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Ritual and style across cultures 187

subtopics by way of varied repetition. Triple denomination facilitates both oral
composition and memory.
A dialogical dramatization, starring the philosopher Hegel as the main
source, then follows in line 29. The small drama is used as the punch line of the
toast. The coda is presented in line 33ff., at which point the toast noticeably
comes to an end. The closing consists of gaumarˇ Zos, expressed by speaker O.
Closings are often collaboratively produced. Tamada Badri repeats this formula
and another one. Speaker O again repeats the gaumarˇ Zos-formula, seconded by
everybody present. They all clink glasses and drink.
In the toasts, Georgian value orientations are conspicuously expressed and
repeatedly acknowledged. Toasts to participants’ parents, “our earthly gods”,
(micieri ˙rmertebi), are common. In stark contrast to that of western countries,
.
and especially to that of post-war Germany, the Georgian culture of communi-
cation emphasizes pathos and religiously flavoured praise of others. To be sure,
pathos-laden toasts are not exclusively Georgian; a highly developed culture of
toasting can be found throughout the territories of the former Soviet Union.
However, the toasts of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are not so noticeably re-
ligious as those of Georgia, which may be traced to the role this genre played
during the Soviet era in keeping Georgian religious practices alive outside of the
church (Kotthoff 1999a).

5.5. Comparison of a Russian-Kazakh with a German toast

The toasts which follow below were recorded at a conference on German lan-
guage and literature at Alma-Ata in 1994. Data 3 is translated from a toast given
in German by a Russian scholar of German living in Kazakhstan. Here we see
again how the discourse is coloured by pathos-laden strategies. Data 4 illus-
trates the relative sobriety of a German native offering a comparable toast, more
or less within the genre norms of his own culture.

Data 3
K: A Russian scholar of German at a German–Kazakh Conference
1 K: the (––) international (–) conference of German scholars (––)
2 was (–) for us (–) I don’t know how for you (––)
3 was for us a (––) notable, a (––) a remarkable (––) event.
4 (––) its significance extends far (–) beyond (––)
5 the bound of our purely professional,
6 pedagogic (––) linguistic (––) (––) interests. (–)
7 linguistics, (–) pedagogy, (–)
8 these are really only (–) the formal themes of this event.
9 it was (–) not (–) a (––) not a simple meeting of German scholars,
10 teachers, (–) of German teachers,