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This rising up to 'meet and defeat' a mobilised examining self is typical of
German conversational style. Indeed, several German colleagues I have
spoken to over the years have admitted an omni-present readiness to defend
during participation in sociable episodes. Of course, issuing counter-
propositions in English also occurs. However, when this does occur, rather than
proffering a Demeaned Self, English speakers tend to take up a more abased
posture (see 7.3.1), manifest in typical conversational responses along the lines
of 'yeah, suppose I cold do that', in effect diminishing rather than amplifying a
challenged position (see Chapter 8 for more discussion of diminishing and
amplification of the self).
A third salient self regularly proffered in German is the affirmative self.
Again, this conceptualisation covers a range of conversational behaviours, but
essentially refers to the self which aligns positively with wider or higher
authority, and posits the speaker as a person of social and moral integrity.
Again, salient words from the German language - and ones which strike quite
violently on the ears of the newly arrived Englishman - point to the affirmative
self, none more so than the modal verbmussen' ('must'). The affirmative self
can be directed at both the speaker (e. g. Ich muss das machen [I have to do
that]), or alternatively - and perhaps more frequently - at some other co-
present participant (e. g. 'du muss das machen' [you (informal) must do that]). In
terms of this second type of conversational realisation, German sociable
conversation often displays direct and unmitigated direction of a fellow
interlocutor by an affirmative self. 'Du muss das einfach machen' ['you simply
have to do that'] allows a speaker to align to a co-present participant negatively
by, in the first instance attempting to push or pull him or her in one direction
based on the speakers own reading of any given situation. An example of the
affirmative self at work can be seen in the following two episodes.
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