Page 196 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

174 Helga Kotthoff

is full of interaction rituals and that many activities have ritual layers beyond the
instrumental one. Soeffner (1991) points out that Western societies are in fact
only less ritualistic than more traditional ones in the degree to which they ac-
knowledge their rituals. Consider, for example, the ritual of bringing a gift when
one is invited to a private home. All cultures have special social semiotics for
behaviour as a guest. In Western Europe a guest would not bring red roses be-
cause they are reserved for lovers and could therefore invite such a reading;
neither would one bring red cloves because they are reserved for the expression
of solidarity on the first of May (Labour Day) or the eighth of March (Inter-
national Women’s Day). In Germany we would not bring white chrysanthe-
mums, either, because they normally express grief relating to a death and are
brought to a funeral parlour. Likewise, for hosts with whom one is not on inti-
mate terms, body care products could suggest a veiled complaint against poor
hygiene. On the other hand, across most cultures wine or sweets, novels, and
musical recordings are accepted without difficulty. Apparently there are areas in
which a trans-national standard has emerged for fulfilling the role of guest.
Once the gift is deposited in its wrapper with the host, the next problems in
the semiotics of gift-bringing emerge. In contrast to Western Europe, gifts
hardly merit a glance in China and Georgia, where they disappear immediately
in cupboards or bedrooms (Kotthoff 1991b; Günthner 2000a, b). Germans and
most West Europeans, by contrast, expect euphoric gratefulness and enthusi-
asm. The guest’s present must be unpacked and explicitly praised. Such a way
of thanking belongs to the strategies of “positive politeness” (as also gift pres-
entation), e.g., “Oh, is that the new CD of Madeleine Peyroux? Wow! I always
wanted to buy that for myself.” (For the concept of positive politeness, see
Brown and Levinson 1987). In China and Georgia, by contrast, the host exer-
cises considerable restraint in expressing thanks for the gift to avoid giving the
impression that the guest is welcome mainly because of the gift. Gift presenta-
tion is ritualistic because it is a routine social act achieving various symbolic
aims (Mauss 1978). The instrumental act, consisting in the presentation of some
more or less useful object, is relatively unimportant. In Spencer-Oatey (2000b)
a wide variety of intercultural misunderstandings resulting from different pol-
iteness practices are discussed.

2. Goffman’s concept of rituality

Drawing on the analogy to theories of religious ritual, Goffman (1967) extends
the concept of ritual to everyday activities. Religious rituals are characterized
by ceremonial forms of activity which are used as symbols, making reference to
a transcendent religious realm of meaning. Similarly, in interaction rituals he
sees symbolization processes that transcend the realm of interpersonal relations.