Accommodation in intercultural conversations in English

Patrick Boylan

Department of Linguistics

University of Rome III

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Accommodation = convergence

(Thakerar et al., 1982)

 linguistic: "We say things the same way."

 psychological: "We see things the same way."

 __???__: "You are like what I would be like if I had been raised in your culture"

Language is "socially diagnostic"

(Giles & Coupland, 1991)

It "maintains...distance or identity"

(ibid, p. 66)

_______________________________

Let's teach/learn to converge?

_______________________________

maximal accommodation  optimal accommodation (Giles & Smith, 1979)

Cost: effort to appear likeable 

loss of identity? integrity?

(Thanasoulas 1999)

Accommodation: a mixed bag.

2 recordings (LOUD / SOFT) of a message played to:

 143 SOFT-voiced people and

 143 LOUD-voiced people

Reaction to speaker if SAME voice:

"Credible, sincere, intimate feeling."

Reaction to speaker if DIFFERENT:

"Uninteresting."

(Kelly & Toshiyuki, 1993)

--------------- BUT: --------------

WHAT SITUATION?

WHAT (PERCEIVED) INTENT?

HOW MUCH ACCOMMODATION?

WHAT SITUATION?

Intercultural workgroups, diff. tasks

.

 CREATIVE (brainstorming ideas)

Group productivity: SUPERIOR

.

 IMPLEMENTATION, DECISION

Group productivity: INFERIOR

.

(O'Shea and Landis, 1999)

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WHAT (PERCEIVED) INTENT?

English Canadian  French Canadians:

.

E.C.: EnglishFrench (solidarity)

F.C. reaction: POSITIVE

.

E.C.: EnglishFrench (acquiescence)

F.C. reaction: NEGATIVE, Patronizing

.

(Simard, Taylor and Giles, 1976).

HOW MUCH ACCOMMODATION?

English Canadian  British English

E.C. : different recordings of same text

B.E.: divided into listener groups

I. II. III. IV. V.

pronounce: Can. Can. GB Can. GB

speech rate: Can. GB Can. GB GB

content: GB Can. Can GB GB

BE reaction: + + + + + -

.

(Giles & Smith, 1979)

.

----------------- Besides: --------------------

.

DIVERGENCE A LEGITIMATE WEAPON:

.

Arab oil communiqués: in English in Arabic

.

Western reaction: NEGATIVE ("Distancing")

.

Arab reaction: POSITIVE ("identity")

.

(Thanasoulas, 1999)

Janicki's (1986) "Equalizer Model"

VERBAL NONVERBAL ?

_________ _________ _

P G S V D K P T G A Q

____________________________________ _____________________________________ ____

Pronunciation Kinesic Quid

Grammar Proxemic Goals

Speech-Rate Touch Attitude

Vocabulary Gaze Content

Discourse Appearance

Kinds of Accommodation:

Behavioural accommodation

(linguistic, non-linguistic)

Psychological accommodation

"Perceived overall accommodation"

(Janicki, 1986)

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Language

 "a system of spoken/written signs used to express meaning"

= a modulation of behaviour in an attempt to

REPRESENT DO BE

something.

REPRESENT: linguistics (grammar "rules")

.

DO: pragmatics (speech act theory)

.

BE: cross-cultural capability studies

Internet chat with native speakers

discover the politeness strategies (Brown and Levinson, 1987)

(taboo topics, chat programs with printout)

Design alternative advertisements (using samples from L2 magazines)

market research interview to verify reactions of native speakers

situate the oscillating values assigned to a given word

Create (identify themselves with) a "double" from L2 community

hypothesize the Weltanschauung and introject it à la Stanislavsky,

talk and behave like the double (limit: pragmalinguistic and imitative capacities).

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