Tag: (S) greeting

(2009) Cultural scripts

Goddard, Cliff (2009). Cultural scripts. In Gunter Senft, Jan-Ola Östman, & Jef Verschueren (Eds.), Culture and language use (pp. 68-80). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/hoph.2.07god

Previously published as:

Goddard, Cliff (2006). Cultural scripts. In Jan-Ola Östman, & Jef Verschueren (Eds.), Handbook of pragmatics: Vol. 10. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/hop.10.cul2

The term ‘cultural script’ refers to a technique for articulating culture-specific norms, values, and practices in terms which are clear, precise, and accessible to cultural insiders and outsiders alike. This result is possible because cultural scripts are formulated in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) of semantic primes, a highly constrained ‘mini-language’ of simple words and grammatical patterns which evidence suggests have equivalents in all languages. Cultural scripts exist at different levels of generality (high level and lower level; high level scripts are sometimes referred to as master scripts). They may relate to different aspects of thinking, speaking, and behaviour. The cultural scripts approach offers a promising method for describing cultural norms and practices in a way that is free from Anglocentrism and that lends itself to direct practical applications in intercultural communication and education.


Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(2004) Chinese (Mandarin) – Address forms and social cognition

Ye, Zhengdao (2004). Chinese categorization of interpersonal relationships and the cultural logic of Chinese social interaction: An indigenous perspective. Intercultural Pragmatics, 1(2), 211-230.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.211

Abstract:

This paper explores the conceptual basis of Chinese social organization, and examines how the fundamental Chinese categories of interpersonal relationships affect Chinese ways of speaking and social interaction. Firstly, the paper will analyse the full meanings and interrelationship of two of the most distinctive (complementary) dyads of Chinese social categories, namely, 生人 shēngrén (lit. “uncooked person”, “stranger”) vs. shúrén (lit. “cooked person”, “an old acquaintance”), and zìjĭrén (lit. “oneself person”, “insider”) vs. wàirén (lit. “outer/outsider person”, “outsider”). It will then put forward two master scripts – general principles underlying norms of social interaction – in Chinese culture that are governed by the demarcations of these fundamental categories: nèiwàiyŏubié (“difference between the insider and outsider”) and yóushūzhìqīn (“from far to close”), and illustrate aspects of Chinese language use that are guided by these principles. They include dă zhāohu (“greetings”), the use of tóng X (“fellow X”) and lăo X (“old X”), and a brief discussion of the value of not being polite in Chinese culture.

On the one hand, this paper demonstrates the need for treating interpersonal relationships as a theoretical variable in the study of human interaction and shows the importance of an indigenous perspective; on the other, it relates theoretical discussion of human interaction to practical needs of understanding Chinese interactional style for the purpose of language teaching and political and commercial negotiations. Both goals can be attained by the use of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage and “cultural scripts” theory.

More information:

A more recent chapter that builds on this one is:

Chapter 2 (pp. 40-66) of Ye, Zhengdao (2006), Ways of meaning, ways of life: A semantic approach to Chinese ethnopsychology. PhD thesis, Australian National University.

Rating:


Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , ,