Frames and levels
Metamessages and frames
Every message contains another message, the metamessage, which frames the message and
houses connotations.
e.g. scene in the lift in Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities
Browning looked Sherman and his country outfit and the dog up and down and said,
without a trace of a smile, 'Hello, Sherman.'
'Hello Sherman' was on the end of a ten-foot pole and in a mere four syllables conveyed
the message: 'You and your clothes and your animal are letting down our new mahoganypanelled elevator'.
A frame is an internal psychological state that makes up part of our map of the world, whereas
context is an external representation. It helps organise our perception and influences our
interpretation.
Frames are culturally determined.
Frames guide us when interpreting the metamessage, i.e. what is 'really' being said
NB: Our 'map' of the world is not the territory, it is a series of signs.
Semiotics = the study of signs or signification within society
Logical levels and culture
1. Environment
Physical environment used to have great influence on physical/cultural contact. Some still regard
physical boundaries as cultural ones.
We like to place people in an environment in our effort to understand them: where are you from?
where do you live?
In many countries North-South or East-West divides:
Civilisation ends at the Watford Gap
Northerners call a spade a spade
Southerners are stuck-up and snooty
Italy: From Rome down it's all Africa
USA: Mid-West (Bible Belt), Southern States, New England, California
Or regional:
Essex man
loud, fast car, flashy clothes, limited education, right wing
Essex girl
"loud, vulgar, stupid and too willing to have sex" (Longman)
Yorkshireman blunt, down to earth, no 'side' (genuine)
USA:
New England, California
Or local:
Sloane Ranger
rich, superficial (Sloane Square in Chelsea)
Hampstead/Islington Socialist
the wrong side of the tracks, trailer park, sink estate
Hannibal Lecter to Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs
You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look
like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you
some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are
you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed: pure West
Virginia. What is your father, dear? Is he a coal miner?
Jerusalem was capital of southern Israel, known then as Judah. Isn't it true that there's
always a rivalry between north and south? North and South Korea, North and South
Vietnam, Northern and Southern Ireland, Yankees and Rebels, uptown and downtown.
Somebody please tell me why that is? Maybe southerners get too much sun, like Mr. Sock
over there, frying his threads, and northerners don't get enough (although I hardly think
northern Israel a cool spot in the shade), but southern peoples--tropical and downtown
types--always seem to lean toward decadence, whereas uptown, in the north, progress is
favored. Decadence and progress obviously are at odds.
― Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All
2. Ideological environment
Political divisions and units: the Iron Curtain, the West, the East, the Soviet Bloc, the Free World,
the Western Democracies, NATO vs the Warsaw Pact, the EU, Europe, the Balkans
Religious or political or civilisational?
the Muslim world
The world in terms of development: North vs. South
3. Climate
Influence on culture
e.g. café culture, pavement cafes, promenading vs. indoors, love of cosiness, open fires,
tea and toast
e.g. Mediterranean relaxing, easy-going
e.g. Scotland gloomy, dour (wet, grey, windy)
Different perceptions
e.g. heat wave in Britain when it is above 21 degrees (70 Fahrenheit), newspaper
headline: Britain sizzles in the seventies)
e.g. a blizzard in Britain would be a called a flurry in Nebraska (Bill Bryson)
4. Space
Main difference between USA and UK is often described in terms of space and size
("Everything's so big over there")
Personal space: what is intimate, personal, social, public
Our sense of personal space may also influence how loud we speak: one British stereotype about
Americans is that they are 'loud' – although this loudness may also be to do with a sense of
openness and confidence.
5. Built environment
Can influence our behaviour: whether imposing, intimidating, welcoming, cold, cosy
With religious buildings there are often rules on entering; written or unwritten rules regarding
clubs (e.g. golf, tennis)
Banks, insurance companies, multinationals, hotels try to impress us with large entrances, atriums
– they show us they can afford empty space
In companies, there may be hierarchies of office size, furniture, floor (higher/lower)
6. Dress
Perhaps becoming more standardised but there are still differences (you can spot Britons or
Italians a mile off)
e.g. British women: flowery dresses or skirts (rarely trousers), older women perms and
grey hair; men wearing trousers and sports jackets/blazers or cardigans/jumpers, sandals
and socks; lack of colour coordination, pastels; less adherence to fashion trends
The spread of sneakers/trainers and jeans since the Sixties; the fading of the generation gap
('mutton dressed as lamb')
The influence of sports wear (even though people less and less active), blurring some gender
divisions
In British banks, offices, shops uniforms are still the norm or smart clothes
School uniforms still widespread
In Italy and France casual dress is seen as unprofessional – clear dividing line (not so in USA)
In the USA companies have 'dress down' days or 'casual Fridays'
We talk about 'white collar' and 'blue collar' jobs
The meaning of: shell suit & bling (chavs), Rolex watches, dungarees (women), green wellies,
Barbour in Italy = aristocratic English
7. Olfaction
How we react to smells depends on cultural upbringing
Chinese and other Orientals rarely eat dairy products so Westerners 'smell' to them (fermentation
via sweat glands)
Traditional British complaints about foreigners, esp. Mediterranean, 'reeking of garlic'
8. Temporal setting
Modern trend of labelling decades or periods or generations: the Swinging Sixties, the Thatcher
years, the caring and sharing Nineties, the Me generation, Baby Boomers
Interpretations of texts and conventions change over time; the need for retranslation
Culture and behaviour
Culture is only one of the filters affecting behaviour, we decide or act for a complex of reasons.
As individuals we are members of many different 'cultures'.
We have no choice with regard to gender, race, family, region, social class, religious
background, but we do have more choice with regard to where we live, who are friends
are, our education, our profession and so on.
Every person within a particular culture will identify certain underlying cultural values and
associated beliefs and patterns of behaviour as congruent with that culture, but may not
necessarily identify with all these values.
Congruence: what we say and our body language may be incongruent (contradict each
other) if we hold conflicting values and beliefs
All cultures allow for a certain deviation or eccentricity. We can accept behaviour from the
typical to the atypical.
What is atypical in Britain may be typical in Slovenia and vice versa.
Codes of behaviour
"When in Rome do as the Romans do" (St Ambrose misquotation)
Values and beliefs
People from different cultures do things differently in similar situations and environments.
Sayings and proverbs can offer insight into what a society recommends and what it avoids.
Examples:
Time is money.
God helps those who help themselves.
You've made your bed, now lie in it.
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
These give an insight into the work ethic, accepting responsibility, risk avoidance and so on.
They are oriented towards practicality.
Examples:
There's no time like the present.
Take care of today and tomorrow will take care of itself.
Time waits for no man. / Time and tide wait for no man.
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today.
The focus here is very much on the present and on taking action.
This contrasts with the Japanese, who tend to take the long view:
When you have completed 95 per cent of your journey, you are only halfway there.
Translation of the Bible, for instance, has to take account of underlying beliefs. Actions like the
washing of feet in the Bible can be seen very differently in different cultures. Well-known
example in Nida of kiss being replaced by 'a hearty handshake all round'.
Meaning attached to behaviour or to words has nothing to do with reality but with individual and
collective beliefs.
We often react to the connotative meaning without realising it. This is clear in politics where
words such as the following have different values in different societies: socialist, communist,
liberal, government, fundamentalist, left, right, religious, clerical, solidarity, privatisation, capital,
centralisation, federation
Some British sayings offer an insight into other values:
A little bit of dirt never hurt anyone.
An Englishman's home is his castle.
There's nothing like a nice/good cup of tea.
Live and let live.
Manners maketh man
Our sense of identity is often based on underlying values or beliefs. In the case of the British: fair
play, compromise, moderation, privacy, stiff upper lip/phlegmatism, pragmatism, common sense,
politeness, manners, tolerance, making do, looking on the bright side, having a laugh
Katan points to the following beliefs and strategies being central to Italian identity:
the family, mamma, 'wise up or be had' (il forbo o il fesso), respect, aesthetics, 'shiny
home' (la casa brilla come uno specchio), good cooking
to have one up on the devil
to make a good impression (fare bella figura)
to make the best out of any situation
Wierzbicka (1992) focuses on three Russian core values: duša, sud'ba (fate), toska
(yearning/nostalgia)
Slovene values and beliefs?
Analysing a situation in cultural terms (adapted from Katan p.73)
e.g. two people in a crowded pub, heading for the bar
A (jostling people to get to the bar):
Jostled people:
A (to B):
B:
A:
B:
A:
Excuse me.
Sorry.
What would you like to drink?
Sorry?
What are you having?
It's my round.
Let's go halves
Identify markers of:
fair play, compromise, personal space, politeness
Attribution theory
We tend to see the behaviour of others in terms of volition or other personal factors, our own in
terms of the situational (Heider 1958).
e.g. I, as a teacher, can't complete a paper on time due to pressure of work, responsibilities
This student can't complete his paper on time because he is lazy or badly organized 
Important in cross cultural communication. Native speakers can spot non-native speakers'
grammatical and lexical errors and judge them in terms of accuracy. But with regard to pragmatic
factors – what is inappropriate may be assigned to personal factors, especially if the non-native
speaker has a reasonable command of the language. We thus decide, for example, that the person
is rude or impolite.
Intention
Value
Identity
e.g.
Povej(te)!
polite request
directness
willing listener
Tell me!
rude command
indirectness aggressive
Clarification questions:
Where/When
What
How
Why
Who
environment
behaviour
capabilities
beliefs, values
identity