Defining the construct

Intercomprehension.
Intercomprehension Analysis and
Applied Intercomprehension
R. Zhivkova-Krupeva
The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

Strong version
similarity/difference = ease/difficulty

Weak version
Error analysis
Other related areas of research
• Markedness theory

• Interlanguage
Intercomprehension
• Theoretical orientation

• Practical orientation
Definitions of Intercomprehension
• Filomena Capucho defines Intercomprehension as: “the capacity to understand and to be
understood in an unknown language by means of different communicative modes or strategies.”

• Todor Shopov defines Intercomprehension as: “receptive language behaviour in a language which
has not been studied by the individual”.
Characteristic features of Intercomprehension
• The phenomenon of Intercomprehension is part of man’s natural faculty for language.
• Intercomprehension strategies do not differ from standard communication strategies in familiar
language media.
• Intercomprehension is also a quality of any intercultural communication – how people understand
each other across various group boundaries, including linguistic, social, ethnic, etc.
• Features of receptive proficiency are universal.
• Intercomprehension is maximally dependent on context and other extra-linguistic cues (such as
repetition, exaggeration, gesture, etc.).
Listening and understanding
• Inside-out process
• Outside-in process
Thank you for the attention!
Sources
• Pencheva, M., T. Shopov, (2003) Understanding Babel. An Essay in
Intercomprehension Analysis, “St. Kliment Ohridski” University Press,
Sofia.