The approach taken in this chapter will be to examine and analyse instances
of miscommunication against the extremely complicated but still by no
means comprehensive background which has been outlined so far; an attempt
will be make to bring together material from a number of relevant academic
perspectives. The main focus of interest will be in identifying as precisely as
possible the linguistic and contextual factors contributing to miscommunication,
but there will also be some brief discussion of the consequences of miscommunication.