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This paper aims to explore the influences of prosody on (im)politeness perception in intercultural communication. Based on empirical data collected in perceptual experiments, the paper compares the perception of the (im)politeness prosodic properties of L1 German speakers and L2 German speakers of Chinese origin. It was found that the two subject groups show clear distinctions in their (im)politeness perceptions and that prosodic features exert different impacts on (im)politeness perception: L2 German speakers of Chinese origin perceive lower acoustic intensity, more pauses, and lower muscle tension as indicators of higher level of politeness, whereas the opposite holds true for L1 German speakers. In addition, the former demonstrate higher sensitivity to speech rate and modal particle stress than the latter. The study's findings indicate that (im)politeness and prosody perception are influenced by people's first language and home-grown culture, and a prosodic mitigation strategy may not be fully applicable in intercultural communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' pedagogic beliefs and practices regarding culture and interculturality and the extent to which Islamic outlook informed their instruction. Five Indonesian high-school EFL teachers participated in this study. Data were collected over a 12-week period through classroom observations, narrative frames, and stimulated-recall and in-depth interviews. Findings were analysed using a qualitative framework. Evidence indicates that participating teachers often drew on home knowledge and religious significance to make sense of ideas expressed in English. Despite realising the global prominence of English, there were hints that the teachers lumped members of the target culture together. Ambiguities surrounding the teachers' instruction reveal paradoxes of educational exigencies and attitudinal resistance to ostensibly Western culture. This study calls for EFL pedagogies being more responsive to local linguistic repertoire and religio-cultural factors, highlighting the need to liberate the English classes from rigid ties to particular cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores linguistic and cultural complexity within immigration legal advice communication. Drawing from a linguistic ethnographic study, ethnographic and interactional data from two linked advice meetings about UK refugee family reunion processes are subject to deductive analysis using Risager's model of the language-culture nexus, within which the intersection of language(s) and culture(s) in a communicative event is conceptualised as a nexus of linguistic, languacultural, discursive, and other (non-linguistic) cultural resources and practices. The paper operationalises this intercultural communication theory in a new and exploratory way to investigate how cultural complexity is manifest, and interactionally managed, at different levels of meaning. The substantive analysis shows how a range of divergent resources, brought in by the different participants, are drawn upon and externalised as communicative practices in both legal advice meetings. Understanding is negotiated interculturally at different levels of meaning – the linguistic, the languacultural, and the discursive – in contrasting ways in each meeting. Methodologically, the paper argues that a strength of Risager's framework is that it supports a methodical and structured analysis of communicative events characterised by linguistic and cultural complexity, which can be linked to other discourse analytical approaches. The model's complexity, and its foregrounding of verbal over other semiotic modes, are highlighted as challenges for the analyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a great deal of research on impoliteness focusing on one particular language or cross-cultural differences between languages (e.g. Bousfield 2008; Bousfield and Locher 2008; Culpeper 2005, 2009; Haugh 2007, 2011; Kienpointner 1997). However, much less attention has been paid to impoliteness in intercultural communication in which all or some speakers communicate in a language other than their native tongue. On the basis of research on L1s and cross-cultural analysis of impoliteness, most of the researchers (e.g. Culpeper 2005, 2009, Haugh 2011; Watts 2003) in the field seem to agree that no act is inherently impolite, and that such an interpretation depends on the context or speech situation that affects interpretation (see Culpeper 2009). The paper will examine this context-dependency in intercultural communication where interlocutors cannot always rely on much existing common ground, shared knowledge and conventionalized context but need to co-construct most of those in the communicative process. It will be argued that limited shared knowledge and common ground may restrict the interpretation process to the propositional content of utterances, which may result in an increase in the actual situational context-creating power of utterances. Recent research (e.g. Abel 2003; Bortfeld, 2002, 2003; Cieślicka, 2004, 2006; House 2002, 2003; Kecskes 2007) demonstrated that in intercultural communication the most salient interpretation for non-native speakers is usually the propositional meaning of an utterance. So interpretation generally depends on what the utterance says rather than on what it actually communicates. As a consequence of their taking propositional meaning for the actual meaning of an utterance, interlocutors are sometimes unaware of impoliteness conveyed implicitly or through paralinguistic means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, drawing on the notion of symbolic competence and insights from complexity theory, investigates the multilingual practices of university students in group discussions. The data analysis reveals that the protagonists' language uses index the various ways in which their rehearsal of potential identities, language ideologies, histories, and cultural memories are realized in the ongoing discourse. The findings indicate that language choice is not dictated by pre-existing and permanent value assigned to the languages, but is influenced by the interlocutors' subjective perceptions of the shifting dynamics within interactions. Furthermore, the findings show that multilingual speakers show 'semiotic awareness' and the ability to manipulate, shape and reconstruct their environment on different timelines and space scales. It is also suggested that, as globalization has led to more and more multilingual communication, it would be desirable for teachers and educators to develop students' symbolic competence to make them aware of both communicative and intercultural competences, and to enable them exploit social categories, the symbolic power relations of different languages and the legitimacy of languages to shape multilingual settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a project designed to functionally test the mutual intelligibility of spoken Maltese, Tunisian Arabic, and Benghazi Libyan Arabic. We compiled an audio-based intelligibility test consisting of three components: a word test where the respondents were asked to perform a semantic classification task with 11 semantic categories, a sentence test where the task was to provide a translation of a sentence into the respondent’s native language, and a text test where a short text was listened to twice and the respondents were asked to answer 8 multiple-choice questions. Data were collected from 24 respondents in Malta, Tunis, and Benghazi. It was found that there exists asymmetric mutual intelligibility between the two mainstream varieties of Maġribī Arabic and Maltese, with speakers of Tunisian and Libyan Arabic able to understand about 40% of what is being said to them in Maltese, against about 30% for speakers of Maltese exposed to either variety of Arabic. Additionally, it was found that Tunisian Arabic has the highest level of mutual intelligibility with either of the other two varieties. Combining the intelligibility scores with comparative linguistic data, we were able to sketch out the phonological variables involved in enabling and inhibiting mutual intelligibility for all three varieties of Arabic and set the stage for further research into the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) conference that was held in Ragusa in Sicily. It mentions that the papers were organized into 29 panels, with a conference of the Belief Narrative Network (BNN), a sub-organisation of the ISFNR being chaired by Mirjam Mencej.

One of the key missions of the twenty-first century public library is to foster inter-cultural dialogue and favour cultural diversity by reaching out to all members of the local community, especially multicultural populations. This paper will present a fragment of the data gathered in a multi-phase exploratory study whose aim was to survey the multicultural services of Croatian public libraries and collect and analyze data about information needs and behaviour of long-established national minorities in this country, and measure the level of their satisfaction with the library services. This paper focuses on the Slovak national minority in Osijek-Baranya County, their information needs and perceptions of libraries as a source of everyday information and reading material in their mother tongue. Data was gathered with the help of quantitative methodology. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed through Slovak cultural associations and the Central Library for the Slovak Minority. A total of 112 questionnaires were returned, making a response of 56%. Because 2,155 members of this national minority are registered in this region the study covered ca. 5% of the whole population. Descriptive statistics and variant analysis were used to analyze data. The study has confirmed that respondents, members of the long-established Slovak national minority in Osijek-Baranya County, have the need for diverse information and reading material in their mother tongue: only 8.9% said that they do not need information resources in Slovak. As expected, the large majority indicated that they need these materials to stay in touch with their cultural and linguistic heritage (79.5%). Also, results showed that only 24.1% respondents use the public library as a source of information and reading material in Slovak, following newspapers and magazines (67.9%), Slovak cultural associations (63.4%), personal contact (54.5%) and the Internet (42%). The importance of this research lies in its implications for development of library services to multicultural communities in Croatia as well as offering suggestions for improving the collection building in Croatian public libraries, in particular regarding material in languages and scripts of long-established minorities. Authors also hope that this study will encourage librarians in Croatia to systematically collect and analyse information about their local community minorities, especially their library and information needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using ethnographic evidence on asylum proceedings for refugee recognition from various sources (Italy, Belgium, United Kingdom, and Canada), this paper updates Gumperz's notion of crosstalk by exploring the massively flexible and multilingual nature of late-modern communication as epitomized in one of the most complex adjudication procedures performed by Western nation-states. Every year thousands of displaced people seek the protection of various European countries by filing asylum claims, which are examined by national commissions. This paper explores how the problematic nature of these encounters can be traced to the nature of late-modern communication, characterized as it is by asymmetrical power, multiple communicative agents with competing agendas, multilingual and hybridized talk, and creolized forms of interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of the court interpreter in cross-cultural and cross-linguistic communication in the courtroom. Drawing on the analysis of the discourse of witness examinations interpreted by Korean interpreters in Australian court proceedings, this paper argues that in the absence of cultural and/or linguistic explanations by the interpreter, evidence given by witnesses from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may not be accurately or fully interpreted, and this can have potentially serious consequences for the witness in the adversarial context. The discussion highlights the significance of interpreters' disclosure of linguistic and cultural issues which are related to the accuracy of interpreting during court-room examination and suggests that ‘conduit’ interpreters may in fact adversely influence adversarial court proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of translation in the exploration of intercultural communication and the issues that second person forms of address raise when translating humorous texts from English to Spanish, since Spanish differentiates between singular and plural second person pronouns and English does not. With examples taken from film and literature, it will be argued that in translating from English to Spanish, the translator can achieve different humorous effects, such as satire, irony or sarcasm through the conscious choice of tú or usted. It will also be argued that when the translator is translating texts into English s/he should take into account the role of tú and usted as encoders of social relationships and potential face-threats to the speakers. It is for these reasons that address terms should be considered in the translation of humour in order to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the target text. The paper suggests that politeness theory can provide a framework within which to analyze the way in which translators can exploit the potential of second person address forms in the rendering of humour. In this article I will largely be focusing on the filmic representation of workplace relationships and the way that second-person pronouns play a key role in the representations of positions of power and distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on oppositional discourse has pointed out the need in the turn-by-turn analysis of conflict and disagreements. Work on cros-scultural disagreements and conflict is also imperative in the current age of globalization and international movement. This paper examines the negotiation of disagreements and differences between three generations of Greek-Australian women during their participation in interview-narratives. The paper first discusses the structural ways with which the women build their disagreements and negotiate their arguments in an interview setting and how they turn the interview into a place of dispute. Three disagreement strategies are discussed in this section: the participants' questioning the opponent's arguments, appealing to logic, and calling for defense. This paper also discusses the function of the disagreements in intergenerational conflict. Through the disagreements, participants display their cross-cultural and intergenerational differences. It is also revealed that disagreements are a means for the women to display and account for their competence as mothers and daughters in the presence of the interviewer and for the ‘record of the interview’. The study of disagreements provides useful insight into the areas of cross-cultural communication and intergenerational interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the very beginnings of diplomacy, material culture has been a significant factor in intercultural relations, even if its outward appearance and symbolic meaning have changed over time. What has hardly changed, however, is the genuine multi-sensual nature of diplomatic communication, something that has for a very long time been neglected by historians. The following article applies a material culture approach to diplomatic history, outlining the most important dimensions of materiality in diplomatic encounters. These include the materiality of diplomatic documents, the material equipment of diplomatic actors, the architecture and furnishing of the sites used for diplomatic negotiations, the arrangement of diplomatic accommodation, and diplomatic gifts. It proposes a number of research methods for investigating the material culture of diplomacy and addresses methodological pitfalls, such as separating material practices from political objectives in the course of interpretation. Finally, the article explores the gain in knowledge that the focus on material culture can potentially offer to diplomatic historians. For example, it can provide valuable insights into the financial and economic history of diplomacy. It also enables historians to analyze processes of cultural transfer and cultural hybridization, and globalization in the context of diplomacy. The history of diplomacy and foreign policy in modern times is once again the focus of historical research. With regard to the early modern period it has turned to social and cultural perspectives of diplomacy such as, for example, diplomatic networks, experiences and perceptions of diplomatic actors abroad, their practices of self-staging at foreign courts, and their part in processes of knowledge transfer.1 Historians have studied concepts of the office of early modern envoys. In theory these were shaped by notions of the parfait ambassadeur.2 In practice they were strongly influenced by the state of relations between the political entities involved in negotiation, between the diplomatic principal and his diplomatic agent, by the power relations at a foreign seat of government and also by the variety of tasks the envoys had to fulfill in the course of a diplomatic mission. In particular, this applies to residents as an instrument of diplomacy which, not incidentally, certain Italian rulers started to implement in the fifteenth century, before it spread to other regions of Europe as well, and which still may be considered a factor as well as an indication of an evolving European state system.3 Other scholars focused on the role of diplomatic ceremonial that was increasingly differentiated and regulated after the Peace of Westphalia (1648), even though legal scholars and diplomatic practitioners frequently criticized ceremonial procedures as inefficient and tiresome.4 Regarding the modern period, new approaches to the history of diplomacy were mainly inspired by groundbreaking studies in the realm of international history and international relations, although conventional diplomatic history is still very - and even, once more, increasingly - influential.5 Apart from a persistent dominance of traditional political history in the history of foreign relations in general, two developments may appear responsible for this situation. Firstly, international research was influenced by American scholars who were socialized in a political system in which sophisticated diplomatic protocol and the aristocratic ancestry of diplomatic personnel did not play as decisive a part as it did in many European countries even after the Second World War. Not surprisingly, the cultural history of contemporary diplomacy in the United States focuses on public diplomacy6 and cultural diplomacy7 as spheres of diplomatic activities in a wider sense. Both these spheres are considered to have been essential in postwar U.S. foreign policy regarding, for example, West Germany and several East Asian regions. Not only American scholars claimed a leading role for U.S. dealings concerning public diplomacy and particularly cultural diplomacy after the Second World War. Secondly, German research into the field of diplomacy was strongly influenced by postwar German history - by the formation of two German states, which both tried to distinguish themselves from the Third Reich, albeit with different objectives and in different ways.8 Both had to delineate a version of diplomatic protocol as an indispensable framework for diplomatic activities. This task was especially difficult regarding fundamental issues in foreign policy such as sovereignty, international bloc-building and the existence of two German states at the same time. In West Germany, even a new capital with a distinctly provincial appearance had to be adapted to the needs of nevertheless refined diplomatic procedures. Here, politicians used to complain about time-consuming and annoying protocol regulations, though only so long as they themselves did not feel downgraded by these. As was the case already during the eighteenth century, by ridiculing protocol politicians and diplomats tried to ostentatiously stage themselves as enlightened and efficient office-holders. This approach, combined with an unrelenting focus on great men and great deeds in Germany's political sphere, was reflected by historical research in this field, until prominent representatives of German Sozialgeschichte, above all Hans Ulrich Wehler, started to discredit political history and especially the history of diplomacy as old-fashioned and even reactionary. At the same time the striking dominance of Sozialgeschichte in German historical research in the 1970s and 1980s hampered the establishment of cultural approaches to the history of diplomacy. Only during the last two decades can we observe an increasing number of German studies concerned with the cultural history of diplomacy, for example, with regard to state visits9 and to public10 and cultural diplomacy.11 Some examinations of certain objects in specific historical situations notwithstanding, the material culture of diplomacy has hitherto hardly played an important role in historical research regarding both early modern and modern times. Only a very few monographs have been published which explicitly focus on the early modern material culture of diplomacy in its entirety: for example, Helen Jacobsen's book on the Material World of the Stuart Diplomat.12 This situation may seem even more surprising if we look at early modern times as a period in which central elements of today's diplomatic system evolved: for example, permanency and reciprocity, diplomatic privileges, standards of diplomatic communication and diplomatic documentation, etc.13 At that time, ostentatiously staging and exchanging artefacts was considered of major significance in foreign policy negotiations all over the world. Even today, material practices play a role, which many, though not all politicians - and, significantly, many scholars studying contemporary diplomacy - tend to underestimate. To give just a few examples which refer to different dimensions of the material culture in recent diplomacy: In 2009, tensions arose between Great Britain and the United States when a bust of Winston Churchill was removed from the White House.14 Though officials on both sides at first tried to downplay the event, it led to a whole series of more or less unfortunate attempts by the White House to settle the conflict. For example, officials initially refused to comment, then produced visual evidence that the bust was still there (wrong bust), then admitted the transfer but shielded the new president, Barack Obama, from any responsibility while rejecting any political significance to the incident, and then ceremoniously unveiled the same bust inside the United States Capitol. In 2011, the imbalance of gift exchange between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Obama caused speculations on the state of relations between both states. Among other things, Obama received fine crystal, an Hermes golf bag, table lamps on silver pedestals, and a sculpture of Alexander the Great's horse - in short: a mixture of very traditional and very modern diplomatic gifts, worth in total more than $41,000.15 They were supposed to represent the distinguished French luxury industry as well as the almost monarchical largesse of the French president. And what did the King of Bling16 receive in return? A collection of DVDs. In 2015, the Iranian president Hassan Rohani declined to take part in a state dinner in Paris, since the menu included red wine.17 He even rejected the compromise that French authorities quickly offered to smooth intercultural tension: a petit-dejeuner served without alcoholic drinks. In Rohani's opinion, any kind of meal described as petit would be unable to adequately reflect either his position as head of state or the prestige of his country. The chapters in this volume focus on the challenges and pitfalls of intercultural diplomacy in an increasingly globalized world, one in which diplomatic actors are nevertheless expected to quickly adapt to diverse political systems, legal cultures, languages, religions, and customs. Whereas scholars of the early modern period18 have analyzed intercultural negotiation processes for some time - though there is still plenty of room for new research projects - scholars concerned with the modern period19 still largely neglect this dimension of diplomacy. Moreover, even if they do address the intercultural dimension of diplomatic encounters, they hardly do so systematically and with regard to theoretical concepts such as hybridity, transnationality, intercultural contact or material culture. This modus operandi may explain why master narratives, such as the Westernization and Europeanization of diplomacy, which were established with regard to European history, are still immensely powerful, even though Eurocentric approaches to diplomacy and international law are being more and more criticized.20 The same applies to simplifying juxtapositions such as, for example, old diplomacy and new diplomacy.21 To define the potential fields of investigation and to illuminate the methods which we should apply while researching the material culture of diplomacy, I address the following methodological questions in the subsequent sections of this introductory chapter What do I mean by diplomacy in the present context (I)? What do I understand by the material culture of diplomacy (II)? What methods can historians apply while researching the material practices, what problems might arise by doing so and how might these be solved (III)? And, finally, what do we actually gain by researching the material dimensions of diplomatic interaction in early modern and modern times (IV)? By analyzing selected material dimensions of diplomatic interaction in early modern and modern times and in diverse regions of the world, the papers of this volume are meant to explore the potential gain in understanding the dynamics of early modern und modern diplomatic procedures which the approach of material culture may have to offer to historians. In doing so, they are not meant to completely rewrite the history of diplomacy which would not be possible anyway at this early stage of research into this field. Rather, they attempt to demonstrate how complex material dimensions of diplomatic interaction in both periods could be and in how deliberate a manner diplomatic actors tried to exploit artefacts to promote negotiations in foreign policy as well as to serve specific political objectives that their rulers or they themselves pursued. This applies particularly to intercultural negotiations, in which political actors sometimes simply had to rely on material aspects because they were unable to understand anything their hosts said. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we bring to the attention of the linguistic community recent research on heritage languages. Shifting linguistic attention from the model of a monolingual speaker to the model of a multilingual speaker is important for the advancement of our understanding of the language faculty. Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in an environment where the native language is dominant in various contexts, and learners have extensive and continuous exposure to it and opportunities to use it. Heritage speakers present a different case: they are bilingual speakers of an ethnic or immigrant minority language, whose first language often does not reach native-like attainment in adulthood. We propose a set of connections between heritage language studies and theory construction, underscoring the potential that this population offers for linguistic research. We examine several important grammatical phenomena from the standpoint of their representation in heritage languages, including case, aspect, and other interface phenomena. We discuss how the questions raised by data from heritage speakers could fruitfully shed light on current debates about how language works and how it is acquired under different conditions. We end with a consideration of the potential competing factors that shape a heritage language system in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For learners to communicate efficiently in the L2, they must avoid pragmatic failure. In many cases, teachers' praxis centres on the learner's performance in the L2 or his role as a speaker, which neglects the importance of his role as interpreter of utterances. Assuming that, as hearers, learners also have a responsibility to avoid pragmatic failure, this paper endorses the relevance-theoretic view of communication, its explanation about why misunderstandings arise, and the belief that the learner's sophistication in understanding is not the same as that of a native. Therefore, it argues that learners must be taught to be cautious optimistic hearers. As a result, learners will be able to reject interpretations of utterances, which, due to the linguistic or cultural incompetence of their native or non-native interlocutors in the L2 system, they are led to regard as relevant enough although their interlocutors may have expected them to arrive at a different interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how people's expectations regarding talk and non-talk can affect intercultural interactions. Using discourse data from two Chinese--British business meetings together with follow-up interview comments, it describes instances when the participants reacted differently to talk/non-talk, and considers why the differing reactions occurred. It maintains that 'silence' can be manifested in ways other than physical non-talk, and argues that people's perceptions of silence depend on their expectations. Mismatches in expectations, which can occur frequently in intercultural interactions, can result not only in subjective feelings of 'uncomfortable silence', but may also lead people to feel they have been 'forced' into silence or have not been 'allowed' to be silent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for an investigation of intercultural communication from a sociocultural perspective where communicative action is firmly anchored in social practice and sociocultural context. The section on 'Rejections, denials and other non-acceptances', examines the linguistic representation of saying 'no' in a discursive framework. The results obtained are categorized in the interactive tripartite system of a minus-validity claim based on truth, appropriateness and sincerity. The section on the 'Reconstruction of culture', adapts ethnomethodological principles to the investigation of culture by making explicit the interdependencies between linguistic variation, communicative strategy and sociocultural competence. The final section, 'Intercultural communication revisited', presents the communicative act of' a plus/minus-validity claim KS a frame of reference which allows for an investigation of linguistic code, social practice and possible perlocutionary effects as regards the reconstruction of cultures and intercultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines intercultural communication from the standpoint of language as a social phenomenon (Searle) and argues for the consideration of context as basic to this approach. Based on conversation analysis of transactional exchanges between native and non-native speakers of English, it is found that miscommunication is the result of participants applying culture-specific rules to the interpretation of a single message. The analyses of verbal repertoire and verbal behavior of non-native, speakers show that interlingual transfer is a common phenomenon. Lack of speech convergence in the speech styles of both native and non-native speakers may be attributed to differing participant backgrounds in cultural and communicative conventions. There is empirical evidence to suggest that successful intercultural communication in a multilingual, cross-cultural setting is dependent, amongst other factors, on the observation that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a fresh way of looking at language choice in intercultural communication. Its starting point is the recognition of the need for a social-psychological approach (section 1). However, the concepts which have so far been employed within this approach run into difficulties when applied to 'non-traditional' multilingual settings; that is, those in which more than two languages are salient, participation is essentially temporary, participants' language repertoires only partially overlap and no in-group-out-group dichotomy is relevant (section 2). In such settings, interactant identities are radically dependent on situation and function not so much as a priori inputs to interaction but more as outcomes of it (section 3). It is argued that language choice is a significant means by which they emerge and that Goffman's notion of lace - being contingent on situation is an ideal framework (section 4). The model proposes three basic aspects of lace which can be instantiated through language choice (section 5) and shows how the precise nature of interactants' faces are determined by a combination of their respective relations of 'ownership' to the language chosen and the relative status of this language (section 6). Their faces are thus interdependent. The 'face triangle' is offered as a way of capturing the model in graphic form (section 7). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]