosopher John L. Austin, his pupil H. Paul Grice and other like-minded scholars including John Searle, tried to explain how people draw inferences in everyday communication. These researchers came to be known as ‘ordinary language philosophers’ (Thomas 1995:29).

Austin (1962, 1970) attempted to determine the distinction between what a speaker says, what the speaker actually means, and what the hearer thinks the speaker means. Austin's initial work on the communicative intent, form and effects of utterances was outlined in his paper How to do Things with Words (1962). This work has formed the basis for much research into this aspect of language, an understanding of which is also crucial to the study of intercultural communication.

The following example illustrates one of the ways in which an English speaker may ‘read between the lines’ in a conversation.