Intercultural Communication

Ron Scollon (1939-2009) was a Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. His publications include Professional Communication in International Settings, co-authored with Yuling Pan and Suzanne Wong Scollon (Blackwell 2001), Discourses in Place: Language and the Material World co-authored with Suzie Wong Scollon (2003), and Nexus Analysis: Discourse and the Emerging Internet co-authored with Suzie Wong Scollon (2004). Suzanne Wong Scollon is an independent researcher in the North Pacific Rim. She has written extensively on intercultural communication, holding academic positions in North American universities as well as in Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. She also acted as a consultant, along with Ron Scollon, with over fifty governmental and corporate organizations in North America, Asia, and Europe. Rodney H. Jones is the Associate Head of the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong. He has published widely in international journals and is co-editor of Discourse in Action: Introducing Mediated Discourse Analysis (with S. Norris 2005), Advances in Discourse Studies (with V. K. Bhatia and J. Flowerdew 2007), and author of Noticing, Exploring and Practicing: Functional Grammar in the ESL Classroom (with G. Lock 2010), and Discourse Analysis: A Resource Book for Students (2012).

• List of Figures xi Series Editor’s Preface xiiiPreface to the First Edition xivPreface to the Second Edition xviiPreface to the Third Edition xviii1 What Is a Discourse Approach? 1The Problem with Culture 2Culture is a verb 5Discourse 7Discourse systems 8What Is Communication? 10Language is ambiguous by nature 11We must draw inferences about meaning 14Our inferences tend to be fixed, not tentative 15Our inferences are drawn very quickly 15Interdiscourse communication and English as a global language 16What This Book Is Not 17Researching Interdiscourse Communication 18Four processes of ethnography 19Four types of data in ethnographic research 20Choosing a site of investigation 21Discussion Questions 23References for Further Study 242 How, When, and Where to Do Things with Language 25Sentence Meaning and Speaker’s Meaning 27Speech Acts, Speech Events, and Speech Situations 27Grammar of Context 29Seven main components for a grammar of context 30Scene 31Key 34Participants 35Message form 36Sequence 37Co-occurrence patterns, marked and unmarked 38Manifestation 38Variation in context grammar 39“Culture” and Context 39High context and low context situations 40Researching Interdiscourse Communication 42Using the “grammar of context” as a preliminary ethnographic audit 42Discussion Questions 43References for Further Study 443 Interpersonal Politeness and Power 45Communicative Style or Register 45Face 46The “self” as a communicative identity 47The Paradox of Face: Involvement and Independence 48Politeness strategies of involvement and independence 49Linguistic strategies of involvement: some examples 51Linguistic strategies of independence: some examples 51Face Systems 52Three Face Systems: Deference, Solidarity, and Hierarchy 53Deference face system (-P, +D) 54Solidarity face system (-P, -D) 54Hierarchical face system (+P, +/-D) 55Miscommunication 56Variations in Face Systems 59Social Organization and Face Systems 60Kinship 61The concept of the self 62Ingroup–outgroup relationships 64Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft 65Researching Interdiscourse Communication 66Exploring the interaction order 66Discussion Questions 67References for Further Study 684 Conversational Inference: Interpretation in Spoken Discourse 69How Do We Understand Discourse? 70Cohesive Devices: Lexical and Grammatical 71Reference 72Verb forms 72Conjunction 72The causal conjunction “because” 73Cognitive Schemata and Scripts 74World knowledge 75Adjacency sequences 76Prosodic Patterning: Intonation and Timing 77Intonation 77Timing 79Metacommunication 82Non-sequential processing 84Interactive Intelligence 86Researching Interdiscourse Communication 88Collecting and analyzing spoken data 88Reconfiguring default settings 89Discussion Questions 90References for Further Study 905 Topic and Face: Inductive and Deductive Patterns in Discourse 92What Are You Talking About? 92Topic, Turn Exchange, and Timing 94The call–answer–topic adjacency sequence 94The call 95The answer 95The introduction of the caller’s topic 95Deductive Monologues 96The Inductive Pattern 97Inside and outside encounters 98Hierarchical relationships and topic introduction 98The false east–west dichotomy 99Face: Inductive and Deductive Rhetorical Strategies 100Topics and face systems 101Face Relationships in Written Discourse 103Essays and press releases 104The press release: implied writers and implied readers 105The essay: a deductive structure 106Limiting Ambiguity: Power in Discourse 106Researching Interdiscourse Communication 107Collecting and analyzing written data 107Discussion Questions 109References for Further Study 1096 Ideologies in Discourse 110Three Concepts of Discourse 110The Utilitarian Discourse System 113The Enlightenment: reason and freedom 114Bentham and Mill’s Utilitarianism 115Forms of discourse in the Utilitarian discourse system 117The Panopticon of Bentham 118Face systems in the Utilitarian discourse system 120Internal face systems: liberté, égalité, fraternité 120The institutions of the Utilitarian discourse system 121Outside discourse 122Multiple discourse systems 123The Confucian discourse system 123“Conversations” 126What “Counts” as an Ideology? 128Researching Interdiscourse Communication 130The relationship between small d discourse and big D Discourses 130Discussion Questions 134References for Further Study 1347 Forms of Discourse 136Functions of Language 136Information and relationship 136Negotiation and ratifi cation 137Group harmony and individual welfare 138Clarity, Brevity, and Sincerity Revisited 139Theories of communication in the Utilitarian discourse system 139Kant’s view of the “public” writer 147Plagiarism and ideology 148Modes, Media, and the Materiality of Discourse 152Mode 152Media 154Emplacement 156Researching Interdiscourse Communication 157Discussion Questions 158References for Further Study 1598 Socialization 161The Individual and “Culture” 161Socialization 162Education, enculturation, acculturation 162Primary and secondary socialization 163Socialization as legitimate peripheral participation 164Theories of the person and of learning 165Socialization in the Utilitarian Discourse System 168Education vs. socialization 168Socialization and face systems 169Socialization and the “Historical Body” 171Researching Interdiscourse Communication 173An outline guide for the study of discourse systems 175Discussion Questions 176References for Further Study 1779 Corporate and Professional Discourse 178Voluntary and Involuntary Discourse Systems 178Five key discourse systems in corporate and professional life 179The Corporate Discourse System (Corporate Culture) 180Ideology 181Socialization 186Forms of discourse 192Face systems 198The size and scope of corporate discourse systems 201Professional Discourse Systems 201Researching Interdiscourse Communication 203Discussion Questions 204References for Further Study 20510 Generational Discourse 206Involuntary Discourse Systems 206The Ideologies of Individualism in the United States 208Six generations of North Americans 210The shifting ground of U.S. individualism 225Communication between generations 226Six Generations of Chinese 227The changing nature of collectivism 227The shifting ground of Chinese collectivism 236Researching Interdiscourse Communication 237Discussion Questions 238References for Further Study 23911 Gender and Sexuality Discourse 240Gender and Sexuality 240Gender Discourse Systems 241Directness or indirectness? 242Who talks more? 244Forms of discourse; functions of language 245Face systems 247The origin of difference: ideology and paradox 248The maintenance of difference: socialization 250Problems with the “difference” approach 251Compromise: “communities of practice” 252Sexuality 253Sexuality and gender 255Performativity 256Discourse systems and imagined communities 256“Gay Culture” and the Utilitarian Discourse System 257Ideology 259Face systems 260Forms of discourse 260Socialization 260The “Tongzhi Discourse System” 261Researching Interdiscourse Communication 264Discussion Questions 265References for Further Study 26612 Doing “Intercultural Communication” 267Discourse Systems and the Individual 267Intersystem communication 270Cultural ideology and stereotyping 271Negative stereotypes 273Positive stereotypes, the lumping fallacy, and the solidarity fallacy 274Othering 276Differences Which Make a Difference: Discourse Systems 276Intercultural Communication as Mediated Action 278Avoiding Miscommunication 279Researching Interdiscourse Communication 281Discussion Questions 283References for Further Study 283References 284Index 298

“Overall, the paradigm presented throughout the now three iterations of this book remains a remarkably insightful way to conceptualize factors influencing communication, or, in the authors’ own terms, factors mediating communication.  By focusing on common denominators of all human life (ideologies, forms of discourse, socialization, and face systems) Scollon, Scollon, and Jones successfully arrive at a culture-neutral heuristic that can be used in any instance of interpersonal (and thus, intercultural) communication.”  (Linguist List, 8 January 2013)