Download (23MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository

CHAPTER
2
ANGLO-SAXON CHALK AND TEUTONIC CHEESE:
ENGLISH AND GERMAN 'COMMUNICATIVE STYLE'
2.0 Introduction
The previous chapter provided a primer on face and facework, beginning with
the work of Goffman (1967) and Brown and Levinson (1987), 1 went on to
highlight issues arising out of subsequent cross-cultural discussions which
pointed to cultural variations in the way face was perceived and facework
realised in discourse. Here I want to focus more specifically on the two cultures
at the centre of this study: the Germans and the English. In order to do this I will
draw on a body of literature addressing various discourse phenomena, but
which together point to salient differences in communicative style and suggest
differing orientations to face concerns'.
The bulk of this chapter will attempt to identity salient characteristics of
German and English communicative style, a term I am using as a generic one
to encompass a range of discourse practices. This will involve drawing on
literature that has addressed a range of discourse phenomena, from single
speech acts to more general orientations to ongoing conversational interaction
(2.2). Following this I shall attempt to draw on some of the concepts and cultural
parameters identified in Chapter 1 in an attempt to make some preliminary
sense of the cultural basis for such difference (2.3). Next I shall consider the
methodological, analytical and procedural characteristics of extant comparative
research into English - German differences in communicative style, identifying
the benefits and limitations of each and suggesting areas which require further
investigation and elaboration (2.4). Finally I shall conclude the chapter (2.5).
Before addressing the literature however, I should begin by making
explicit my own relationship to both the English and German milieus which this
chapter will focus on. I cannot claim to be completely objectively distanced from
45