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Intercultural Communication in Contexts

Third Edition

Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. NakayamaArizona State University

CHAPTER

Slide 1

6 Language and Intercultural Communication

Slide 2

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Chapter Summary

• The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically

• Cultural Variations in Language

• Discourse: Language and Power

• Moving Between Languages

• Language and Identity

• Language Politics and Policies

• Language and Globalization

Slide 3

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• Language Versus Discourse

1. La langue (language) - the entire language system, including various forms such as pidgin and creole.

2. La parole (discourse) - how language is actively used by particular communities of people, in particular contexts, for particular purposes.

The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically

Slide 4

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The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically

• Components of Language

– Semantics

– Syntactics

– Pragmatics

– Phonetics

– International Phonetic Alphabet

Slide 5

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The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically

• Language and Meaning: What language issues are universal?

– The power of language

– Systems of difference influence how we classify the world.

– Expressions may not communicate the same meanings in different cultures.

Slide 6

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The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically

• Language and Meaning:What language issues are universal?

– Osgood’s semantic differential:

- Evaluative dimension

- Potency dimension

- Activity dimension

Slide 7

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The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically

• Language and Perception:

– The nominalist position: Perception is not shaped by the particular language we speak.

– The relativist position (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis): The particular language we speak determines our thinking and perception of reality.

– The qualified relativist position: Language is a tool rather than a mirror of perception.

Slide 8

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• Communication Style (verbal and nonverbal):

– Tonal coloring or the metamessage contextualizes how listeners accept and interpret verbal messages.

– Some cultural groups prefer high-context communication over low-context communication styles.

Cultural Variations in Language

Slide 9

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• Other Dimensions of Communication Style:

– Direct/Indirect

– Elaborate/Exact/Succinct

– Personal/Contextual

– Instrumental/Affective

• People communicate differently in different speech communities and contexts.

Cultural Variations in Language

Slide 10

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Discourse: Language and Power

• Co-cultural communication

– Language in use depends on social relations as well as contexts.

– Orbe: Groups with the most power consciously or unconsciously develop communication systems that support their perceptions of the world, in which groups without power must also function.

Slide 11

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Discourse: Language and Power

• Orbe’s Co-cultural communication strategies:

Nonassertive separation

Nonassertive accommodation

Nonassertive assimilation

Assertive separation

Assertive accommodation

Assertive assimilation

Aggressive separation

Aggressive accommodation

Aggressive assimilation

Slide 12

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Discourse: Language and Power

• Semiotics - how different discursive units communicate meaning

– Semiosis is the process of producing meaning.

– Meaning is constructed through the interpretation of signs.

– Signifiers are culturally constructed, arbitrary words or symbols we use to refer to something else, the signified.

Slide 13

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Discourse: Language and Power

• Discourse and Social Structure: Societies are structured so that individuals occupy specific social positions.

• Power and labels: The use of labels, as signifiers, acknowledges particular aspects of our social identity.

Slide 14

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Moving Between Languages

• Multilingualism- A bilingual person speaks two languages.- People who speak more than two languages are multilingual. - Interlanguage is a kind of communication that emerges when speakers of one language are speaking in

another language.

Slide 15

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Moving Between Languages

• Translation and Interpretation

- Translation refers to the process of producing a written text (the target text) that refers to something said or written in another language (the source text).

- Interpretation refers to the process of verbally expressing what is said or written in another language.

Slide 16

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Moving Between Languages

• Translation and Interpretation (cont.)

- Languages differ in their flexibility of expression for different topics,

which makes accuracy in translation, or equivalency, even more difficult.

Slide 17

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Language and Identity

• Code switching refers to the phenomenon of changing languages, dialects, or accents.

–- to accommodate other speakers

–- to avoid accommodating others

–- to express another aspect of their cultural identity

Code switching can take on important political meaning.

Slide 18

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Language Politics and Policies

• Language policies are laws or customs that determine which language is spoken where and when.

• They are embedded in the politics of class, culture, ethnicity, and economics--not language quality.

Slide 19

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Language and Globalization

• Rapid changes are occurring in the languages spoken and learned in the world.

• The dream of a common international language or lingua franca has long marked Western ways of thinking.

• Today, the dominance of English raises important issues for intercultural communication.