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Thus, agonistic discussion, although being an apparent arena for ego-
centric presentation of incommensurable selves, could be seen to facilitate a
mutual orientation whereby both self-oriented demeanour and other-oriented
deference could be equilibrically played out. This is important in that it suggests
that facework as a mutually reciprocative activity (being an effective balancing
act between respect for self and considerateness for others) can actually be
played out conversationally as an apparent surface level face-threatening
activity (Cf. Blum-Kulka 1987; VVierzbicka 1985; Katriel 1986; Tannen 1981 a;
1981b; Schiffrin 1984) (see 1.3).
The final body of work that I want to review here is the one that has
addressed quite specifically instances where both US-English and German
conversationalists have been involved in the potentially face-threatening activity
of disagreement. What this work has shown is that the cultural differences
discussed I terms of a general orientation above, can actually be seen to have
informed the turn-by-turn normative organisation of talk itself.
Specifically, Kotthoff (1989; 1991; 1993; 1994) has explore the
preference for establishing and defending one's standpoint in German as
compared to US-English conversation, not in terms of a preference in the sense
of 'disposition' or cultural tendency per se - one commonly employed in several
of the studies already cited - but in the more technical sense of conversational
preference as used in Conversational Analysis (Sacks 1987; Pomerantz 1984).
That is, preference organisation as referring to the culturally institutionalised
way of, in this particular case, agreeing and disagreeing in terms of how turns
are formulated and sequentially organised in conversation.
Kotthoff focused specifically on dispute sequences in US-English and
German conversation to look for structural and sequential variations in the
conversational organisation. Salient differences were identified in the way
American and German speakers oriented to potentially argumentative
encounters. Again, reflecting previous findings, American speakers were shown
to be more oriented to maintaining consensual conversation (what Kotthoff
termed Konsens), this being evident in their routine collaborative avoidance of
open disagreement. Conversely, German speakers were shown to be more
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