Intercultural
Communication
Forms of Discourse
Review
 We cannot say anything without positioning
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ourselves within some ‘discourse system’
Discourse Systems
What are the historical/social/ideological
characteristics of the group (ideology)
What are the preferred or assumed human
relationships? (face systems)
How does one learn membership and identity?
(socialization)
What are the preferred forms of communication
(forms of discourse)
Forms of Discourse
 Cultural expectations about how
discourse/communication works
 What different kinds of communicative forms should
be used for
 What the purpose/goal of communication is
 ‘Habits of talk’ / ‘Practiced ways of speaking’
‘It’s good to talk…’
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Honesty is the best policy
Be direct
Talk is the way you ‘enact your self’
Talk is the way you show yourself to be
cooperative
 Talk is the best way to solve problems
 ‘Get it out’
 Talk=solidarity
 Silence=uncomfortable/hostile
Talking American
 D. Carbaugh
 Everyone has a right to his own opinion
 People should express their ‘true selves’
 Talking is the way we legitimate our selves
 Deborah Tannen
 The Argument Culture
 Discourse in America tends to be seen in
terms of a debate
‘Don’t talk too much…’
 Think before you talk
 Too much talk can be dangerous
 Being direct is arrogant or impolite
Suzanne Wong Scollon
 English and Cantonese Metaphors for Talk
Beliefs about talking
 Giles, Coupland and Wiemann 1992
 Comparison of American and Chinese beliefs about
talk
 Americans
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Talk is pleasant, important, a way of controlling
what goes on/ Uncomfortable with silence
 Chinese
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More tolerant of silence/ Quietness as a way
of controlling what goes on
Interviews in Alaska
 Natives
 White Alaskans
 Purpose of questions is
 Purpose of questions is
to get you to think about
what you have done
 Talking about future
plans is bad luck
to get information
 Need to talk about what
you will do next
Athabaskan Medical Interviews
 Doctors
 Patients don’t talk
 Patients are
uncooperative
 Purpose of talk is to get
information
 Directness is desirable
 Patients
 Doctors don’t listen
 Doctors ask too many
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questions
Purpose of talk is to get you
to think deeply
Information comes from
observation
Directness is insulting
Storytelling
HIV Patient Medical Interviews in
Hong Kong (Jones, Candlin & Yu)
 Doctors
 Patients don’t talk
 Patients are
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uncooperative
Patients don’t
understand how to take
medicine
Purpose of talk:
Information
Talk is good
Talk is a way to solve
problems
Medical knowledge
 Patients
 Doctors don’t listen
 Doctors ask too many
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questions
Doctors don’t
understand how difficult
it is to take medicine
Purpose of talk: Sharing
Talk is dangerous
Talk is a way to create
problems
Experiential knowledge
Forms of Discourse: Functions of
Language
 Information vs. Relationship
 Negotiation vs. Ratification
 Group harmony vs. Individual welfare
‘Coming Out’
 American Man: Have you told your parents?
 Chinese Man: No.
 American Man: Why not?
 Chinese Man: There’s no need.
 American Man: But don’t you want to be free?
‘Coming Out’
 In his study comparing the ‘coming out’ strategies of
Caucasian and Chinese gay men in America, Liang
(1997) found that Chinese subjects were more likely
to talk about the effect disclosure had on other
people whereas Caucasian subjects focused more on
their individual, internal struggles with the ‘coming
out’ process.
‘Coming Out’
 Two examples
 Beautiful Thing
 Gaylo Seisap
 What is the purpose of the discourse?
 What are the assumptions about ‘talking’
 What kinds of relationships does the discourse
create?
 What are the preferred forms of discourse?
 What is the purpose of discourse?
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Information vs. Relationship
Negotiation vs. Ratification
Group harmony vs. Individual welfare
Forms of Discourse: Utilitarian
Discourse System
 Anti-rhetorical
 Positivist-empirical
 Deductive
 Individualistic
 Egalitarian
 Public (intuitionally sanctioned)
Individualistic
 Contradiction
 Communication should be ‘free’
 Communication should be ‘original’
 Property metaphor for communication
 Rights metaphor for communication
Institutionally Sanctioned
 Public discourse
 The limits to ‘free speech’
 ‘Free’ speech is ‘filtered’ by powerful
institutions
 Changes brought on by new media