Cross-Cultural Pragmatics

by Wierzbicka, Anna

• ISBN13: 9783110177695
• ISBN10: 3110177692
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Mouton De Gruyter

Summary

This book challenges the approaches to human interaction based on supposedly universal 'maxims of conversation' and 'principles of politeness,' which fly in the face of reality as experienced by millions of people crossing language boundaries (refugees, immigrants, etc.) and which cannot help in the practical tasks of cross-cultural communication and education. In contrast to such approaches, this book is both theoretical and practical: it shows that in different societies, norms of human interaction are different and reflect different cultural attitudes and values; and it offers a framework within which different cultural norms and different ways of speaking can be effectively explored, explained, and taught. The book discusses data from a wide range of languages and it shows that the meanings expressed in human interaction and the different 'cultural scripts' prevailing in different speech communities can be clearly and intelligibly described and compared by using a 'natural semantic metalanguage,' based on empirically established universal human concepts. As the book shows, this metalanguage can be used as a basis for teaching successful cross-cultural communication, including the teaching of languages in a cultural context.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the second edition	v
Acknowledgements	xxix
Introduction: semantics and pragmatics	1	(24)
Language as a tool of human interaction	1	(1)
Different cultures and different modes of interaction	2	(3)
Pragmatics --- the study of human interaction	5	(1)
The natural semantic metalanguage	6	(3)
The need for a universal perspective on meaning	9	(1)
The uniqueness of every linguistic system	10	(1)
The problem of polysemy	11	(1)
Semantic equivalence vs. pragmatic equivalence	12	(2)
Universal grammatical patterns	14	(1)
Semantics versus pragmatics: different approaches	15	(5)
`Complementarism'	16	(1)
`Pragmaticism'	17	(1)
`Semanticism'	18	(1)
A fourth approach: two pragmatics	18	(2)
Description of contents	20	(5)
Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts	25	(42)
Preliminary examples and discussion	27	(3)
Interpretive hypothesis	30	(1)
Case studies	31	(16)
Advice	31	(1)
Requests	32	(5)
Tags	37	(4)
Opinions	41	(4)
Exclamations	45	(2)
Cultural values reflected in speech acts	47	(12)
Lexical evidence	47	(2)
Objectivism as a cultural value	49	(1)
Cordiality as a cultural value	50	(6)
Courtesy as a cultural value	56	(3)
Theoretical implications	59	(5)
Practical implications	64	(3)
Cross-cultural pragmatics and different cultural values	67	(64)
`Self-assertion'	72	(16)
`Self-assertion' in Japanese and in English	72	(6)
`Self-assertion' in black and white American English	78	(2)
Spontaneity, autonomy, and turn-taking: English vs. Japanese	80	(2)
`Spontaneous self-assertion' vs. `regulated self-assertion': black English vs. white English vs. Japanese	82	(2)
`Self-assertion' as personal display: black English vs. white English	84	(1)
`Self-assertion' and `good interpersonal relations'	85	(3)
`Directness'	88	(16)
American culture vs. Israeli culture	89	(4)
`Indirectness' in Japanese	93	(2)
Greek culture and American culture	95	(5)
`Indirectness' and `dissimulation' in Javanese	100	(4)
Further illustrations: same labels, different values	104	(17)
`Intimacy'	105	(3)
`Closeness'	108	(3)
`Informality'	111	(2)
`Harmony'	113	(2)
`Sincerity'	115	(6)
Different attitudes to emotions	121	(8)
Polish culture	121	(1)
Jewish culture	122	(1)
American black culture	123	(3)
Japanese culture	126	(2)
Javanese culture	128	(1)
Conclusion	129	(2)
Describing conversational routines	131	(18)
Conversational analysis: linguistic or non-linguistic pragmatics?	131	(5)
`Compliment response' routines	136	(7)
Upgrades	138	(1)
Contrastive opposites	139	(1)
Scaled-down agreements	140	(1)
Downgrades	140	(2)
Reassignment of praise	142	(1)
Returns	142	(1)
`Compliment responses' in different cultures	143	(4)
Conclusion	147	(2)
Speech acts and speech genres across languages and cultures	149	(48)
A framework for analysing a culture's `forms of talk'	149	(16)
The importance of folk labels	150	(1)
Two approaches	150	(2)
Some examples: English vs. Japanese	152	(6)
Another example: English vs. Walmatjari	158	(3)
The elimination of vicious circles	161	(1)
Evidence for the proposed formulae	161	(1)
The first-person format	162	(2)
The problem of other minds	164	(1)
Some Australian speech-act verbs	165	(18)
Chiack (chyack)	165	(5)
Yarn	170	(3)
Shout	173	(4)
Dob	177	(3)
Whinge	180	(3)
Some examples of complex speech genres	183	(13)
The black English dozens	183	(2)
The Hebrew `dugri talk'	185	(3)
The Polish kawal	188	(4)
The Polish podanie	192	(4)
Conclusion	196	(1)
The semantics of illocutionary forces	197	(58)
Are illocutionary forces indeterminate?	197	(14)
Illocutionary forces as bundles of components	199	(3)
Illustration: the discrete and determinate character of `whimperatives'	202	(5)
Syntax and illocutionary force	207	(4)
More whimperative constructions	211	(7)
Why don't you do X (tomorrow)?	211	(2)
Why do X?	213	(2)
How about X?	215	(3)
Additional remarks on the explication of illocutionary forces	218	(1)
Selected conversational strategies	219	(5)
Tell you what, S!	219	(1)
Do you know, S?	220	(2)
Don't tell me S!	222	(1)
How many times have I told you (not) to do X!	223	(1)
Who's talking about doing X?	224	(1)
Tag questions	224	(8)
Tags with declarative sentences	224	(3)
Tags with imperative sentences	227	(2)
Why can't you (do X)!	229	(2)
OK?	231	(1)
Personal abuse or praise: You X!	232	(3)
Illocutionary forces of grammatical and other categories	235	(13)
Modal verbs	235	(3)
Mental verbs	238	(2)
Particles and conjunctions	240	(3)
Interjections	243	(2)
Fixed expressions	245	(2)
Intonation	247	(1)
Comparing illocutionary forces across languages	248	(4)
Conclusion	252	(3)
Italian reduplication: its meaning and its cultural significance	255	(30)
Italian reduplication: preliminary discussion	255	(3)
Discourse and illocutionary grammar	258	(2)
The illocutionary force of clausal repetition	260	(3)
The illocutionary force of Italian reduplication	263	(5)
Clausal repetition as a means of `intensification'	268	(2)
The absolute superlative in Italian and in English	270	(6)
Illocutionary grammar and cultural style	276	(6)
Conclusion	282	(3)
Interjections across cultures	285	(56)
Preliminary discussion	285	(7)
Interjections: physis and thesis (`nature' and `convention')	285	(5)
Defining the concept of `interjection'	290	(1)
Types of interjections	291	(1)
Volitive interjections	292	(10)
Interjections directed at animals	292	(1)
Interjections directed at people	293	(1)
The `I want silence' group	293	(3)
The `I don't want you in this place' group	296	(2)
The `I want you to jump' group	298	(1)
The `urging' group	298	(2)
The `communication over distance' group	300	(2)
Emotive interjections	302	(24)
Interjections of `disgust' and similar feelings	302	(1)
The Polish fu and the English yuk	302	(2)
The Russian fu	304	(2)
The Polish fe	306	(2)
The Yiddish feh	308	(2)
The Polish tfu and the Russian t' fu	310	(3)
`Disgust' and bodily gestures	313	(2)
`Disgust' and sound symbolism	315	(2)
`General purpose' interjections	317	(1)
The Polish oj	318	(4)
The Russian oj	322	(1)
Ochs and achs	323	(3)
Cognitive interjections	326	(11)
The Polish aha and Russian aga	326	(5)
The Polish oho	331	(2)
The Polish o	333	(1)
The English oh-oh	334	(1)
The Russian ogo	334	(3)
Conclusion	337	(4)
Particles and illocutionary meanings	341	(50)
English quantitative particles	345	(22)
Non-approximative particles: only, merely and just	346	(1)
Only	346	(2)
Merely	348	(2)
Just	350	(4)
English approximative particles	354	(1)
Around and about	355	(3)
Approximately	358	(2)
Roughly	360	(1)
Almost and nearly	361	(6)
English temporal particles	367	(4)
Polish temporal particles	371	(8)
Juz and jeszcze	371	(5)
Dopiero	376	(3)
Polish quantitative particles	379	(10)
Non-approximative particles	379	(1)
Tylko	379	(1)
Az	380	(1)
Zaledwie	381	(1)
Ledwie	382	(2)
Polish approximative particles	384	(1)
O malo nie	384	(1)
Niemal and prawie	385	(3)
Blisko	388	(1)
Conclusion	389	(2)
Boys will be boys: even `truisms' are culture-specific	391	(62)
The meaning of tautologies	391	(12)
Gricean maxims: universal or language-specific?	392	(5)
Problems in interpreting implicatures	397	(3)
Context as an excuse for analytical failure	400	(3)
English nominal tautologies: semantic representations	403	(20)
`Realism' in human affairs	404	(1)
Tolerance for human nature	405	(3)
Tolerance at `special times'	408	(2)
The limits of tolerance	410	(1)
Seeing through superficial differences	411	(2)
Recognising an irreducible difference	413	(1)
Tautologies of value	414	(5)
Tautologies of obligation	419	(4)
Some comparisons from Chinese and Japanese	423	(8)
Chinese concessive tautologies	423	(3)
`Irreducible difference', Chinese style	426	(1)
Chinese tautologies of unreserved praise	427	(2)
Japanese tautologies of `a matter of course'	429	(1)
Japanese tautologies of irrelevance	430	(1)
Verbal tautologies	431	(8)
Future events	431	(3)
The immutability of the past	434	(5)
Is there a semantic invariant?	439	(5)
The deceptive form of English tautological constructions	444	(2)
The culture-specific content of tautological patterns	446	(2)
Conclusion	448	(5)
Conclusion: semantics as a key to cross-cultural pragmatics	453	(4)
Notes	457	(4)
Bibliography	461	(26)
Subject and name index	487	(10)
Index of words and phrases	497