DA & INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION
BY GROUP 2
 Table of Contents

Discourse and DA 04 Culture & language

01 in intercultural
communication Approaches to IC
Key elements of 08 studies
Intercultural & 05 Intercultural
02 cross-cultural Communication
communication
The Viability of the Concept IC at work
06 of “Culture” in IC 09
The coming together of
03 DA and IC
Different views of
07 culture

PRESENTER NGUYỄN ĐỨC PRESENTER LÊ PHI PRESENTER VŨ THẾ

KHÁNH HÙNG DƯƠNG
 DISCOURSE AND DA IN
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

DEFINITION OF DISCOURSE & DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

01
What is Discourse?
What is Discourse Analysis?

02 DEFINITION OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

What is the role of DA in Intercultural Communication?

IC COMPETENCE
03
What is IC Competence?
 01
DEFINITION OF DISCOURSE AND DA
 DEFINITION OF DISCOURSE & DA

WHAT IS DISCOURSE? WHAT IS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS?

Socially shared habits of thought, Close linguistic study of texts in use = analysis
perception, and behavior reflected in and interpretation of texts in use
numerous texts belonging to different
genres.

(Scollon & Scollon, 2001)

 To be more specific:
Discourse is language above the sentence level

Discourse is more than just language use

Discourse
Discourse constitutes the social; distinguished-knowledge,
social relations, and social identity

aims at revealing socio-psychological characteristics of a

person/ persons rather than text structure

The analysis of discourse is the analysis of language in use

Discourse analysis
Language as an instrument of communication, whose
expression is discourse

The analysis of the functions of language can be referred to

as discourse analysis
 02
DEFINITION OF INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (IC)

Intercultural communication: The analyst’s role is to stand

the study of distinct cultural or outside of the interaction and to
other groups in interaction with provide an analysis of how the
each other. participants negotiate their
cultural or other differences
(Scollon & Scollon, 2001)
 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (IC)

Intercultural communication takes place when individuals influenced by different

cultural communities negotiate shared meanings in interaction.

What counts as intercultural communication depends in part on what one

considers a culture, and the definition of culture itself is quite contestable.
 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (IC)
Some authorities limit the term
“intercultural communication” to
refer only to communication
among individuals from
different nationalities.
Other authorities, in contrast,
expand the notion of intercultural
communication to encompass
inter-ethnic, inter-religious, and
even inter-regional
communication, as well as
communication among
individuals of different sexual
orientations.
 Intercultural communication (IC) happens when in
situation such as:

Visitors/ Tourists
Businessmen

Students
 03
IC COMPETENCE
 IC Competence
Fantini (2006) defines intercultural communicative competence as the complex of
abilities needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with
others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself.

For Wiseman (2001) it is the comprised form of knowledge, skills, and motivation
necessary to interact effectively and appropriately with individuals from different
cultures where motivation is an important element.

Byram (1997) defines intercultural communicative competence as the relationship of

linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and
intercultural competence.
COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE COMPETENCE
(BACHMAN,1990)
 IC Competence

We tend to think prescriptively, that all groups should behave as our own group behaves.

And we are naturally proud of our own group and distrustful of others.

The foundation of intercultural communication competence is the capacity to avoid

ethnocentrism.
What does the ethnocentrism meaning?

Ethnocentrism is the inclination to view one’s own group as natural and correct, and all
others as aberrant.
 IC Competence

• Alternatively, it may be possible for

individuals to evolve beyond ethnocentrism,
to become ethnorelativistic.

• The Developmental Model of Intercultural

Sensitivity (DMIS) is frequently used in
intercultural training and assessment to chart
 1. Denial 2. Defense
The individual refuses to acknowledge The individual begins to see cultural differences
cultural differences. and is threatened by them.

3. Minimization 4. Acceptance
While individuals at this stage do acknowledge The individual begins to accept
cultural differences, they see human universals as significant cultural differences first in
more salient than cultural distinctions. behaviors, and then in values.

5. Adaptation
The individual becomes more adept at
intercultural communication by shifting
perspectives to the other’s cultural world
view.
6. Integration
Begin to transcend their own native
cultures. They define their identities and
evaluate their actions in terms of
multiple cultural perspectives.
 IC Competence

ETHNORELATIVISTIC

I N T E G R AT I O N
A D A P TAT I O N

A C C E P TA N C E

M I N I M I Z AT I O N

DEFENS
E
DENIAL

ETHNOCENTRISM
 IC Competence

ETHNORELATIVISTIC

I N T E G R AT I O N
A D A P TAT I O N

A C C E P TA N C E

M I N I M I Z AT I O N

DEFENS
E
DENIAL

ETHNOCENTRISM
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION &
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

01 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Definition and examples

02 CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Definition and examples

03 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 2 FRAMEWORKS

 What is intercultural communication?
Intercultural communication concentrates on studies of the
communicative behavior of people within their own culture and
compares this with the communicative norms of other cultures.
(Scollon & Scollon, 2001)
Example
Bailey (2000) studied the communication patterns between
Korean shop owners and African-American customers:
African-American customers Korean shopkeepers
- Tried to star small talk and - Were very brief and to the
make communication more poin in their communication
personal
- Fell ignored

- Interpreted it as a lack of interest - Interpreted personalizing

in communicating with them communication as a sign of
because of racist attitudes. bad manners.
 What is Cross-cultural communication?

Cross-cultural communication studies the communicative

characteristics of distinct cultural or other groups.
(Scollon & Scollon, 2001)
 Example 1
Lorenzoni and Lewis (2004) examined how Italian airline service
staff and British service staff responded in situations when
service went wrong
The staff worked for the same airlines and they
claimed they would solve the problem in a
similar way following the company rules.
The results showed that Italian staff were
more likely to adapt the rules in some cases,
whereas the British were stricter in keeping
the rules.
 Example 2
Hofstede (1986) studied the influence of the course language in
an international business school on the learning process
- Taught the same course in 2 different languages: French & English to 2
classes of international students

English speaking class French speaking class

- Students would ask “So - Nobody asked “et

what?” and tried to become alors?” (so what?)
pragmatic - The discussion has few
practical conclusions
Framework Intercultural Communication Cross-cultural Communication
Framework Framework
Similarities Comparative analysis or synthesis is made by the analyst or researcher

- Members of different groups - Members of the distinct groups

interact with each other within do not interact with each other
the study within the study but are studied as
separate and separable entities

Differences
- Researchers stand outside of - Researches presuppose the
the interaction and analyses distinctiveness of the groups
how the participants negotiate under analysis
their cultural or other
differences.
THE COMING TOGETHER OF
DA & IC
IDENTIFICATION:

• Bateson’s (1935 )

• Problem he set out was that of developing an analytical language by which differences
between cultures or groups – he clearly identified men and women, older generations
and younger generations, different classes, clans, and young children and caretakers
as relevant analytical groups – would be analyzed as mutually co-constructive

• He hoped to understand the processes by which groups in conflict could become more
harmoniously engaged.
• Gumperz (1982), Tannen (1984, 1986) brought DA to the service of solving
problems of interracial, interethnic, and intercultural communication

• DA has to analyze these problems as revealed in language (vocabulary, grammar,

information structure, turn-taking, etc.)

• This line of thought was the first to seek to bridge the gap between DA and IC,
(e.g. seeking to analyze the production of social, economic, and racial
discrimination in and through discourse as situated social practice).

• Bailey (2000, 2004: 404) cautions, however, that ‘it can be difficult to determine
whether particular social relations are caused by particular communicative patterns, or
vice versa.
 04
CULTURE & LANGUAGE
DEFINITION OF CULTURE & LANGUAGE
DEFINITION OF CULTURE & LANGUAGE
D E F I N I T I O N O F C U LT U R E & L A N G U A G E
Example:
- In military barrack, soldiers always get up at 5 am in the summer and 5.15 am in the
winter.
- Annually, our academy has a parade in September in order to salute new academic
year.
- After a hard-working day, cadets usually find their interest in doing sports or chatting
with friends.
- I hate doing gardening because it makes my hand become rough.
DEFINITION OF CULTURE & LANGUAGE
D E F I N I T I O N OF C U LT U R E & L AN G U A G E
 05
KEY ELEMENTS OF INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
SCHISMOGENESIS (N)

The creation of seperation

(sự đứt gãy)

● Schism (Greek) : a split ot division

History: the Great Schism - the breach between the Eastern
and the Western Churches

● Genesis (Greek) : the origin or mode of formation of something

Religion: the first book of the Bible
“The processes in social interactions by which
small initial differences become amplified in
response to each other through a sequence of
interactional moves and ultimately result in a
RUPTURE IN THE SOCIAL
INTERACTION”
(Bateson, 1972).

Two opposing
want to adjust the
types of
aware of the other by acting out small initial
communication
differences the previous action difference become
interacts
more intensified.

The rupture in communication

CONTEXTUALIZATION CUES
Definition of contextualization
● refers to the fact that linguistic signs need embedding in a
context in order to be fully interpretable.
(Cook-Gumperz ,1976).

Definition of contextualization cues

● Contexts are not given but are said to be invoked, or made

relevant, by participants through so-called contextualization
cues.
(Auer and di Luzio 1992).
FEATURES OF CONTEXTUALIZATION CUES

Prosodic features Paralinguistic features

(verbal) (non-verbal)
• Code–switching
• Intonation • Body language

• Pitch • Gesture
• Volume
• Facial expression
• Stress
• Rhymth
• Tempo
“No utterance can be pronounced
without such signs, contextualization
cues are ever present in talk, and to
the extent that they can be shown to
affect interpretation, they provide
direct evidence for the necessary role
that indexicality plays in talk .”
- John J. Gumperz -
 FUNCTIONS OF CONTEXTUALIZATION CUES
1. Index or evoke interpretive SCHEMAS or FRAMES within which inferential
understanding can be achieved .
(Gumperz 1982; Tannen 1993)

2. CONSTRUCT the contextual ground, when processed in co-occurrence with other

cues and grammatical and lexical signs, for situated interpretation and thereby
AFFECT HOW PARTICULAR MESSAGES ARE UNDERSTOOD.
(Gumperz 1982a)

3. Help interactants make inferences about TURN-TAKING and FLOOR

MANAGEMENT, on the one hand, and about what actions or activities are being
carried out, how they are being carried out, and how this might impinge upon
participants’ face, on the other.
INEQUALITY IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

- There are pre-existing relationships that must be considered when trying to

understand intercultural encounters and how discrimination works with them.

- Most importantly, people from different cultures rarely meet as equals, and much of
this inequality is not personal, but due to power differences in the cultures they come
from.

For example:
- In England, for example, South Asian migrants have less power than native Anglos, and
they are expected to accommodate to the dominant culture
 PREJUDICE
WHAT IS PREJUDICE?
• Prejudice refers to negative attitudes toward other people that are based on
faulty and inflexible stereotypes ( Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J., 2009).
PREJUDICE ATTITUDES INCLUDE:

irrational feelings of dislike and even

hatred
biased perceptions and beliefs
that are not based on direct
experiences
a readiness to behave in negative
and unjust ways
toward certain
groups (based on their
nationalities, senses of
belonging, class, occupation,
gender,…)
Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J.,
2009)
 Prejudice is a universal psychological process, since all people usually have
prejudices toward others who are unlike themselves.

=> It is critical for individuals to recognize the prevalence of prejudicial thinking.

 06
THE VIABILITY OF THE CONCEPT
OF “CULTURE” IN IC
 Otherization in IC

- Otherization means imagining someone as alien and different to “us” in

such a way that “they” are excluded from “our” “normal”, “superior” and
“civilized” group.
- Developing strategies for intercultural communication
+ Identity: how identity is constructed and how individuals define their own
identities.
+ Otherization: how to avoid the trap of over-generalization and reduction
when describing and interacting with others.
 THE VIABILITY OF THE CONCEPT OF “CULTURE” IN IC

- Since the early 1970s, the concept of culture has been

progressively reconstructed into other units or discourses
which are seen as instantiations of social practices.
- Within discourse analysis and intercultural communication,
cultural units have been dissolved into boundaryless forms of
intertextuality and interdiscursivity.
 THE VIABILITY OF THE CONCEPT OF “CULTURE” IN IC

- Culture, in the sense of “Chinese culture” or “European

culture” might be used as one of a very wide range of
discourses at play in any particular instance of discourse.
- Culture is difficult to define, it is not something we can touch
or quantify.
- It involves the behaviour, beliefs and values of a group of
people.
 THE VIABILITY OF THE CONCEPT OF “CULTURE” IN IC

- It is both conscious and subconscious.

- It functions on many levels from the individual, to local
communities, to wider social groups and institutions.
- It is changeable and negotiated, not fixed.
 07
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF CULTURE
1.Essentialist and reductive view of culture
a. Essentialist view:

❏ Definition:
o “By essentialist, we mean presuming that there is a universal
essence, homogeneity, and unity in a particular culture”
(Holliday et al., 2010, p. 1).
1.Essentialist and reductive view of culture
a. Essentialist view:

❏ Definition:
➔ Cultural essentialism is the practice of categorizing groups of
people within a culture, or from other cultures, according to
essential qualities or national cultures.
1.Essentialist and reductive view of culture
a. Essentialist view:

❏ Characteristics of essentialist view:

o The essentialist view sees national culture as a concrete social
phenomenon that represents the essential characters of a particular
nation (Holiday, 1999, p.1)
➔The behavior of a person is confined by the constraints of
national culture.
1.Essentialist and reductive view of culture
b. Reductive view:
❏Reduction is where the different aspects, the variety of
possible characteristics, and the full complexity of a group of
people are ignored in favor of a preferred definition
(Holliday, 2004)
❏ Definition:
o By reductive we mean reducing cultural behavior down to a
simple causal factor
(Holliday, 2004)
1.Essentialist and reductive view of culture
b. Reductive view:

❏ Characteristics of reductive view:

o Reductionist thinking leaves little room for variety, cultural
traditions, living urban environments, or religion, thus reducing our
worldview to a mere minimalism of several of the most glorious
achievements of evolved human civilization (Bhat & Salingaros,
2013)
1.Essentialist and reductive view of culture
b. Reductive view:

❏ Characteristics of reductive view:

➔ Reductionist thinking erases
underlying complexity and reduces
people and cultures to a one
dimensional definition
2. Non - essentialist view of culture

❏ Definition
o A non-essentialist view of culture focuses on the complexity of culture
as a fluid, creative social force which binds different groupings and
aspects of behavior in different ways, both constructing and constructed by
people in a piecemeal fashion to produce myriad combinations and
configurations.
(Holliday et al., 2021)
2. Non - essentialist view of culture
❏ Characteristics of non-essentialist view:
o The non-essentialist view is free from national pre-definitions
➔ It avoids ethnic, national, international stereotyping and reductive
statements
(Holliday et al., 2021)
❏ Characteristics of non-essentialist view:
o The non-essentialist view of culture therefore allows social behaviour
to speak for itself. But it does not impose pre-definitions of the essential
characteristics of specific national cultures.
( Holliday, 1998)
3. Discourse as Constitutive of Cultural Categories

o A unifying theme of discourse analysis and intercultural communication is

that all communication is constitutive of cultural categories.
(Scollon & Scollon, 1995)
o The focus has shifted away from comparison between cultures or between
individuals to a focus on the co-constructive aspects of communication
(Scollon & Scollon, 1995)
3. Discourse as Constitutive of Cultural Categories

o This means that instead of people’s orientation, nation, culture,...in this view,
their identity/characteristics/ego are defined through their discourse, how they
negotiate, describe and identify themself using verbal language
o Verbal language/non-verbal in discourse is considered as a combination of
aspects of communication, or in other words, we analyse communication as
constitutive of cultural categories
 DISCOURSE AND DA IN
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

08 APPROACHES TO IC STUDIES

09 IC AT WORK
 08
APPROACHES TO IC STUDIES
 APPROACHES TO IC STUDIES

1. Discourse Approach to IC 2. IC Approach to DA

3. Intercultural/interactional 4. Mediated Discourse Approach

Sociolinguistic Approach
 01
DISCOURSE APPROACH TO IC
(SCOLLON AND SCOLLON, 1995)
 1. Discourse Approach to IC (Scollon and Scollon, 1995)

- Inter-discourse communication: Each of us is simultaneously a member of

many different discourse systems since we are members of a particular
corporate group, a particular professional or occupational group, a generation, a
gender, a region, and an ethnicity.
⇒ All communication is communication across some lines which divide us into
different discourse groups or systems of discourse
⇒ simultaneous internal and external contradictions.
 1. Discourse Approach to IC (Scollon and Scollon, 1995)

Example: In a business meeting between Hong Kong

Chinese and North American businessmen, one of the
Chinese businessmen might say the following:

“Because most of our production is done in China now, and

uh, it’s not really certain how the government will react in
the run-up to 1997, and since I think a certain amount of
caution in committing to TV advertisement is necessary
because of the expense. So, I suggest that we delay making
our decision until after Legco makes its decision.”

⇒ What the speaker’s main point is?

 1. Discourse Approach to IC (Scollon and Scollon, 1995)

Each side is using different principles of discourse to organize its presentations.

Asian: topic-comment Western: comment (main point) - topic

X (comment, main point, or action
because of suggested)
Y (topic, background, or reasons) because of
X (comment, main point, or action Y (topic, background, or reasons)
suggested)
1. Discourse Approach to DA (Scollon and Scollon, 1995)

The Westerner might expect something more like

the following :

“I suggest that we delay making our decision until

after Legco makes its decision. That’s because I
think a certain amount of caution in committing to
TV advertisement is necessary because of the
expense. In addition to that, most of our
production is done in China now, and it’s not really
certain how the government will react in the run-
up to 1997.”
 02
IC APPROACH TO DA
(SCOLLON & SCOLLON 1995,
2001)
 2. IC Approach to DA (Scollon & Scollon, 1995, 2001)

- Individuals are members of different cultural groups and their

communication can be studied as a problem in communication
through a discursive analysis of the characteristic
communication of members of those groups.
- An intercultural approach would begin with the problem that a
German was to communicate with a Chinese.
2. IC Approach to DA (Scollon & Scollon, 1995, 2001)

Western culture: people view

themselves as independent
entities

Chinese culture stresses

interdependence between
human beings.
 2. IC Approach to DA (Scollon & Scollon, 1995, 2001)
The German The Chinese

Stand up and speak up Behave in a calm and attentive

Do what is more convenient for way
them Listen quietly and process
Smile to show interest or information while listening
approval

⇒ Differences in values, perceptions, the typical structures of genres, rates of

speaking and of turning over turns, gestures and other nonverbal
communication systems, or of world view or ideology.
 03
INTERCULTURAL/INTERACTIONAL
SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACH
 3. Intercultural/ interactional sociolinguistic approach

- This approach would identify people from these different

groups who are in social interaction with each other
- Through a close analysis of the discourse actually produced, the
analyst would first identify breakdowns in communication,
then try to find the sources of the breakdowns in the language
used as well as in the misinterpretation of contextualization cues.
 3. Intercultural/ interactional sociolinguistic approach
Example:

Scientists often call medical language

impersonal, strictly scientific and largerly
incomprehensible to the general public. It is
the language of medicine, with special
terminology for each disease, symptom and
treatment.
Medical terminology is often
misunderstood by patients and may
establish a distance between the doctor and
the patient.
⇒ The physician must adapt his speech during the explanation of the diagnosis or disease,
consequences or methods of treatment to the patient, so that the patient can understand all
transmitted information.
 3. Intercultural/ interactional sociolinguistic approach
- Differences between the participants would be most likely understood as arising
from a history of socialization to different groups and therefore a
misunderstanding of contextualization cues in the actual situation of
communicating with each other.

Doctor - patient communication:

+ “doctors may express empathy and open friendly dialogues with patients to
achieve their satisfaction and success in medical care,”
(Davis, 2010, p.12)

+ the asymmetric relationship may result from Chinese culture in which doctors,
lawyers and teachers hold professional power which comes from respect for their
expertise.
(Yin, et at, 2013)
 04
MEDIATED DISCOURSE APPROACH
4. MEDIATED DISCOURSE APPROACH
- A mediated discourse perspective shifts from a focus on the individuals
involved in communication, and from their interpersonal or intercultural or
even inter-discursive relationship, to a focus on mediated action as a kind
of social action.
- The central concern is now not persons but social change.
- The primary question would be: what is the social action in which you
are interested and how does this analysis promise to focus on some
aspects of social life that is worth understanding?
4. MEDIATED DISCOURSE APPROACH

- Thus the analysis would not presuppose cultural membership but rather
ask how does the concept of culture arise in these social actions.
- In this sense a mediated discourse analysis is a way of erasing the field of
intercultural communication by dissolving the foundational questions and
reconstituting the research agenda around social action, not categorical
memberships or cultural genres.
4. MEDIATED DISCOURSE APPROACH

- Thus the analysis would not presuppose cultural membership but rather
ask how does the concept of culture arise in these social actions.
- In this sense a mediated discourse analysis is a way of erasing the field
of intercultural communication by dissolving the foundational questions
and reconstituting the research agenda around social action, not
categorical memberships or cultural genres.
 4. MEDIATED DISCOURSE APPROACH

- MDA is quite similar to CDA.

- MDA focuses on social action
rather than language.
Example: women are expected to
be good at housework. (gender
stereotype)
IC AT WORK
 Speech Acts in IC Discourse

“saying is (part of) doing, or words are (part of) deeds”

(Huang, Pragmatics 119)

- According to Searle (1969), there are only five illocutionary points

that speakers can achieve on propositions in an utterance
 1. ASSERTIVES (LỚP BIỂU HIỆN)

Speakers achieve the assertive point when they represent how

​

things are in the world ​(Vanderkeven and Kubo, 2002).

Example: No one makes report better than I do

=> informative sentence, boasting
2. DIRECTIVES (LỚP CHI PHỐI)

- Speakers achieve the directive point when they make an attempt to get hearers
to do something
-Directives can be positive/ negative/ explicit/ implicit

Example: Send us your check today

=> Request for action, get the hearer to do something
-Explicit: Hey, don’t use the bowl for the sauce (Fijian-Indian man)
-Implicit: Your fax is here (Croatian woman, meaning go and collect your
fax); Are you going to repair them? (Fijian-Indian man)
- DIRECTIVES ARE IMPARTED OVERWHELMING BY
MEN, ESPECIALLY EUROPEAN MEN, OFTEN TO
WOMEN.

-DIRECTIVES AND COMPLAINTS ARE BOTH

IMPORTANT IN GAINING AND MAINTAINING CONTROL
AND POWER
3. COMMISSIVES (LỚP CAM KẾT)

Speakers achieve the commissive point when they commit themselves to doing something
-As with directives and complaints, the distribution of commissives indicates power
relationships as well as cultural differences.
-Commissives tend to be performed by women rather than men and by South-east Asians
(often in dialogue with European men).

Example: Your complaint is accepted

=> Acceptances
From now on, I will participate in our group activity
4. EXPRESSIVES (LỚP BIỂU CẢM)

Speakers achieve the expressive point when they express their attitudes about objects and
facts of the world
-South-east Asians, especially women, who rarely apologize sometimes try to terminate an
apology.
-Europeans apologize in such a way to avoid losing face.
-This puts both Europeans and South-east Asians at variance with Anglo-Australians, who
occupy the middle ground in that they tend to apologize as a formality according to
conventions of politeness but do not make a big deal out of it.

Example: I am so sorry for not helping you out in our group projects and letting
you do all the work
=> apology
5. DECLARATIVES (LỚP TUYÊN BỐ)

​Speakersachieve the declaratory point when they do things in

the world at the moment of the utterance solely by virtue of
saying that they do

Example: You're fired!

By saying that, an employer brings about the person's
unemployment, thus changing his external situation
 S PEECH ACTS I N I C DI S COURS E

- Examples of Speech acts in IC discourse:

• Complaints/ whinges
• Directives
• Commissives
• Apologies
• Small-talk
 COMPLAINTS: BEHABITIVE & EXERCITIVE

- Complaints are speech acts in which disappointment or a

grievance is expressed.
- Behabitives = ‘statements of reaction’ (Austin, 1961: 13).
- A behabitive complaint (or a whinge = Australian-American word
for a long or repeated expression of discontent not intended to
change or improve the unsatisfactory situation)
 WHINGES

- Whinges provide an outlet for emotions and can be regarded as a

type of phatic communication/communion which establishes and
maintains solidarity between colleagues.
- Whinges are not directed towards achieving any particular goal.
- No justification is required in this type of complaint.
- It is conceivable that a complaint and a whinge may use the same
words in an utterance.
 EXERCITIVES

- Exercitives occur where someone is exercising a power.

- Exercitives are usually part of complex interactional sequences which
begin with an explicit or implicit accusation.
- They can be complaints about, or to, another person.
- Where the accused is present, there will often follow a defense or
justification.
- The sequence will essentially include at least one directive (request for
action) which usually will be explicit, but sometimes implicit, in the
accusation.
 EXERCITIVES

- A return accusation is an optional part of this complex sequence

and an apparent disclaimer/denial may appear as a rhetorical
device.
- Often an apology is part of the complex complaint sequence with
either the accused or the accuser making an unjustified complaint
apologizing.
 DIRECTIVES

- Directives include both requests and instructions.

- Directives can be positive/ negative/ explicit/ implicit
- Explicit: Hey, don’t use the bowl for the sauce (Fijian-Indian
man)
- Implicit: Your fax is here (Croatian woman, meaning go and
collect your fax); Are you going to repair them? (Fijian-Indian
man)
 DIRECTIVES

- In some cases, grammatical conventions are employed for

implicitly expressing a directive:
- I was wondering if I can have … (Maltese man, meaning: Give
me…)
- Negative directives direct someone not to do something: From
now on I don’t want to see anybody who is competent with solder
(welding substance) to do the cleaning.
 CULTURAL AND GENDER VARIATION
IN DIRECTIVES

- Directives are imparted overwhelming by men, especially

European men, often to women.
- Directives and complaints are both important in gaining and
maintaining control and power.
 COMMISIVES

- Commisives are those in which, by promising and

offering, Speaker S is committed to a future act A.
- I will give you a lift home tonight (Quoc to Boba)
- As with directives and complaints, the distribution of
commissives indicates power relationships as well as
cultural differences.
- Commissives tend to be performed by women rather than
men and by South-east Asians (often in dialogue with
European men).
 APOLOGIES

- Apologies fall into Searle’s (1969) category of

expressives in which S makes known feelings to H.
- Apologies: three acts: Regretful acknowledgement of
failure or fault; assurance of no offence intended;
explanation or vindication.
- Apologies are very much concerned with face saving.
 APOLOGIES

- It is important to consider, for each apology, how it is

initiated, by a complaint or a situation in which S feels that it
is his/her interests to apologize, and how the apologized is
performed.
- Most apologies are performed by the super-ordinate to the
subordinate.
- They are intended to vindicate the speaker and/or to offer an
explanation.
 APOLOGIES

- The hearer has no option but to accept the apology, which in

some cases, is no real concession to the aggrieved.
- The apologies are largely from Europeans, both male and
female.
- Some of them are quite lengthy because the apologizer
employs several schemata to apologize and requires or
presupposes some kind of reassurance.
 APOLOGIES

- South-east Asians, especially women, who rarely apologize

sometimes try to terminate an apology.
- Europeans apologize in such a way to avoid losing face.
- This puts both Europeans and South-east Asians at variance
with Anglo-Australians, who occupy the middle ground in
that they tend to apologize as a formality according to
conventions of politeness but do not make a big deal out of it.
 S M A L L TA L K

- Small talk, though thematically considered unimportant, is an

essential aspect of conversation in that it provides a means of
easing things along.
- Some use small talk to initiate a conversation on a work topic.
- Small talk is found in the discourses of people from most
cultures.
- It is particularly prevalent in communication between people of
the same gender or those from a similar cultural background.
 Discourse and DA 04 Culture & language
01 in intercultural
communication Approaches to IC
Key elements of 08 studies
Intercultural & 05 Intercultural
02 cross-cultural Communication
communication
The Viability of the Concept IC at work
06 of “Culture” in IC 09
The coming together of
03 DA and IC
Different views of
07 culture
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