Ling 122: English as a World Language -14 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Title: Ling 122: English as a World Language -14


1
Ling 122 English as a World Language -14
  • VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
  • Conversational Interaction
  • Readings
  • Kachru Smith, Ch. 8

2
Talk Shows from Around the World
  • Note the similarities and differences in such
    conversational features as turn-taking,
    back-channeling, simultaneous talk, gestures,
    eye-gaze, etc. among the talk shows in
  • Japanese
  • Thai
  • Mexican
  • Philippino
  • Vietnamese
  • Chinese

3
The Structure of Conversation in Outer and
Expanding Circle Contexts
  • Required Concepts
  • Interactive acts how the interaction is managed
  • Speech acts what is being conveyed or
    negotiated between participants
  • Crosscultural Differences
  • Speech acts
  • Cooperative principle
  • Politeness

4
Interactive Acts
  • Turn-taking the pattern of conversation in which
    one person speaks, then another
  • Normally in SAE one person speaks at a time
  • End of talk is signaled by
  • Intonation, expressions like you know, gesture,
    lengthening of final syllable, stressed syllable,
    etc.
  • Floor the right to begin to talk
  • Has some duration
  • Is topic-related
  • Specific devices to gain or hold the floow and to
    control the topic
  • Backchanneling cues that signal attention and
    encourage the speaker to continue
  • Simultaneous Talk talk by more than one person
    over an extended period

5
Crosscultural Differences - Turns
  • Turn refers to the opportunity to assume the
    role of speaker and what is said by the speaker
  • In some speech communities (e.g., Hindi,
    Japanese, Middle East, Eastern Europe) the
    one-speaker-at-a-time rule doesnt apply

6
Crosscultural Differences Floor
  • Floor refers to the right to make a first
    statement during a conversation
  • A Did you hear the news?
  • B What?
  • A Bill is back in town!
  • Who is/are controlling attention in conversation
  • Who is/are controlling the topic of conversation
  • Who is/are the central figures in the
    conversation

7
Crosscultural Differences Floor
  • In SAE
  • Men are more successful in initiating and
    maintaining topics and tend to demand the floor
    more frequently
  • In India
  • Older participants have the right to initiate
    conversation, maintain the floow and yield the
    floor
  • In traditional Western Europe
  • Children are admonished to be seen, not heard
  • In many other cultures
  • Only older males initiate, maintain and control
    the floor

8
Crosscultural Differences Backchannel
  • The frequency and duration of backchannnelling
    behavior varies from culture to culture
  • Japanese speakers Use more frequent backchannel
    cues and the cues are of longer duration
  • Speakers of languages that are socialized in the
    patterns of providing frequent and longer
    backchannel cues may use the same strategy in
    English
  • This may be disconcerting to the Inner circle
    English speaker

9
Crosscultural Differences Simultaneous Talk
  • Simultaneous talk is normally considered rude
    in Inner Circle speech communities
  • Rhythmic coordination patterning of speech and
    non-verbal body movements
  • Sync talk overlapping speech synchronized
    head nods, both postures
  • High involvement style vs. high considerateness
    style

10
FitzGeralds 6 Styles of Interaction
  • Institutional/exacting (Northern and Western
    Europe)
  • Individual autonomy, non-imposition, brevity,
    explicitness, linearity, goal oriented
  • Spontaneous/argumentative (Eastern Europe)
  • Sincerity, spontaneity, closeness, blunt, direct
  • Involved/expressive (Southern Europe, Latin
    America)
  • Warmth, emotion, expressive, concern with
    according positive face to others, affective and
    contextual, tolerates overlap, collaborative
    rather than competitive

11
FitzGeralds 6 Styles of Interaction
  • Elaborate/dramatic (Middle Eastern)
  • Harmonious relations, positive face, affective
    contextual style stressing form over content,
    sweeping (over)generalizations, expressive
    metaphors
  • Bureaucratic/contextualized (South Asian)
  • Harmonious relations, positive face, affective
    contextual style stressing form over content,
    formal bureaucratic language, inductive
    organization
  • Succinct/subdued (East Southeast Asian)
  • Harmony, modesty, conformity, positive face,
    masking negative emotions, status oriented,
    deferential

12
  • How do FitzGeralds six styles of interaction
    accord with the distinction seen in the video
    Culturally Speaking High Context - Low
    Context?
  • How do FitzGeralds six styles of interaction
    accord with your own experiences?

13
Crosscultural Differences Rhetorical Strategies
  • Rhetorical strategies refers to how what one
    says is organized.
  • Chinese professionals often first provide
    background info (history), then transition to
    main point
  • (How do you decide what topic to research?)
  • Because now, things have changed. Its different
    from the past. In the past, we emphasized how to
    solve practical problems. Nutritionists must know
    how to solve some deficiency diseases. In our
    country, we have some nutritional diseases. But
    now it is important that we must do some basic
    research. So, we must take into account
    fundamental problems. We must concentrate our
    research to study some fundamental research.

14
  • Indian English
  • Often expresses direct disagreement, followed by
    backing down
  • A So in your family were you treated
    differently from your brothers in other ways?
  • B No, not in other ways, but yeah yes I was.
    They didnt allow me.

15
Crosscultural Differences Rhetorical Strategies
  • Signals of in-group membership
  • Maori
  • R Tikitiki, well were across the river from
    there and
  • N ae.
  • R If we wanted to go to Tikitiki we had to go
    right around to Ruatoria. And that was in winter.
  • N in winter eh.
  • Malay
  • Eh Mala, where on earth you went ah? I
    searching, searching all over the place for you
    no sign til one oclock, so I pun got hungry, I
    went for makan.

16
Implications for Crosscultural Conversations
  • It is difficult to train people to change their
    patterns of synchronized, harmonious
    conversational interaction.
  • But it is possible to
  • Sensitize people to observe and minimize
    conditions that lead to a sense of discomfort in
    verbal interactions.
  • Accommodate different rhetorical strategies in
    crosscultural communication

17
Speech Acts
  • By uttering a string of meaningful sounds, we
    perform not only the act of speaking, but also a
    variety of acts such as informing, questioning,
    ordering, etc., via the act of speaking.
  • Open the door!
  • Why are you frowning?
  • Would you mind closing the door?
  • The formula for finding the area of a circle is
    ?r².

18
Speech Acts
  • There is no set of speech acts and no set of
    strategies for performing speech acts such that
    all languages and cultures share them
  • Example saugandh khaanaa Hindi for to swear
  • Doesnt carry negative meanings
  • Can swear by anything valuable
  • and Ramu, she cried desperately, I have
    enough of quarrelling all the time. In the name
    of our holy mother, cant you leave me alone!

19
Speech Acts
  • Speech acts are interpretable only in the context
    of a society or culture
  • Indian languages Elders may bless a child
    instead of saying thank you for rendering a
    service.
  • Taiwanese Mandarin uses a more direct strategy
    for making requests than SAE
  • Igbo Silence is the appropriate way to express
    sympathy to the bereaved following a death.

20
The Cooperative Principle Implicature
  • A. "Is that the phone?"
  • "I'm in the tub."
  • B. "Uncle Charlie is coming over for dinner."
  • "Better lock up the liquor."
  • C. "Do you know where Bill moved?"
  • "Somewhere on the east coast."
  • D. "How was your blind date?"
  • "He had a nice pair of shoes."
  • E. "Professor Smith is sure he'll get tenure."
  • "And my pet turtle is sure it will win the
    Kentucky Derby."

21
Grices Cooperative Principle
  • To describe in a systematic and consistent way
    how implicature works in conversation, Grice
    proposed the cooperative principle
  • In conversations, participants cooperate with
    each other.
  • They do this by observing the conversational
    maxims.

22
Grices Four Conversational Maxims
  • Quantity - contribution should be as informative
    as required
  • Quality - contribution should not be false
  • Relation - contribution should be relevant
  • Manner - contribution should be direct

23
Assumptions
  • 1. We don't adhere to them strictly.
  • 2. We interpret what we hear as if what we hear
    conforms to them.
  • 3. Where maxim is violated, we draw
    implicatures.

24
Violations
  • Quantity -
  • Letter of reference Bob speaks perfect English
    he doesn't smoke in the office and I have never
    heard him use foul language.
  • Quality -
  • "Reno is the capital of Nevada, isn't it?"
  • "Yeah, and London is the capital of New Jersey."
  • Relation -
  • "What time is it?"
  • "Well, the paper's already come."
  • Manner -
  • "Let's stop and get something to eat."
  • "OK, but not at M-c-D-o-n-a-l-d-s."

25
Practice
  • What maxim is violated? What is the implicature
    raised?
  • 1. "How did Jeff do on the test?"
  • "Well, he wrote something down for every
    question.
  • 2. "Do you know where Bill is?"
  • "Well, he didn't meet me for lunch like he was
    supposed to."

26
Implicature Across Cultures
  • Inner Circle Englishes value the Maxim of
    Quantity
  • Speak directly to the point
  • Long pauses are seen as disagreement or hostility
  • Japanese English
  • Employs much longer pauses than SAE
  • South Asian English
  • Silence on the part of the younger person is seen
    as agreement or acceptance.

27
Politeness
  • Face the public self-image that every person
    wants to claim for him/herself.
  • Negative face the basic claim to freedom of
    action and freedom from imposition
  • Positive face the positive consistent
    self-image or personality claimed by the person

28
Threats to Negative Face
  • Could you lend me a hundred dollars for a couple
    of days?
  • Imposing a request
  • If I were you, I would consult a doctor as soon
    as possible. That cough sounds dangerous to me.
  • Offering a suggestion
  • You are so lucky to have such good friends all
    over the world!
  • Compliments (envy)

29
Threats to Positive Face
  • Werent you supposed to compete the report by
    now?
  • Mild criticism
  • I am not sure I agree with your interpretation of
    the by-laws.
  • Disagreements
  • One girl friend to another) Mabel thinks you have
    put on some weight.
  • Bad news (shows the speaker not adverse to
    causing distress to addressee.)

30
Crosscultural Takes of Face
  • Japanese culture values group harmony over
    individual rights
  • Positive face considerations play a greater role
    in determining politeness than negative face
    considerations.
  • Taiwanese culture prefers strategies like
  • I dont like your performance I am not pleased
    with your performance I am not satisfied with
    your performance
  • Rather than the preferred SAE strategies
  • I am concerned about your performance I have
    been extremely concerned about your work
    performance lately I dont feel that youre
    working to your full potential.

31
Conclusions
  • Communicative success depends on various aspects
    of conversational interaction.
  • Content speech acts, conversational maxims,
    politeness strategies
  • Organization turn-taking, maintaining the
    floor, backchannelling, simultaneous talk
  • Languages and varieties differ with respect to
    how these aspects of content and organization are
    valued and realized in day-to-day interactions.
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