Alle Publikationen
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2017
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(2017): ‘What I see is not what you get’. Why culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters should be user-tested across cultures. In: AI & Society 32 (1), S. 37-49. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-014-0567-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0567-2 Abstract: Abstract Integrating culture into the behavioural models of virtual characters requires knowledge from very different disciplines such as cross-cultural psychology and computer science. If culture-related behavioural differences are simulated with a virtual character system, users might not necessarily understand the intent of the designer. This is, in part, due to the influence of culture on not only users, but also designers. To gain a greater understanding of the instantiation of culture in the behaviour of virtual characters, and on this potential mismatch between designer and user, we have conducted two experiments. In these experiments, we tried to simulate one dimension of culture (Masculinity vs. Femininity) in the behaviour of virtual characters. We created four scenarios in the first experiment and six in the second. In each of these scenarios, the same two characters interact with each other. The verbal and non-verbal behaviour of these characters differs depending on their cultural scripts. In two user perception studies, we investigated how these differences are judged by human participants with different cultural backgrounds. Besides expected differences between participants from Masculine and Feminine countries, we found significant differences in perception between participants from Individualistic and Collectivistic countries. We also found that the user’s interpretation of the character’s motivation had a significant influence on the perception of the scenarios. Based on our findings, we giverecommendations for researchers that aim to design culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters.
Keywords: Agent-based Modelling, Behaviour modelling, Culture, Design, Disziplin, Evaluation, Favoriten, Interaktion, Kognitionswissenschaft/Social Sciences/Humanities, Kultur, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Modell, Modelle/Theorien, Modellierung, Realtechnik, social importance dynamics, Soziosensitive Systeme, Technik, User testing, Virtual characters 2016
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(2016): A cross-cultural comparative analysis of small group collaboration using mobile twitter. In: Computers in Human Behavior 65, S. 308-318. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.043
Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine the distinctive user behaviors and patterns of participants communicating using Twitter on a mobile device in a small-group collaborative setting. Participants were from Western and Eastern cultures (the United States and Korea). Tweets were coded and classified and the results analyzed. Several cultural dimensions were utilized to detect subtle differences between participants from these two different cultures in their dynamic mobile exchanges. Systematic differences in microblogging behaviors were found mostly in the direction predicted by the findings of previous studies on differences in national culture; however, we also report new and interesting findings that contribute to the knowledge base. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and how this mobile communication information technology can be leveraged to the advantage of individuals and organizations.
Keywords: Art des Kommunikationsmediums, Disziplin, East-West divide, Informations- & Kommunikationstechnik, Interaktion, Kultur, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), microblogging behaviours, mobile communication technology, national culture, Realtechnik, Technik, Twitter, user behaviour -
(2016): Don't Be a Stranger-Designing a Digital Intercultural Sensitivity Training Tool that is Culture General. In: IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies 9 (2), S. 120-132. DOI: 10.1109/TLT.2015.2456912
Abstract: Digital intercultural training tools play an important role in helping people to mediate cultural misunderstandings. In recent years, these tools were made to teach about specific cultures, but there has been little attention for the design of a tool to teach about differences across a wide range of cultures. In this work, we take the first steps to create a digital self-contained culture-general training tool. In the first part of the article, we focus on different aspects and methods of intercultural training. This information is then used in the second part to evaluate the effect of these different methods on the perception of behaviour in misunderstandings. We found that experiential and story-based approaches may lead to different perceptions of participants. In the third part, we expanded on these critical incidents, and incorporated virtual characters, to evaluate if experiential incidents in an embedded story can lead to an attribution of perceived differences in behaviour to specific differences in culture and to users becoming less judgemental of inappropriate behaviours by people from different cultures. The results suggest that the tool had some effect, but that a debriefing relating the general differences to specific instances would be beneficial.
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(2016): Smell in Polish. Lexical Semantics and Cultural Values. In: JOURNAL OF SLAVIC LINGUISTICS 24 (2), S. 273-299
Abstract: Verbs of perception have been typically classified into three semantic groups. Gisborne (2010) calls the three categories agentive (listen class), experiencer (hear class), and percept (sound class). Examples pertaining to the sense of smell in English use the same lexical item (smell), while in Polish, the three senses of smell are expressed with different verbs: wąchać (agentive), czuć zapach (experiencer), and pachnieć (percept). In metaphorical extensions of the verbs of sensory perception these verbs often stand for mental states, as meaning shifts typically involve the transfer from concrete to abstract domains. I show that the metaphorical extensions of pachnieć and percept to smell are quite different. Not only does pachnieć not suggest bad character or dislikeable characteristics, it actually conveys the opposite, as in the expression coś komuś pachnie ‘something is attractive to someone’ or when used without a modifier. These differences stem from the positive meaning of pachnieć and the negative meaning of to smell. Since the percept verbs of smell seem to be intrinsically positively or negatively valued, they do not lend themselves to universal Mind-as-Body extensions. I also consider some of the dramatic frequency contrasts between Polish and English smell constructions and show they can have their root in different cultural scripts underlying modes of speaking (pachnieć jak vs. smell like), framing of experiences (czuć zapach vs. experiencer to smell), polysemy, and different constructional capabilities (wąchać vs. to sniff).
Keywords: Agent, Agentive, Biologische Marker, Disziplin, Erlebender, Experiencer, frame semantics, Geräuschhören, Gisborne, Hear, Hören, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Kulturvergleich, Linguistik, Listen, Percept, Perzept, Riechen, schnüffeln, Semantik, Semantische Gruppen, Smell, Smell like, Sniff, sound, Sprachgebrauch, Sprachverstehen, Status, Verben, Wahrnehmung, Wahrnehmung und Sprache, Wahrnehmungsverben, Zuhören -
(2016): The Detour of an Obstetric Technology. Active Management of Labor Across Cultures. In: Medical anthropology 35 (1), S. 17-30. DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2015.1091817
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26484745 Abstract: Active management of labor (AML) is an obstetric technology developed in Ireland in the 1970s to accelerate labor in nulliparous women. This technology achieved rapid success in Great Britain and in English-speaking countries outside America, which adopted it before many other states around the world. In this article, I explore AML's technical and social characteristics when it was first designed, and then examine its local inflections in a Jordanian and a Swiss maternity hospital to shed light on the ways its transnational circulation modifies its script. I argue that its application is shaped by local material constraints and specific sociocultural configurations, gender regimes, and hospital cultures. Finally, I make a comparative analysis of AML practices in these two settings and in the foundational textbook to disentangle the technical and sociocultural components modeling its local applications.
Keywords: Active management of labor (AML), ANTHROPOLOGY, Disziplin, Ethnology, Female, Geburt, Gender, Human Body, Humans, Jordan, Konventionen, Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtechnik, Kulturtheorie, Kulturvergleich, labor, Medical, Medizin, Normen, Observablen, Obstetrics, Pregnancy, script, Switzerland, Women 2015
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(2015): Variational pragmatics and responding to thanks – revisited. In: Multilingua 34 (4), S. 527-546. DOI: 10.1515/multi-2014-0106
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2014-0106 Abstract: In 2005, Klaus P. Schneider published a fascinating article with the title “‘No problem, you’re welcome, anytime’: Responding to thanks in Ireland, England, and the U.S.A.”. Adopting the then emerging and now established framework of variational pragmatics, Schneider’s pioneering paper presents the results of a study on differences between responses to thanks across different varieties of English using experimental discourse completion tasks (DCTs). The paper at hand revisits this cross-varietal analysis and presents the results of an empirical investigation of this same speech act based on natural data collected with the help of Labovian-style fieldwork methodology common in variationist sociolinguistics. The results reveal fundamental differences between the two data types and underline the fact that these different datasets address different research questions. The findings also highlight the existence of regional variation in the use of this speech act in spontaneous real-life interaction. Finally, the paper also puts forward the term imbalance reducer after thanks (IRAT) as a more appropriate term for the speech act of responding to thanks.
Keywords: Danksagung, Disziplin, Höflichkeit, IRAT, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Pragmatics, Pragmatik, Real-Life Interaction, Regionale Varianz, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziolinguistik, Sprachgebrauch, Sprechakt, Thanks -
(2015): Modeling culture in intelligent virtual agents. In: Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 30 (5), S. 931-962. DOI: 10.1007/s10458-015-9312-6
Abstract: This work addresses the challenge of creating virtual agents that are able to portray culturally appropriate behavior when interacting with other agents or humans. Because culture influences how people perceive their social reality it is important to have agent models that explicitly consider social elements, such as existing relational factors. We addressed this necessity by integrating culture into a novel model for simulating human social behavior. With this model, we operationalized a particular dimension of culture—individualism versus collectivism—within the context of an interactive narrative scenario that is part of an agent-based tool for intercultural training. Using this scenario we conducted a cross-cultural study in which participants from a collectivistic country (Portugal) were compared with participants from an individualistic country (the Netherlands) in the way they perceived and interacted with agents whose behavior was either individualistic or collectivistic, according to the configuration of the proposed model. In the obtained results, Portuguese subjects rated the collectivistic agents more positively than the Dutch but both countries had a similarly positive opinion about the individualistic agents. This experiment sheds new light on how people from different countries differ when assessing the social appropriateness of virtual agents, while also raising new research questions on this matter.
Keywords: Agent-based Modelling, cross-cultural, culturally appropriate behavior, Culture, Disziplin, Favoriten, individual vs collective, individuell, intercultural training, kollektiv, Kultur, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Modelle/Theorien, Modellierung, simulation, social appropriateness, social importance dynamics, virtual agents 2014
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(2014): Cross-cultural differences in processing of architectural ranking. Evidence from an event-related potential study. In: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE 5 (1), S. 45-53
Abstract: Visual object identification is modulated by perceptual experience. In a cross-cultural ERP study we investigated whether cultural expertise determines how buildings that vary in their ranking between high and low according to the Western architectural decorum are perceived. Two groups of German and Chinese participants performed an object classification task in which high- and low-ranking Western buildings had to be discriminated from everyday life objects. ERP results indicate that an early stage of visual object identification (i.e., object model selection) is facilitated for high-ranking buildings for the German participants, only. At a later stage of object identification, in which object knowledge is complemented by information from semantic and episodic long-term memory, no ERP evidence for cultural differences was obtained. These results suggest that the identification of architectural ranking is modulated by culturally specific expertise with Western-style architecture already at an early processing stage.
2013
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(2013): Chinese requests. In comparison to American and Japanese requests and with reference to the “East-West divide”. In: Journal of Pragmatics 55, S. 140-161. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012 Abstract: This paper reports an empirical investigation of Chinese requests using Hill et al's (1986) methodology. The study has yielded the following findings. (1) Chinese requests seem to be determined by Brown and Levinson's notions of power and distance, as are Japanese and American English requests as reported in Hill et al., (2) Chinese requests may not be as direct as has been argued in the literature. We view these findings as evidence for Brown and Levinson's universal theory of politeness but against the claim that East and West are fundamentally different in their respective politeness systems (cf. Chen, 2010 and Leech, 2007).
Keywords: American English, Anfrage, Anfragenforschung, Bitte, Brown and Levinson's model, Chinese, Disziplin, East-West divide, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, (In)directness, Japanese, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, kulturrelativ, kulturspezifisch, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Politeness, Request, Soziale Angemessenheit, Speech Act, Sprachgebrauch, Sprechakt -
(2013): The cultural ecosystem of human cognition. In: Philosophical Psychology 27 (1), S. 34-49. DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2013.830548
Abstract: Recent experimental studies in cognitive science report the influence of “disgust” and “cleanliness” manipulations on moral judgment, yet little attention has been given to interpreting these studies together or developing models of the causal influence of cleanliness and disgust manipulations on moral judgment. I propose considerations for the causal modeling of these effects. The conclusions are not decisive in favor of one theory of disgust and cleanliness, but suggest several distinct causal roles of disgust- and cleanliness-type manipulations. The incorrect views, I argue, are those that posit causal effects from a single common cognitive mechanism for both disgust and cleanliness.
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(2013) : Social Importance Dynamics. A Model for Culturally-Adaptive Agents In: Aylett, Ruth; Krenn, Brigitte; Pelachaud, Catherine; Shimodaira, Hiroshi (Hg.): Intelligent Virtual Agents: 13th International Conference IVA 2013 Proceedings: Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer, S. 325-338
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40415-3_29 Abstract: The unwritten rules of human cultures greatly affect social behaviour and as such should be considered in the development of socially intelligent agents. So far, there has been a large focus on modeling cultural aspects related to non-verbal behaviour such as gaze or body posture. However, culture also dictates how we perceive and treat others from a relational perspective. Namely, what do we expect from others in different social situations and how much are we willing to do for others as well. In this article we present a culturally configurable model of such social dynamics. The aim is to facilitate the creation of agents with distinct cultural behaviour, which emerges from different parametrisations of the proposed model. The practical application of the model was tested in the development of an agent-based application for intercultural training, in which the model is responsible for driving the socio-cultural behaviour of the virtual agents.
Keywords: Adaptive Systeme, Disziplin, doppelter Treffer, Favoriten, Kultur, kulturadaptives System, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Modell, Modelle/Theorien, Modellierung, Realtechnik, social importance dynamics, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziosensitive Systeme, soziosensitives System, Technik, Volltreffer 2012
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(2012): Politeness and impoliteness in ethnic varieties of New Zealand English. In: Journal of Pragmatics 44 (9), S. 1063-1076. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2011.11.006
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.11.006 Abstract: Many aspects of New Zealand English (NZE) have been well described, especially the distinctive vocabulary, phonology, and some syntactic differences in relation to other varieties of English. Building on earlier research describing pragmatic features of NZE, and identifying ways in which politeness is expressed in NewZealand(NZ) workplace talk, this paper extends the socio-pragmatic analysis of NZE in several ways. Using the theoretical model that we have developed to analyse workplace interaction, we adopt an emic approach, focussing on intercultural interactions between Māori and Pākehā, and data from both Māori and Pākehā workplaces to throw light on distinctive features of politeness in NZE workplace discourse. With this goal,we examine the important value of egalitarianism in NZ society, and explore its pervasive influence on the ways in which politeness is interactionally achieved in different NZ communities of practice. Wethendiscusshowthisrelatestothestylisticdimensionofformality,exemplifyingsomedistinctivelyNZwaysinwhich formality andinformalityareindexedinworkplaceinteraction.Theanalysisillustrateshowtheseinfluencesaremanifestinanumberof specific aspectsofworkplaceinteraction,includingsmalltalk,humour,meetingprotocols,andintheextensionofthedistinctivepragmatic particle eh to newdomains.
Keywords: Community of practice, Disziplin, Egalitarianism, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Im/politeness, Informality, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, New Zealand English, Soziale Angemessenheit, Sozialer Raum / Kultureller Kontext, Sprache, Sprachgebrauch, Umgangsformen -
(2012): Appropriate behaviour across varieties of English. In: Journal of Pragmatics 44 (9), S. 1022-1037. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2011.09.015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.09.015 Abstract: Corpus evidence is presented which suggests that from a first-order perspective ‘appropriateness’ and ‘inappropriateness’ are more salient notions than ‘politeness’ and ‘impoliteness’ or ‘rudeness’. It is then argued that norms of appropriate verbal behaviour in a community can be established empirically by employing experimental methods. Production questionnaire data may not reflect what participants would actually say in real life, but reveal what guides their expectations, perception and performance in a given social situation. It is shown that small talk between strangers at a party is governed by diverging norms in different national varieties of English, viz. American English, Irish English and English English. It is further shown that gender and age differences exist within a national variety and that norms of appropriate verbal behaviour seem to be subject to age-grading.
Keywords: Alter, Approriateness, Disziplin, English English, Experimental data, Gender, Gender and age variation, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Im/politeness, Impoliteness, Inappropriateness, Irish English and American English, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, kulturrelativ, kulturspezifisch, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Politeness, Small talk, Soziale Angemessenheit, Sprachgebrauch, Unangemessenheit, Unhöflichkeit, Variational pragmatics -
(2012): “It's rude to VP”. The cultural semantics of rudeness. In: Journal of Pragmatics 44 (9), S. 1051-1062. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.002
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.002 Abstract: Over recent years, linguists have given an increasing amount of attention to impoliteness studies (Bousfield, 2008; Culpeper et al., 2003; Kienpointner, 1997; Meier, 1995a,b; Mills, 2009). Oddly however, little attention has yet been paid to the semantics of the English word rude. Lacking precise translation equivalents in many languages, rude is a keyword revealing much about socially accepted ways of behaving in Anglo society (Wierzbicka, 1997; cf. Fox, 2004). In Australian English, as in English generally, it is the primary ethno-descriptor in the domain of “impoliteness”. This paper provides a detailed lexical semantic analysis of rude in the productive formula It's rude to VP, and also in the fixed expression rude word. The semantic explications are framed in the simple universal primes of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) (Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2002; Peeters, 2006; Wierzbicka, 1996). The argumentation is supported by data on Australian English collected from Google searches.
2011
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(2011): What Korean apologies require of politeness theory. In: Journal of Pragmatics 43 (5), S. 1303-1317. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.028
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.028 Abstract: This paper examines a corpus of Korean apologies to discover why a person apologizes and why they choose the form of apology that they do. It argues for an abstracted, generalized politeness1 model (Locher and Watts, 2005; Watts, 2003) in which politeness work in Korean is primarily concerned with relationship construction (Arundale, 2006; Haugh, 2007c; Matsumoto, 1988). This will involve both a notion of face, conceived as a psychological, acquired construct, and a set of frames (Terkourafi, 2005) that do not directly reference face. To arrive at this theoretical point, the paper begins by examining the social factors that influence choices in apology forms as predicted by Brown and Levinson (1987). Brown and Levinson’s model accurately predicts the relevance of many factors in form selection in Korean, such as relative power, social distance, and the severity of the act. However, the model itself is not an accurate model for Korean even in high abstraction. Instead of choosing a strategy based upon the weight of a face-threatening act, Koreans actively manage and create expectations for behavior in a relationship. Some expectations will resemble classic positive and negative face issues, while others will more directly reference culture-specific roles or common events.
Keywords: Angesicht, Apologies, Brown and Levinson's model, Distanz, Disziplin, Entschuldigung, Entschuldigungsforschung, Ernsthaftigkeit einer Situation, Erwartungen, Face, frames, Gesichtswahrung, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Interaktionspartner, Korean, Kultur, Kulturelle Normen, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Macht, Politeness, Situationsbedingter Kontext, Sociolinguistics, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Distanz, Soziale Hierarchie, Sozialer Abstand, Sprachgebrauch -
(2011): No problem, you're welcome, anytime. Responding to thanks in Ireland England and the USA., S. 101-140
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2010
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(2010): Constituting face in conversation. Face, facework, and interactional achievement. In: Journal of Pragmatics 42 (8), S. 2078-2105. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.021 Abstract: Face Constituting Theory addresses the question “How do participants achieve face in everyday talk?” explaining face and facework as achieved by participants engaged in face-to-face communication in situated relationships. Outlining the theory involves first sketching the Conjoint Co-constituting Model of Communication as a conceptualization of the achieving of meaning and action in interaction, and second conceptualizing face as a relational phenomenon at both culture-general and culture-specific levels. Using these conceptualizations, Face Constituting Theory explains face as participants’ interpretings of relational connectedness and separateness, conjointly co-constituted in talk/conduct-in-interaction. Face Constituting Theory adds to this explanation a new conceptualization of how of face interpretings are evaluated as threatening to, in stasis, or supportive of relationships, drawing into a single explanation the full range of observations on facework from outright face threat, through face maintenance, to outright face support. Consistent with ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, Face Constituting Theory is framed from the participant's perspective, and applying the theory in examining the achievement of face in an instance of everyday interaction both illustrates the application of the new theory in research, and indicates how it is distinct from the approaches existing theories employ in studying face and facework.
Keywords: Angesicht, Communication, Conversation, Disziplin, Dritte Welle, Face, Face-Constituting View, Facework, Favoriten, Gesichtswahrung, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Höflichkeitsforschung der dritten Welle, (Im)Politeness Research, Interaction, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Modelle/Theorien, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Relationship, Soziale Angemessenheit, Sprachgebrauch, Status / biologische Marker -
(2010): “Just tell us what to do”. Southern African face and its relevance to intercultural communication. In: Journal of Pragmatics 42 (8), S. 2158-2171. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.017 Abstract: This paper contributes to the debate on the precise nature of face as a universal phenomenon, and the cultural variability within it. Specifically, we bring the 'Southern' perspective to the debate by discussing the previously neglected African dimension. Recent scholarship suggests that the concept of face and the notion of self in traditional African culture may have more in common with Eastern collectivist cultures than with Anglo-American culture. We examine the interactional management of an encounter between a Zimbabwean English speaker and British English speakers in a community singing group. We argue that, while face needs may be universally relevant in such a situation, the way in which they are oriented to in interaction depends on cultural understandings of which aspects of face are paramount in particular circumstances. Since these assumptions are deep-seated and invisible they are not easily open to explicit negotiation and hence can lead to misinterpretation. By conducting an ethnographic study of the communicative event and combining it with a detailed examination of the co-construction of meaning in this interaction, we show how the participants' contributions can be related to differing - and potentially conflicting - interpretation frameworks. These frameworks are informed by culture-specific notions of appropriate self-presentation.
2009
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(2009): From autonomy to heteronomy (and back). The enaction of social life. In: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 8 (4), S. 527-550. DOI: 10.1007/s11097-009-9139-1
Abstract: The term "social cognition" can be construed in different ways. On the one hand, it can refer to the cognitive faculties involved in social activities, defined simply as situations where two or more individuals interact. On this view, social systems would consist of interactions between autonomous individuals; these interactions form higher-level autonomous domains not reducible to individual actions. A contrasting, alternative view is based on a much stronger theoretical definition of a truly social domain, which is always defined by a set of structural norms; moreover, these social structures are not only a set of constraints, but actually constitute the possibility of enacting worlds that would just not exist without them. This view emphasises the heteronomy of individuals who abide by norms that are impersonal, culturally inherited and to a large extent independent of the individuals. Human beings are socialised through and through; consequently, all human cognition is social cognition. The article argues for this second position. Finally, it appears that fully blown autonomy actually requires heteronomy. It is the acceptance of the constraints of social structures that enables individuals to enter new realms of common meaningfulness. The emergence of social life marks a crucial step in the evolution of cognition; so that at some evolutionary point human cognition cannot but be social cognition.
Keywords: autonomy, cognition,, Disziplin, Interaction, Kognitionswissenschaft/Social Sciences/Humanities, Kognitive Skills/Social Cognition, Kultur, kultureller Zusammenhang, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Normativität, Normen, Philosophie, Social Cognition, social learning, social systems, Sozialisierung, Sozialverhalten, Voraussetzungen für sozial angemessenes Verhalten 2007
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(2007): (Im)politeness, national and professional identities and context. Some evidence from e-mailed ‘Call for Papers’. In: Journal of Pragmatics 39 (4), S. 760-773. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2006.11.014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2006.11.014 Abstract: This study aims to uncover whether or not factors such as national and professional identities and the medium of interaction (i.e., e-mails), affect the way Turkish and British conference organisers begin their Call for Papers for international conferences (CFPIC), and when and how they use inclusive ‘we’ pronouns in messages written in English. The survey also examines if there is a relationship between these three factors and the interpretation of (im)politeness by comparing whether or not writers with different cultural backgrounds, while trying to reach their aim (i.e., collect conference papers), (dis)obey some of the politeness rules proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987). The corpus for this study consisted of e-mailed CFPIC collected between January 2002 and February 2006. CFPIC were related to areas such as linguistics, foreign/second language education and literature. The findings of the research suggest intricate and dynamic relations between a number of the micro- and macro-contextual factors, and some features of e-mails in English written by members of Turkish and British cultures. It is hoped that the results of this study will contribute to enhancing knowledge in the field of politeness and electronic communication, raising awareness of the relationship between cultural and professional identities and the interpretation of (im)politeness, thus providing valuable insights into intercultural communication conventions.
Keywords: Art des Kommunikationsmediums, Brown and Levinson's model, CFP, Disziplin, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Identität, Identitätsstiftung, Im/politeness, Kategorien für höfliche Sprache, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Rolle (Beruf), Situationsbedingter Kontext, Soziale Angemessenheit, Überblick 1999
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(1999): Core symbols in South African intercultural friendships. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS 23 (1), S. 133-156
Abstract: Focus group discussions among Afrikaner, British, Coloured, Asian and Black groups in South Africa were held in which respondents discussed intercultural friendships. Groups were asked to suggest core characteristics for friendships, to describe instances in which they managed cultural differences, to describe rule violations which would necessitate the termination of the friendship, and to make recommendations for appropriate and satisfying friendship conduct to persons from different cultural groups. Afrikaner discourse about intercultural friendship centered upon themes of Pride in Cultural Identity and Decorum, British themes were Individualism and a Future Orientation the themes for Coloured respondents were Flexibility and Relationship Orientation, Asian themes were Responsibility for Actions and Openness, while Black themes were Honor, and Compassion. The core symbols were interpreted in the political and social context of transition in 1992. A positive relationship between level of sociocultural power in South Africa and the intensity and salience of the ethnic identity emerged in that groups with greater sociocultural power expressed the most negative ascriptions about members of other groups, as well as expressed preferences for their own group or individual norms for the intercultural friendship. While dialectic tensions in group and individual orientations were evident in the discourse of friends from all groups, group members with higher sociocultural power criticized Blacks as looking too much toward the past instead of the future.
Keywords: decorum, Disziplin, Fehlverhalten, Freundschaft, Grenzen, Grenzüberschreitung, Interaktion, Interaktionsabbruch, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Kulturvergleich, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Respekt, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Klasse / Schicht, Umgangsformen 1995
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(1995): One Story Map Does Not Fit All. A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Children's Written Story Retellings. In: Journal of Narrative and Life History 5 (1), S. 1-19. DOI: 10.1075/jnlh.5.1.01one
Abstract: Narrative is acknowledged to be a primary means by which children develop the voice of their own culture. In recent years, and as a result of the increased interest in story grammar research, retellings have also become a useful tool for assessing children's understanding of stories and teaching comprehension. The assumption across most previous studies is that narrative, especially folktales, provides the same story-schema support, no matter what the culture of the child may be. This cross-cultural study examines the relative effects of literacy and culture on the narrative form of written story retellings. Empirical findings confirm the hypothesis that two disparate populations, otherwise equated for levels of literacy, western-style schooling, and cognitive development, differ significantly in the structural components of their written story retellings. The story grammar of Mandler and Johnson (1977) was evaluated for discriminatory power. Categorizations of specific components of the story grammar showed qualitative differences from culture to culture. Results support culture-specific theories of story schema. (Sociolinguistics, Education)
1985
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(1985): Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts. In: Journal of Pragmatics 9 (2-3), S. 145-178. DOI: 10.1016/0378-2166(85)90023-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(85)90023-2 Abstract: This paper discusses a number of differences between English and Polish in the area of speech acts, and links them with different cultural norms and cultural assumptions. It is shown that English, as compared with Polish, places heavy restrictions on the use of the imperative and makes extensive use of interrogative and conditional forms. Features of English which have been claimed to be due to universal principles of politeness are shown to be language-specific and culture-specific. Moreover, even with respect to English, they are shown to be due to aspects of culture much deeper than mere norms of politeness. Linguistic differences are shown to be associated with cultural differences such as spontaneity, directness, intimacy and affection vs. indirectness, distance, tolerance and anti-dogmaticism. Certain characteristic features of Australian English are discussed and are shown to reflect some aspects of the Australian ethos. Implications for a theory of speech acts and for interethnic communication are discussed. In particular, certain influential theories of speech acts (based largely on English) are shown to be ethnocentric and dangerous in their potential social effects.
Keywords: Disziplin, Englisch, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Höflichkeitsforschung der zweiten Welle, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Politeness, Polnisch, Soziale Angemessenheit, Sprache, Sprachgebrauch, Sprachspezifizität, Sprechakt, Wierzbicka
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