“Филологические науки”/2. Риторика и стилистика.

Teacher Mormul Olena

The National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”

Faculty of linguistic

Linguistics and intercultural communication

“The fate of the Earth depends on cross-cultural communication” (Deborah Tannen).

In our increasingly “global” world, successful cross-cultural communication is essential for nations, ethnic and social groups, and individuals.

In a world that has become a global village, even those living in their traditional homelands need to develop some cross-cultural understanding to be able to cope with the larger world confronting them in a variety of ways.

Language has been defined, traditionally, as a tool for communication, and linguistics as the study of language. In the last quarter of the century, linguistics “greened” and the formalistic approaches of generative grammar have been supplemented by approaches more concerned with meaning, culture, and people than with formalisms.

The literature on intercultural often refers to cultural learning, but it seldom tries to spell out what it is that must be learned. To take the example of immigrants starting a new life in English-speaking countries, the need for cultural learning and “cultural transformation” is often referred to in the literature, but attempts are seldom made to identify the Anglo cultural patterns of which the immigrants should be made aware.

The English language tends to be presented as a purely functional means of communication, not associated with any cultural patterns or values. Immigrants need to learn English but do not need to learn any Anglo cultural patterns or Anglo ways of speaking. In many ethnically diverse societies, the cultural patterns widely regarded as standard are mainly those of the dominant culture. In the United States, for example, the standard cultural patterns are mainly those of Anglo-Americans.

In English speech the diversity of values, ways of thinking, and discourse patterns are reflected. That is why is difficult to teach immigrants Anglo cultural patterns. Acc. to Wierzbicka there are at least two important considerations arguing against such a position. First, it denies the subjective experience of immigrants to English-speaking countries. Second, it goes against the vital interests of the immigrants, who need to acquire cultural as well as purely linguistic competence in English to be able to function successfully in the society and pursue their life goals as effectively as possible.

It should be the task of linguistics to provide models both theoretically viable and practically useful—that is, models seeking not only to explain in the abstract how cross-cultural communication and adaptation occur but also to provide practical tools that could be implemented in cross-cultural education.

The Theory of Cultural Scripts

The way we speak reflects the way we think. Not necessarily at the individual level – a skilled speaker can conceal his or her way of thinking behind carefully chosen words and phrases. At a social level, however, ways of speaking do reflect ways of thinking, in particular Franz Boas (1911) emphasized ways of thinking of which the thinkers are not really conscious. They reveal and provide evidence for, patterns of thought. Ways of thinking that are widely shared in a society become enshrined in ways of speaking. Ways of speaking change as the underlying ways of thinking change. They can be a lag between the two, but as one can see by studying ways of speaking at the times of revolutions and other dramatic social transformations, ways of speaking can change very quickly, too, in response to changes in prevailing attitudes. The theory of cultural scripts represents a cognitive approach to culture and society, and it offers a methodology that allows us to explore thinking, speaking, and doing in a unified framework. The theory of cultural scripts is based on the assumption that we need to understand people (both individuals and social groups) in their particularity, but that we can understand them best in terms of what is shared, and that one thing that is shared is a set of universal human concepts with their universal grammar.

Literature

1. http://www.slideshare.net/feriyadin/anna-wierzbicka-english-meaning-and-culture