A level of privileged analysis for observing this relationship is pragmatics. Between languages and cultures there are differences and analogies for social and interaction behaviours that manifest themselves on the linguistic level.

For example, the kind of relationship we have with the person we are speaking to can change the way we speak.

In Italian, we express whether we have a formal or non-formal relationship with the person we are speaking to through the choice of the pronoun: we use tu for example with friends and lei with someone less intimate (a medical doctor for example). However, for people who are not native speakers, this distinction is anything but trivial: if a native Italian speaker can (almost) always confidently choose the most appropriate pronoun for the situation, this is not always easy for a foreign speaker. To make the best choice, a series of parameters that even native speakers would not be able to list with precision, that "they have always known", come into play. Among other things, the relationship between people, age, but also concrete situations have relevance. For example, if two adults who do not know each other bump into each other on the street, they will use lei, but if a person asks another (a total stranger) where the bar is located at a music festival, tu will be used. These choices regarding formal or informal speech also change over time within the same cultural and social context.

Then there are some languages where the social relationships between speakers is even more significant in terms of the communicative exchange. For example, in Javanese, a language spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia, it is always necessary to indicate the social relationship that one has with one's interlocutor. A sentence with the same referential meaning (i.e. concrete meaning) will be different according to the social status, profession, age, nationality and many other characteristics of the person whom I address. For example, the word “house” will be translated as omah, grija or dalem: the three words indicate exactly the same referent (concrete object), but the first is used if you are talking to a person of low social class, the second to someone from the middle-class and the third, to a higher class person.

Regarding greetings, understood the words and gestures that open (and close) an actual conversation, the languages of the world behave in very different ways. Compared to the European languages, Arabic devotes many more words to this ritual. While in English, the conversation can begin after a simple exchange of greetings (-Hello! -Hello!), In Jordan Arabic, after the exchange of greetings, information on the state of the health of the interlocutor and their family is requested, God is thanked and only at this point can the conversation begin. This practice is also present in Wolof, a language spoken in Senegal- since this country has been largely Islamicized, together with the language this communicative practice has also been inherited.

Another example of very different linguistic practices involving the pragmatic dimension is rejection. In Chinese, for example, you avoid refusing with a simple and dry no, but instead use expressions such as wŏ yŏu shì, translatable as "I have something to do". This sentence is not followed by a request for information about future plans, as would be acceptable, for example, in Italian. This answer is to be understood in all respects as a refusal.