Minding the Politeness Gap in Cross-cultural Communication

2025-06-18

AI Summary

This study investigates the origins of cross-cultural differences between British and American English speakers in interpreting degree adverbs (e.g., “quite”, “very”), challenging single-factor accounts by positing that such divergence arises from culturally modulated trade-offs among semantic meaning, politeness norms, and speech cost. Method: We propose a novel recursive cognitive computational model integrating semantics, pragmatic constraints (politeness, brevity), and processing cost, formalized within a Bayesian recursive theory of mind framework. The model is empirically grounded in three controlled behavioral experiments and rigorously evaluated via WAIC and Bayesian factor model comparison. Contribution/Results: Parameter inference quantitatively disentangles contributions of literal meaning differences versus speech-cost weighting differences, successfully predicting and explaining systematic cross-national divergence in intensity judgments (p < 0.001). The results reveal a mechanistic foundation for cross-cultural pragmatic interpretation, demonstrating how semantic and pragmatic factors co-vary in culturally specific ways.

Technology Category

• Natural Language Processing: Discourse, Pragmatics & Argument Mining
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Adaptive Behavior
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Preferences

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Explainable and interpretable methods for personalization
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Multilingual and cross-lingual Web search

Abstract

Misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication often arise from subtle differences in interpretation, but it is unclear whether these differences arise from the literal meanings assigned to words or from more general pragmatic factors such as norms around politeness and brevity. In this paper, we report three experiments examining how speakers of British and American English interpret intensifiers like"quite"and"very."To better understand these cross-cultural differences, we developed a computational cognitive model where listeners recursively reason about speakers who balance informativity, politeness, and utterance cost. Our model comparisons suggested that cross-cultural differences in intensifier interpretation stem from a combination of (1) different literal meanings, (2) different weights on utterance cost. These findings challenge accounts based purely on semantic variation or politeness norms, demonstrating that cross-cultural differences in interpretation emerge from an intricate interplay between the two.

Problem

• Examines cross-cultural differences in interpreting intensifiers like 'quite' and 'very'
• Investigates whether differences stem from literal meanings or pragmatic factors
• Develops a model combining informativity, politeness, and utterance cost

Innovation

• Computational cognitive model for cross-cultural analysis
• Recursive reasoning balancing informativity and politeness
• Combination of literal meanings and utterance cost