Description
Book SynopsisThis newly revised edition is both a lively introduction and practical guide to the main concepts and challenges of intercultural communication. Grounded in interactional sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, this work integrates theoretical principles and methodological advice, presenting students, researchers, and practitioners with a comprehensive and unified resource.
- Features new original theory, expanded treatment of generations, gender and corporate and professional discourse
- Offers improved organization and added features for student and classroom use, including advice on research projects, questions for discussion, and references at the end of each chapter
- Extensively revised with newly added material on computer mediated communication, sexuality and globalization
Trade Review“Overall, the paradigm presented throughout the now three iterations of this book remains a remarkably insightful way to conceptualize factors influencing communication, or, in the authors’ own terms, factors mediating communication. By focusing on common denominators of all human life (ideologies, forms of discourse, socialization, and face systems) Scollon, Scollon, and Jones successfully arrive at a culture-neutral heuristic that can be used in any instance of interpersonal (and thus, intercultural) communication.” (Linguist List, 8 January 2013)
Table of ContentsList of Figures xi
Series Editor’s Preface xiii
Preface to the First Edition xiv
Preface to the Second Edition xvii
Preface to the Third Edition xviii
1 What Is a Discourse Approach? 1
The Problem with Culture 2
Culture is a verb 5
Discourse 7
Discourse systems 8
What Is Communication? 10
Language is ambiguous by nature 11
We must draw inferences about meaning 14
Our inferences tend to be fixed, not tentative 15
Our inferences are drawn very quickly 15
Interdiscourse communication and English as a global language 16
What This Book Is Not 17
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 18
Four processes of ethnography 19
Four types of data in ethnographic research 20
Choosing a site of investigation 21
Discussion Questions 23
References for Further Study 24
2 How, When, and Where to Do Things with Language 25
Sentence Meaning and Speaker’s Meaning 27
Speech Acts, Speech Events, and Speech Situations 27
Grammar of Context 29
Seven main components for a grammar of context 30
Scene 31
Key 34
Participants 35
Message form 36
Sequence 37
Co-occurrence patterns, marked and unmarked 38
Manifestation 38
Variation in context grammar 39
“Culture” and Context 39
High context and low context situations 40
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 42
Using the “grammar of context” as a preliminary ethnographic audit 42
Discussion Questions 43
References for Further Study 44
3 Interpersonal Politeness and Power 45
Communicative Style or Register 45
Face 46
The “self” as a communicative identity 47
The Paradox of Face: Involvement and Independence 48
Politeness strategies of involvement and independence 49
Linguistic strategies of involvement: some examples 51
Linguistic strategies of independence: some examples 51
Face Systems 52
Three Face Systems: Deference, Solidarity, and Hierarchy 53
Deference face system (-P, +D) 54
Solidarity face system (-P, -D) 54
Hierarchical face system (+P, +/-D) 55
Miscommunication 56
Variations in Face Systems 59
Social Organization and Face Systems 60
Kinship 61
The concept of the self 62
Ingroup–outgroup relationships 64
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft 65
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 66
Exploring the interaction order 66
Discussion Questions 67
References for Further Study 68
4 Conversational Inference: Interpretation in Spoken Discourse 69
How Do We Understand Discourse? 70
Cohesive Devices: Lexical and Grammatical 71
Reference 72
Verb forms 72
Conjunction 72
The causal conjunction “because” 73
Cognitive Schemata and Scripts 74
World knowledge 75
Adjacency sequences 76
Prosodic Patterning: Intonation and Timing 77
Intonation 77
Timing 79
Metacommunication 82
Non-sequential processing 84
Interactive Intelligence 86
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 88
Collecting and analyzing spoken data 88
Reconfiguring default settings 89
Discussion Questions 90
References for Further Study 90
5 Topic and Face: Inductive and Deductive Patterns in Discourse 92
What Are You Talking About? 92
Topic, Turn Exchange, and Timing 94
The call–answer–topic adjacency sequence 94
The call 95
The answer 95
The introduction of the caller’s topic 95
Deductive Monologues 96
The Inductive Pattern 97
Inside and outside encounters 98
Hierarchical relationships and topic introduction 98
The false east–west dichotomy 99
Face: Inductive and Deductive Rhetorical Strategies 100
Topics and face systems 101
Face Relationships in Written Discourse 103
Essays and press releases 104
The press release: implied writers and implied readers 105
The essay: a deductive structure 106
Limiting Ambiguity: Power in Discourse 106
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 107
Collecting and analyzing written data 107
Discussion Questions 109
References for Further Study 109
6 Ideologies in Discourse 110
Three Concepts of Discourse 110
The Utilitarian Discourse System 113
The Enlightenment: reason and freedom 114
Bentham and Mill’s Utilitarianism 115
Forms of discourse in the Utilitarian discourse system 117
The Panopticon of Bentham 118
Face systems in the Utilitarian discourse system 120
Internal face systems: liberté, égalité, fraternité 120
The institutions of the Utilitarian discourse system 121
Outside discourse 122
Multiple discourse systems 123
The Confucian discourse system 123
“Conversations” 126
What “Counts” as an Ideology? 128
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 130
The relationship between small d discourse and big D Discourses 130
Discussion Questions 134
References for Further Study 134
7 Forms of Discourse 136
Functions of Language 136
Information and relationship 136
Negotiation and ratifi cation 137
Group harmony and individual welfare 138
Clarity, Brevity, and Sincerity Revisited 139
Theories of communication in the Utilitarian discourse system 139
Kant’s view of the “public” writer 147
Plagiarism and ideology 148
Modes, Media, and the Materiality of Discourse 152
Mode 152
Media 154
Emplacement 156
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 157
Discussion Questions 158
References for Further Study 159
8 Socialization 161
The Individual and “Culture” 161
Socialization 162
Education, enculturation, acculturation 162
Primary and secondary socialization 163
Socialization as legitimate peripheral participation 164
Theories of the person and of learning 165
Socialization in the Utilitarian Discourse System 168
Education vs. socialization 168
Socialization and face systems 169
Socialization and the “Historical Body” 171
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 173
An outline guide for the study of discourse systems 175
Discussion Questions 176
References for Further Study 177
9 Corporate and Professional Discourse 178
Voluntary and Involuntary Discourse Systems 178
Five key discourse systems in corporate and professional life 179
The Corporate Discourse System (Corporate Culture) 180
Ideology 181
Socialization 186
Forms of discourse 192
Face systems 198
The size and scope of corporate discourse systems 201
Professional Discourse Systems 201
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 203
Discussion Questions 204
References for Further Study 205
10 Generational Discourse 206
Involuntary Discourse Systems 206
The Ideologies of Individualism in the United States 208
Six generations of North Americans 210
The shifting ground of U.S. individualism 225
Communication between generations 226
Six Generations of Chinese 227
The changing nature of collectivism 227
The shifting ground of Chinese collectivism 236
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 237
Discussion Questions 238
References for Further Study 239
11 Gender and Sexuality Discourse 240
Gender and Sexuality 240
Gender Discourse Systems 241
Directness or indirectness? 242
Who talks more? 244
Forms of discourse; functions of language 245
Face systems 247
The origin of difference: ideology and paradox 248
The maintenance of difference: socialization 250
Problems with the “difference” approach 251
Compromise: “communities of practice” 252
Sexuality 253
Sexuality and gender 255
Performativity 256
Discourse systems and imagined communities 256
“Gay Culture” and the Utilitarian Discourse System 257
Ideology 259
Face systems 260
Forms of discourse 260
Socialization 260
The “Tongzhi Discourse System” 261
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 264
Discussion Questions 265
References for Further Study 266
12 Doing “Intercultural Communication” 267
Discourse Systems and the Individual 267
Intersystem communication 270
Cultural ideology and stereotyping 271
Negative stereotypes 273
Positive stereotypes, the lumping fallacy, and the solidarity fallacy 274
Othering 276
Differences Which Make a Difference: Discourse Systems 276
Intercultural Communication as Mediated Action 278
Avoiding Miscommunication 279
Researching Interdiscourse Communication 281
Discussion Questions 283
References for Further Study 283
References 284
Index 298
