Intercultural Communication Misunderstandings PDF

Intercultural communication Misunderstanding in discourse Agenda Meet with me to talk about your project Thursday 10/10: idea Read: Zhu Hua. (2014). What contributes to successful...

Intercultural communication Misunderstanding in discourse Agenda Meet with me to talk about your project Thursday 10/10: idea Read: Zhu Hua. (2014). What contributes to successful communication? (Chapter 8) IC analysis Thoughts on the reading? Zhu Hua on causes of miscommunication 1. Linguistic proficiency 2. Pragmatic mismatch (same culture) 3. Cross-cultural pragmatics (sociolinguistic failure) 4. Style clash 5. Schema clash 6. Contextualization cues/frames Your examples? 1. Linguistic proficiency Why is this important? Related work: Leal (2015) Linguistic proficiency OR clash in framing  Pragmatic mismatch locutionary – the words (‘where are your boots?’) illocutionary – the intention (‘put them on’) perlocutionary- the consequence (child puts boots on) Cross-cultural pragmatics A: You've lost a lot of weight. What have you been doing? B: Thank you. I've started jogging regularly and it seems to work. A: You shouldn't overdo it. You are looking quite thin. (Homes & Brown, 1987, p. 526) Locutionary? Illocutionary? Perlocutionary? Cross-cultural pragmatics (sociolinguistic norms) Clash in styles High involvement speaker meets low involvement speaker Overlap = interruption rather than enthusiasm Clash in styles African American customers in LA, Korean shopkeepers  Byaskingforclarificationand checkingon herowncomprehension, the learnerin the above sequence was doing somethingto participate activelyin the conversation.But such negotiationwas so uncommon in thisdata and nonsubstantive responsesso prevalentthatone NS How involved? even wentso faras to complainto theNNS thatshe feltshe was doing all the work: 15. NS: Myplanetrip[toJapan]waspretty I meanit wasn't difficult, directfromNew Yorkto Tokyoor anything. I had to go to Toronto... NNS: Mm hmn. NS: I had to go to Torontoand thenI had to spenda nightin a hotel in Toronto,and thenI had to getto the airportagain the next day,and go to Vancouverand switchplanes,and I mean,that's a lot of traveling,and I was reallytired. NNS: Yeah? NS: And thenwhenI gotto TokyoafterI had been travelingfor20 hours I had to catch a cab into Tokyo station... NNS: Uh huh... NS: Then getanothercab and findmyway,youknow,and I had to explainto thetaxidriverwheremyhotelwas because he didn't knowwhereit was. NNS: Right,uh huh... Where did you stay? (a fewexchangeslaterabout hotel) NS: It's so funny,I sithere goingon and on and youjust say,"uh huh," it's like I'm in an interviewor something.(bothlaugh) Apparently this NS, and no doubt other NS partners,found the NNSs' backchannel responses toBoxer,be inadequate 1993 and frustrating.The NS quoted above was the only one who ventured to say something explicit Schema clash A: Hi, my name is Alex. R: Hi, my name is Ron. J: Nice to meet you. My name is T: Nice to meet you. I’m Tony. Jun. R: What do you do for a living, Tony? (conversation continues a few minutes) J: I’m 32. How old are you?  Contextualization cues Creating inferences in talk Find two different ways to say these words that lead to two different sets of inferences required to understand the meaning I had fun doing the assigned readings for today. What linguistic material points to the inferences expected? Linguistics of inferencing Contextualization cues Sentence stress Word stress Pitch Eye contact Facial expressions Body movements Codeswitching Honorifics euphemisms Etc! Why does smiling cause miscommunication? Sorry my ž Smiling while apologizing music was too loud http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Genuine-Apology  Miscommunication: under the hood presuppositions and inferences Husband: Do you know where today’s paper is? Wife: I’ll get it for you. Husband: That’s okay. Just tell me where it is. I’ll get it. Wife: No, I’ll get it.  Inferencing and implicature What allows us to see B as a good/useful response to A? A: Do you want to play tennis? B: It looks like rain. How do these show the idea of implicature (and schema)? He has a good face for radio. This student came to class on time and completed all assignments (LoR) Do you know where the newspaper is? Two levels of inference to explore ¡BROUGHT ALONG (schemas): Global inferences of what an exchange is about and what mutual rights and obligations apply based on layered experiences and socialization ¢This is largely based on being a member of a culture or community and having learned the conventions for communicative genres ¡BROUGHT ABOUT: The visible use of contextualization cues and the visible ways in which implicatures unfold CLASSIC IS: What is the contextualization cue that cues two different inferences/sets of understandings? BROUGHT ALONG? BROUGHT ABOUT? Prepare to “redo” the interaction after line A in a manner that aligns with A’s conversational style and use of contextualization cues. Context: Regular staff meeting of sixteen participants in a Māori workplace. All but three are Māori. 1. Steve: we have capability development um 2. the g m oversight here //is from Frank with Caleb\ 3. Frank: /[quietly to Daniel]:and what’s maraetai mean?:\\ 4. Steve the manager in charge budget of a hundred and //eighty\ seven k Steve is talking in 5. Dan: /[quietly]: mm?:\\ a staff meeting. 6. Steve //+\ obviously key area //we want to ensure that um\ Dan is the CEO, 7. Dan: /[quietly]: it’s by your left\\ eye: 8. Frank: [quietly]: mm?: Frank is a senior 9. Dan: [quietly]: it’s by your left eye: manager, all of 10. Frank: [quietly]: by your left eye: Politeness in IDC 219 them Steveʻs 11. Dan: //[quietly]: mm my right eye:\ 12. Steve: /one of the important\\ things in communication is superiors 13. not to talk when others are talking 14. [loud laughter] 15. Steve: I hope that the cameras picked up (that) 16. [loud laughter] 17. Frank: Steve this indicates a need for you to be out in hui (“meetings”) 18. [laughter] 19. Frank: one of the things that you learn very quickly 20. is that a sign of respect is that other people are talking about 21. what //you’re saying while you’re saying it\ 22. /[laughter]\\ [laughter] 23. Steve: I see I see 24. Caleb: //good recovery Frank good recovery\ 25. Dan: /that’s right Steve Frank is\\ bicultural 26. [laughter] [other comments – hard to hear] 27. Dan: he was just enquiring about who this Johnny Maraetai 28. //guy was\ 29. Steve: /oh I see\\ I see okay 30. Frank: Daniel says it’s right beside your left eye [laughs] Other approaches to contextualization cues, inferences, and identity how people …‘invoke, avoid or reconfigure the cultural and symbolic capital attendant on lines and identities with different degrees of accessibility and purchase in different situations’ (Rampton 2001: 97) and how people as a result of that position themselves in a group and in wider- scale contexts. Recent examples Like as a discourse marker She’s like, “that’s a terrible idea” And like, he kept blowing up the balloon until like it was getting so big and like I knew like it would pop at any second LOL in texting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvOgW6iV2s Okay, Boomer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxJsPXrEqCI Okay, Karen Yeet More?