Intercultural Communication

Unit 1 / Week 6

Academic/Work – cultural values in discourse and behaviour

Formality: Politeness, respect, power

Honorifics and Polite Forms

• Japanese– Ki-masi-ta ‘come-POLITE-PAST’– Ki-ta ‘come-PAST’ (‘came’) unmarked

• French– Vous venez ‘you are coming’ unmarked– Tu viens ‘you are coming’ marked singular-familiar

Discussion

1. How many English forms of address can you think of? Formal: Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, ….Informal: mate, ….

2. When are these different forms used and by whom?

DiscussionIn a language other than English, what are the different ways of addressing people.1. Does the language have different words for

‘you’?2. What titles would you use to address

different people?3. When are these different forms of address

used and by whom?

Formality scale

• Quirk et al. (1985), who use the term attitude rather than style or register.

Very formal, Frozen, Rigid

← FORMAL Neutral INFORMAL →

Very informal, Casual, Familiar

Martin Joos (1961) The Five Clocks

Martin Joos (1961) The Five Clocks

• Intimate• Casual• Consultative• Formal • Frozen

Frozen

• Printed unchanging language – such as bible quotations– often contains archaisms

Formal

• One-way participation– no interruption

• Technical vocabulary– "Fussy semantics" or exact definitions are

important• Includes introductions between strangers.

Consultative

• Two-way participation. • Background information is provided

– prior knowledge is not assumed.• "Backchannel behaviour"

– such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is common. • Interruptions allowed.

Casual

• In-group friends and acquaintances. • No background information provided. • Ellipsis and slang common. • Interruptions common.

Intimate

• Non-public. • Intonation more important than wording or

grammar. • Private vocabulary.

Tenor: Register as formality scaleFrozen Silence is observed in the library at

all times.

Formal Kindly keep quiet, Miss Fidditch!

Consultative You’re not allowed to talk in the library.

Casual Hush, Jane!

Intimate Shh, darling!

(After Martin Joos 1961)

Personal and Functional Tenor

• Personal tenor– Social roles of

participants• Status relationship• Personalities

– Formality– Familiarity– Technicality

• Functional tenor– Social function of an

utterance– Identifying the purpose

of the utterance• description• directions• request• etc.

Gregory (1967: 184 ff.); Gregory & Carroll (1978: 53 ff.)

Functional Tenor• Purpose of discourse

– Transactional visit to a bank

A: Next, please. (offer of service)

B: Can I take out £50, please?

(request)

A: How would you like it? (question)

B: Four tens and two fives, please.

(response)

B: Thank you. (thanks)

Cate Poynton (1985)

TENOR

Power

AffectiveinvolvementContact

Power

equal unequal

Contact

frequent occasional

Affective Involvement

high low

Formal vs. Informal Situations

Informal Formal

equal power unequal, hierarchic power

frequent contact infrequent, or one-off contact

high affective involvement

low affective involvement

Attitudinal Lexis

• Used in informal situations– fantastic, shitty, unbelievable

• Expresses positive / negative evaluation– “Purr” and “snarl” words

• Formal situations– Keep our attitudes to ourselves– Or express them in apparently objective language:

unfortunate, surprising

Attitudinal Lexis

• Informal situation– Slang and

abbreviated forms: chockies

– Few politeness expressions

– Swearing common place

• Formal situation– Complete lexical

items: chocolates– Politeness

expressions: please, thank you, you’re welcome

– Swearing is taboo

Attitudinal Lexis

• Vocatives– Sir John!– Mr. Smith!– John!– Johnno!– Darl!– Idiot Features!

Vocatives

equal unequalPOWER

Vocative use is reciprocal Vocative use is non-reciprocal

Vocatives

frequent occasionalCONTACT

NicknamesJohnno, Pete, Shirl

Often no vocatives at allthe clerk at the post-office,the bus driver

Vocatives

high low

AFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT

Diminutive formsTerms of endearmentGeorgie-Porgie, Petie-Pie,Honey Bunch,Darl

Given namesPeter,Suzanne

Discussion

• Read the article, “Bus drivers told to cut 'babe' greeting”

• Discuss:– Why might some passengers take offence at

being called “love”, “darling” or “babe”?– Why do you think that a bus driver would choose

to address a passenger as “love”, “darling” or “babe”?

Compare

• Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

• Oh, Dr Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand with moving some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much.

Vocatives

• Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

• Oh, Dr Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand with moving some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much.

Use/Avoidance of Slang

1. Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

2. Oh, Dr Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand with moving some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much.

Use of Politeness Phenomena

1. Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

2. Oh, Dr Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand with moving some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much.

Imperative Mood

1. Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

2. Oh, Dr Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand with moving some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much.

Modulation/Attenuation of the Request

1. Hey, Freddie! Get off your butt and give me a hand here. Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

2. Oh, Dr Smith. I’m just trying to tidy my office up a bit and I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand with moving some furniture? If you’ve got time, I mean. It won’t take a moment. Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there. Thanks very much.

Grammatical MetaphorGet off your butt and give me a hand here.

I wondered if you’d mind maybe giving me a quick hand

Shove that chair over closer to the desk.

Now if we could just move this chair over a bit nearer to the desk there.

References

Eggins, Suzanne (1994) An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics London : Pinter.

Gregory, M. (1967) “Aspects of varieties Differentiation” Journal of Linguistics III 177-98)

Gregory, M. & S. Carroll (1978) Language and Situation: Language Varieties and their Social Contexts Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Joos, Martin (1961) The Five Clocks New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

Poynton, Cate (1985) Language and Gender: Making the Difference Geelong: Vic.: Deakin University Press.