Page 145 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

Editors’ introduction 123

Editors’ introduction

Section 2 explores communicative practices and processes, and makes evident
how culture and communication are closely interconnected. Research by psy-
chologists such as Schwartz (e.g. 1999) and management scientists such as Hof-
stede (2001) have focused on the link between culture and values, and that is
clearly important. However, culture can be reflected in a range of other ways,
and the applied linguistic research reported in this section draws attention to the
crucially important ways in which culture is reflected in communicative prac-
tices and processes.
The first three chapters of the section focus on discoursal and stylistic con-
ventions: communicative genres (chapter 7), the use of humour (chapter 8), and
rituals and style (chapter 9). The last two chapters of the section focus on culture
and the processing and negotiation of meaning: lingua franca communication
(chapter 10) and interpreter behaviour (chapter 11). The chapters cover a wide
range of geographical areas (e.g. New Zealand in chapter 8, Caucasian Georgia
and Germany in chapter 9, South Africa in chapter 10), ethnic groups (e.g.
Pa ¯keha ¯ and Ma ¯ori in chapter 8, Chinese and English in chapter 11), activity
types (e.g. job interviews in chapter 7, workplace meetings in chapter 8, toast-
ings in chapter 9) and professional groups (e.g. medical practitioners and busi-
ness managers in chapter 11).
The five chapters together provide differing perspectives on the intercon-
nection between culture and communication, each taking a different angle to
help build up the picture. To illustrate how this may be achieved, let us take
‘talking about troubles’ as an example. In terms of discourse structure, a culture
may have established certain genres for problem presentation, be it in a psycho-
therapeutic setting or among friends. Moreover, a person’s troubles can be pres-
ented seriously or humorously, dialogically or monologically; or they can, in
certain contexts, fulfil ritual functions such as demonstrative suffering in order
to create intimate bonding. Whereas in one cultural context a genre like telling a
story about a problem might demand humorous distancing strategies, in another
it might require pathetic emphasis; in yet another it might be presented com-
plainingly and protestingly. The language in which the story is told can deter-
mine whether subtle undertones are heard or not; and furthermore, when there is
an interpreter, an inexperienced interpreter may underplay sensitivities. Indeed,
in medical and therapeutic contexts, experience has shown that interpretation
and lingua francas often suppress certain aspects of a problem, so that a patient
receives inadequate treatment.
Concepts such as genre, activity type, frame and ritual do not exclude one
another, but how do they connect? Whereas the concept of genre, discussed by
Susanne Günthner in chapter 7, focuses on compositional structures of verbal