Narrative, Literacy, and Face in Interethnic Communication Scollon/Scollon

1. Narrative, Literacy, and Face in Interethnic CommunicationScollon/Scollon Jessica Breighner Kayley Dull Ryan Hinish

2. The Distribution of Talk • It takes a lot of cooperation and common understanding to have a conversation • You cannot interrupt one another • You cannot fail to answer back in response • Conversationalists look at questions like: But who speaks first? How are topics controlled? How do conversations just end?

3. Who Speaks First? • English speaker or Athabaskan Speaker? • The English speaker will normally speak first, feeling like it is the best way to establish a relationship between the speakers • The Athabaskan will feel it is important to know the relationship between the two speakers before speaking at all.

4. Control of Topic • Studies have shown that the person who speaks first also controls the topic of conversation. • Think of a telephone conversation. Normally the person calling is the one who will initiate the conversation. • Cultural differences are sometimes ignored because of our English way of speaking. • For instance, the Athabaskan use of conventional greeting that gives the answer the right to introduce the topic.

5. Control of Topic • Athabaskan’s start to feel like their ideas are ignored and also feel that the English people are egocentric or ethnocentric. • On the other hand, the English feel that the Athabasken have nothing to say or that their ideas are off topic.

6. The Exchange of Speaking Turns • During a two person conversation, we tend to take turns; back and forth with discussion. • Problems start to come up when two speakers have different systems for pausing between turns. Athabaskan speakers allow a longer pause between sentences than do the English speakers.

7. The Exchange of Speaking Turns • Imagine the confusion for the English speaker when they are waiting for the Athabaskan to respond. • Because the Athabaskan use a specific pause after speaking a sentence, the English speaker begins to feel uncomfortable, resulting in another comment from the English speaker. • Another problems arises when there is different expectations about how long a speaker should be allowed to speak at one turn.

8. Departure Formulas • Athabaskan people believe that it is bad luck to make predictions about the future. This applies to statements such as “I’ll see you later.” or “I’ll see you tomorrow.” English speakers feel this is a simple closing statement • English speakers feel that the departure is the final check on where you have gotten to in the conversation. • Because the Athabaskan want to avoid any chance of bad luck, they may quite unknowingly signal to the English speaker there is no hope of getting together to speak again.

9. The Importance of Discourse and Cultural Factors • The conversation between Athabaskan and English speakers shows discourse patterns and unclear presentation of self. • It is safe to say that you should understand a culture and their beliefs before conversing with one another.