Title: Ling 122: English as a World Language -14
1Ling 122 English as a World Language -14
- VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
- Conversational Interaction
- Readings
- Kachru Smith, Ch. 8
2Talk 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
3The 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
4Interactive 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
5Crosscultural 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
6Crosscultural 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
7Crosscultural 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
8Crosscultural 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
9Crosscultural 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
10FitzGeralds 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
11FitzGeralds 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?
13Crosscultural 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.
15Crosscultural 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.
16Implications 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
17Speech 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.
18Speech 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!
19Speech 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.
20The 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."
21Grices 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.
22Grices 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
-
23Assumptions
- 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.
24Violations
- 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."
25Practice
- 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."
26Implicature 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.
27Politeness
- 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
28Threats 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)
29Threats 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.)
30Crosscultural 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.
31Conclusions
- 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.