1. © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Intercultural Communication in Contexts Third Edition Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. Nakayama Arizona State University CHAPTER Slide 1 6 Language and Intercultural Communication

2. Slide 2 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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

3. Slide 3 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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

4. Slide 4 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically Components of Language –Semantics –Syntactics –Pragmatics –Phonetics –International Phonetic Alphabet

5. Slide 5 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

6. Slide 6 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill The Study of Language: Thinking Dialectically Language and Meaning: What language issues are universal? –Osgood’s semantic differential: - Evaluative dimension - Potency dimension - Activity dimension

7. Slide 7 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

8. Slide 8 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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

9. Slide 9 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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

10. Slide 10 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

11. Slide 11 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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

12. Slide 12 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

13. Slide 13 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

14. Slide 14 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

15. Slide 15 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

16. Slide 16 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

17. Slide 17 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

18. Slide 18 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.

19. Slide 19 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 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.