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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