ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on method, on the methodical ways of misunderstanding, whether intercultural or intracultural. It suggests that there are different kinds of misunderstandings. In turn, these can be ordered according to their interactional organisation. Misunderstandings play an eminent role in everyday conversational conduct. In linguistic pragmatics, misunderstandings have been subject to scrutiny particularly in the field of intercultural communication. Misunderstanding and more generally miscommunication seem to have become one of the most salient characteristics of this kind of communication. Misunderstanding and intercultural communication have become a mutually supporting couple. A common knowledge of the workings of a misunderstanding even of its trajectory and its structure, is a prerequisite for all those taking part in the misunderstanding game, be it deadly serious, strategic or playful. The chapter describes the 'autonomous' character of misunderstandings in conversations as a co-operative and resourceful stretch of talk in its own right.
