The Effect of Language Barriers: A Study of Pragmalinguistic Failures in the Film The Terminal (2004)

Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Future of Social Sciences and Humanities

Year: 2026

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The Effect of Language Barriers: A Study of Pragmalinguistic Failures in the Film The Terminal (2004)

Dalya Qays

ABSTRACT:

Language barriers frequently lead to communication breakdowns when speakers lack the linguistic resources needed to convey and interpret meaning effectively. This problem is examined through an analysis of five selected scenes from the film The Terminal (2004), where misunderstandings emerge from the Victor’s limited command of English. The analysis is informed by Searle’s (1976) Speech Act Theory, Grice’s (1975) Cooperative Principles, and Jenny Thomas’s (1983) framework of pragmalinguistic failures. Following a qualitative approach, the study finds that pragmalinguistic failures often arise from inaccurate lexical choices, mispronunciation, and the use of oversimplified linguistic structures, all of which hinder the successful transmission and interpretation of meaning. Additionally, many responses fail to meet conversational expectations of relevance, sufficiency, and clarity, intensifying misunderstandings. The study concludes that effective communication cross-linguistic contexts requires not only structural competence but also requires the speaker’s ability to select and adapt linguistic forms to align with communicative intent. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how language barriers shape real-time interaction and offer implications for improving cross-cultural and second language communication.

Keywords: Language Barriers, Pragmalinguistic Failure, Cross-Linguistic Communication, Misinterpretation, Conversational Breakdown