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Intercultural Communication

Lecture 3GOC (continued)

Pragmatics of Intercultural CommunicationNon-verbal and Paralinguistic Communication

Review

Language is ambiguous We have to make inferences (guesses)

about what people mean Inferences are made quickly Our inferences seem like ‘the truth’ to us Inferences

– Roommate situation

Review How do we form inferences TEXT

– Our expectations about grammar/lexis– Our expectations about paralinguistic cues (pausing,

intonation, etc.)– Our expectations about non-verbal communication

CONTEXT– Our expectations about the what is supposed to happen in the

situation The Grammar of Context

– ‘Rules’ about who says what to whom, how, when and where

The Grammar of Context

People in different groups have different expectations about the GOC of the same situation

Sometimes the situation itself is ambiguous– 2 competing GOC’s – Pop concert and school assembly

Grammar of Context

7 components– Scene

• Time, place, use of space, purpose, topic, genre

– Key

– Participants

– Message form

– Sequence

– Co-occurrence Patterns

– Manifestation

Participants

Number Who they are What roles they take Different roles in different situations Performatives: Speech acts which can only be

performed by certain people in certain places ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’

Participants

Different discourse systems have different ideas about participant roles

Japanese vs. American decision making American vs. Chinese classrooms

– Chinese: Teacher always introduces topics

– American: Students often introduce topics

Key

From music: minor key/major key Mood Key of a Wedding: Happy Key of a Funeral: Sad Key of a Lecture: ? Intercultural Differences

– laughter = relaxed/ laughter = nervous– crying at weddings/dancing at funerals

Message Form

Speaking Writing Silence Other media

– Video– Overhead projection, slides– Amplification– Recording

Message Form

‘The Medium is the Message’ The message form we choose changes the

message TV news vs. Newspaper news ‘Breaking-up’

– face to face– telephone– Letter– icq– silence

Sequence

Order of events Associated with ‘scripts’ McDonald’s script Yum Cha script Western Restaurant script

Coffee shop script

American coffee shop Find seat Determine order Place order with

waiter or waitress Receive food Eat Pay

Japanese coffee shop Determine order Pay Find seat Place order with

waiter or waitress Receive food Eat

Ambiguous Sentence

Yesterday I saw Eleanor in the coffee shop, but since I had just paid and she was just ordering, I told her we’d get together tomorrow.

Sequencing

Adjacency Pairs XY Preferred responses Greeting Greeting Apology Acceptance Compliment Acceptance Compliment Refusal Offer Refusal Offer Refusal Offer

Offers

Host: Would you like some more dessert Guest: It’s delicious, but I really shouldn’t

have any more… Host: OK

X ‘requires’ Y If Y does not occur, it is heard as ‘officially

absent’ creating implicature ‘given the first, the second is expectable; upon its

occurrence it can be seen to be the second item to the first; upon it’s non-occurrence it can be seen to be officially absent’ -Schegloff 1968

‘Preferred responses’

Conditional Relevance

Creating Implicature

A: I love you. B: I love you.

A: I love you. B: …

A: I love you. B: Thank you.

Creating Implicature

A: I’m sorry. B: …

A: Hi, my name is Rodney. B: Hello.

Sequence: Rhetorical Patterns

1) Face Work-------Introduction of Topic 2) Introduction of Topic Chinese usually use (1) in business

relationships and with ‘insiders’, (2) with outsiders

Americans usually use (2) in business relationships and with insiders, often use (1) with strangers (in shops, etc.)

Co-occurrence Patterns

Things that usually go together joke--humorous key apology--serious key lecture--lecture theater meeting--set agenda conversation on date--open agenda Meeting—personal conversation?

Manifestation

Explicit (rules stated in a very clear way) (often the case in ceremonies)

Eg. ‘Please rise’ ‘You may now kiss the bride’ Tacit (rule not stated but understood) Manifestation of GOC is usually tacit So people from different DS’s have

problems

What’s the GOC in your discourse system for ...

Taking your boyfriend home to meet the parents

playing mahjong robbing a bank breaking up with a lover ____________________

GOC

GOC can reveal information about deep seated cultural values, assumptions and prejudices.

Non-Verbal and Paralinguistic Communication

Non-verbal communication– Kinesics (gestures, facial expressions) – Proxemics (next week)– Concept of time (next week)

Paralinguistic communication – Prosody (Stress, rhythm, intonation, pitch, volume)– Conversational management– Expressing emotion– Expressing/maintaining relationship– Cultural concepts of talk (amount, topic)

Message and Meta-message

Message– The words we say– information

Meta-message– What we express through non-verbal and

paralinguistic communication– Attitude and relationship

Non-verbal and Paralinguistic Communication

In some ways like verbal communication– Symbolic, patterned, ‘rule’ governed

BUT… Less planned Less conscious Unconscious ‘enculturation’ rather than formal learning Very context dependent We draw inferences very quickly from it We believe our inferences more strongly and Form stereotypes on the basis of it

Non-verbal Communication

Police checking IDs ‘How did you know he’s Japanese?’ ‘Gaydar’

6 Functions of Non-verbal Communication

• To provide information, either consciously or unconsciously

• To regulate the flow of conversation• To express emotion• To qualify, complement, contradict, or expand verbal

messages • To control or influence others• To facilitate specific tasks, such as teaching a person

to swing a golf club.

Universal?

We assume that NV communication is the ‘universal language’

Studies of monkeys Studies of blind children Cross cultural studies of facial expressions BUT Important cultural variation

– Especially in terms of context and stimulus

Task

Fill in the chart indicating whether you think the NV behavior indicated is positive or negative

Examples

an Arab man indicates a romantic interest in a woman by running a hand backward across his hair

an Egyptian or Thai might mistakenly assume that a Westerner sitting with the sole of his or her shoe showing is offering a grave insult.

In Algeria (and other places) a wave means ‘come here’

Eye Contact/Gaze

North Americans assume that a person who won't meet their gaze is evasive and dishonest.

In many parts of Asia and Latin America, keeping your eyes lowered is a sign of respect.

It's also a sign of respect among many black Americans, which some schoolteachers have failed to learn. When they scold their black students, saying "Look at me when I'm talking to you," they only create confusion for the children.

Eye Contact/Gaze

North American tendency to look away while talking and re-establish gaze during turn shifts

Some groups look away during turn shifts Floor holder gaze Addressee

– Cantonese greater than American

– American may be a challenge

– Japanese rare

Self/Other Indication

Pointing Self-indication Pointing to chest or face (nose) Pointing at others

Non-verbal Communication

Gender differences Generational differences Professional/Corporate differences

Paralinguistic Cues

Used to express emotion or ‘meta-message’ Used to manage conversations

– Turn taking– Framing– Face relationships

Conversational style– Habitual patterns of managing conversation

among a group

Intonation in English

Falling (finality, certainty, statement, end of turn)

Rising (non-finality, uncertainty, question, more to come)

Rise-Fall (reservation, not sure) ‘Yes’

Contrastive Stress

I love you I love you I love you

Final Particles in Cantonese

L1 TransferenceProsody for ESL Speakers

Russians: flat level tones – English speaker may assume that they are bored or rude

Middle Easterners tend to speak more loudly – May mistakenly be considered more emotional

Japanese are soft-spoken– Stereotype of Japanese as ‘polite’

Cantonese: Syllable-timed rhythm– May sound angry or nervous– Difficult to interpret emphasis

Backchannel Cues Japanese use 3x more than Americans (Maynard) American Whites use more than American Blacks

(Erickson and Shultz) German use 4x as many as Mainland Chinese (Günther) White Americans use three times as many as Mainland

Chinese (Tao and Thompson) Chinese Americans use more than Mainland Chinese and

less than White Americans (Tao and Thompson) Problems with such findings

– Be skeptical of categories

Backchannel cues

More-----------------------------------Less

Japanese

German

Am. White

Am. Black

Am. Chinese

Chinese

Timing

Length of pauses New Yorkers and Californians Power

– Powerful (short)– Less powerful (longer)

Relationships– Solidarity (short)– Deference (longer)

Problems with ESL speakers

Silence

‘The Silent Finn’ Proverbs

– Listen a lot, speak little– One mouth, two ears– If you can’t avoid speaking, drink as much as possible

Longer conversational pauses Minimal backchannel Little facial expression Prefer not to be first speaker

Apache Indians

Silent in– Encounters with people who haven’t seen each

other for a long time– Encounters where one person is emotional or

angry– Situations of loss or tragedy

Role of Questions

Questions from authority figures Doctors and probation officers Athabaskans

– The purpose of questions is to get listener to think about what he/she has done wrong

– Doctor: Have you been eating a lot of sweets? – Patient: (silence)

Paralinguistic Communication

Gender differences Generational differences Professional/Corporate differences