Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach(Language in Society)

This newly revised edition is both a lively introduction and practical guide to the main concepts and challenges of intercultural communication. Grounded in interactional sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, this work integrates theoretical principles and methodological advice, presenting students, researchers, and practitioners with a comprehensive and unified resource.  Features new original theory, expanded treatment of generations, gender and corporate and professional discourse Offers improved organization and added  features for student and classroom use, including advice on research projects, questions for discussion, and references at the end of each chapter Extensively revised with newly added material on computer mediated communication, sexuality and globalization

Table of Contents:
List of Figures xi Series Editor’s Preface xiii Preface to the First Edition xiv Preface to the Second Edition xvii Preface to the Third Edition xviii 1 What Is a Discourse Approach? 1 The Problem with Culture 2 Culture is a verb 5 Discourse 7 Discourse systems 8 What Is Communication? 10 Language is ambiguous by nature 11 We must draw inferences about meaning 14 Our inferences tend to be fixed, not tentative 15 Our inferences are drawn very quickly 15 Interdiscourse communication and English as a global language 16 What This Book Is Not 17 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 18 Four processes of ethnography 19 Four types of data in ethnographic research 20 Choosing a site of investigation 21 Discussion Questions 23 References for Further Study 24 2 How, When, and Where to Do Things with Language 25 Sentence Meaning and Speaker’s Meaning 27 Speech Acts, Speech Events, and Speech Situations 27 Grammar of Context 29 Seven main components for a grammar of context 30 Scene 31 Key 34 Participants 35 Message form 36 Sequence 37 Co-occurrence patterns, marked and unmarked 38 Manifestation 38 Variation in context grammar 39 “Culture” and Context 39 High context and low context situations 40 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 42 Using the “grammar of context” as a preliminary ethnographic audit 42 Discussion Questions 43 References for Further Study 44 3 Interpersonal Politeness and Power 45 Communicative Style or Register 45 Face 46 The “self” as a communicative identity 47 The Paradox of Face: Involvement and Independence 48 Politeness strategies of involvement and independence 49 Linguistic strategies of involvement: some examples 51 Linguistic strategies of independence: some examples 51 Face Systems 52 Three Face Systems: Deference, Solidarity, and Hierarchy 53 Deference face system (-P, +D) 54 Solidarity face system (-P, -D) 54 Hierarchical face system (+P, +/-D) 55 Miscommunication 56 Variations in Face Systems 59 Social Organization and Face Systems 60 Kinship 61 The concept of the self 62 Ingroup–outgroup relationships 64 Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft 65 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 66 Exploring the interaction order 66 Discussion Questions 67 References for Further Study 68 4 Conversational Inference: Interpretation in Spoken Discourse 69 How Do We Understand Discourse? 70 Cohesive Devices: Lexical and Grammatical 71 Reference 72 Verb forms 72 Conjunction 72 The causal conjunction “because” 73 Cognitive Schemata and Scripts 74 World knowledge 75 Adjacency sequences 76 Prosodic Patterning: Intonation and Timing 77 Intonation 77 Timing 79 Metacommunication 82 Non-sequential processing 84 Interactive Intelligence 86 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 88 Collecting and analyzing spoken data 88 Reconfiguring default settings 89 Discussion Questions 90 References for Further Study 90 5 Topic and Face: Inductive and Deductive Patterns in Discourse 92 What Are You Talking About? 92 Topic, Turn Exchange, and Timing 94 The call–answer–topic adjacency sequence 94 The call 95 The answer 95 The introduction of the caller’s topic 95 Deductive Monologues 96 The Inductive Pattern 97 Inside and outside encounters 98 Hierarchical relationships and topic introduction 98 The false east–west dichotomy 99 Face: Inductive and Deductive Rhetorical Strategies 100 Topics and face systems 101 Face Relationships in Written Discourse 103 Essays and press releases 104 The press release: implied writers and implied readers 105 The essay: a deductive structure 106 Limiting Ambiguity: Power in Discourse 106 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 107 Collecting and analyzing written data 107 Discussion Questions 109 References for Further Study 109 6 Ideologies in Discourse 110 Three Concepts of Discourse 110 The Utilitarian Discourse System 113 The Enlightenment: reason and freedom 114 Bentham and Mill’s Utilitarianism 115 Forms of discourse in the Utilitarian discourse system 117 The Panopticon of Bentham 118 Face systems in the Utilitarian discourse system 120 Internal face systems: liberté, égalité, fraternité 120 The institutions of the Utilitarian discourse system 121 Outside discourse 122 Multiple discourse systems 123 The Confucian discourse system 123 “Conversations” 126 What “Counts” as an Ideology? 128 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 130 The relationship between small d discourse and big D Discourses 130 Discussion Questions 134 References for Further Study 134 7 Forms of Discourse 136 Functions of Language 136 Information and relationship 136 Negotiation and ratifi cation 137 Group harmony and individual welfare 138 Clarity, Brevity, and Sincerity Revisited 139 Theories of communication in the Utilitarian discourse system 139 Kant’s view of the “public” writer 147 Plagiarism and ideology 148 Modes, Media, and the Materiality of Discourse 152 Mode 152 Media 154 Emplacement 156 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 157 Discussion Questions 158 References for Further Study 159 8 Socialization 161 The Individual and “Culture” 161 Socialization 162 Education, enculturation, acculturation 162 Primary and secondary socialization 163 Socialization as legitimate peripheral participation 164 Theories of the person and of learning 165 Socialization in the Utilitarian Discourse System 168 Education vs. socialization 168 Socialization and face systems 169 Socialization and the “Historical Body” 171 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 173 An outline guide for the study of discourse systems 175 Discussion Questions 176 References for Further Study 177 9 Corporate and Professional Discourse 178 Voluntary and Involuntary Discourse Systems 178 Five key discourse systems in corporate and professional life 179 The Corporate Discourse System (Corporate Culture) 180 Ideology 181 Socialization 186 Forms of discourse 192 Face systems 198 The size and scope of corporate discourse systems 201 Professional Discourse Systems 201 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 203 Discussion Questions 204 References for Further Study 205 10 Generational Discourse 206 Involuntary Discourse Systems 206 The Ideologies of Individualism in the United States 208 Six generations of North Americans 210 The shifting ground of U.S. individualism 225 Communication between generations 226 Six Generations of Chinese 227 The changing nature of collectivism 227 The shifting ground of Chinese collectivism 236 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 237 Discussion Questions 238 References for Further Study 239 11 Gender and Sexuality Discourse 240 Gender and Sexuality 240 Gender Discourse Systems 241 Directness or indirectness? 242 Who talks more? 244 Forms of discourse; functions of language 245 Face systems 247 The origin of difference: ideology and paradox 248 The maintenance of difference: socialization 250 Problems with the “difference” approach 251 Compromise: “communities of practice” 252 Sexuality 253 Sexuality and gender 255 Performativity 256 Discourse systems and imagined communities 256 “Gay Culture” and the Utilitarian Discourse System 257 Ideology 259 Face systems 260 Forms of discourse 260 Socialization 260 The “Tongzhi Discourse System” 261 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 264 Discussion Questions 265 References for Further Study 266 12 Doing “Intercultural Communication” 267 Discourse Systems and the Individual 267 Intersystem communication 270 Cultural ideology and stereotyping 271 Negative stereotypes 273 Positive stereotypes, the lumping fallacy, and the solidarity fallacy 274 Othering 276 Differences Which Make a Difference: Discourse Systems 276 Intercultural Communication as Mediated Action 278 Avoiding Miscommunication 279 Researching Interdiscourse Communication 281 Discussion Questions 283 References for Further Study 283 References 284 Index 298

About the Author :
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).

Review :
“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)