Know Thy Writer (Wk 5: Written Discourse)

We learnt five ways in which paragraphs can develop in written discourse today, according to a study performed by Kaplan (1972).

It was truly eye-opening to learn of the existence of these patterns that dominate the written discourse of other cultures. This ought to greatly change the way we evaluate the writing of our peers who may be of another culture, or who were educated to develop his or her writing in ways that are different.

Having been educated according to a largely Western model of education, it is likely that we native Singaporeans are well-accustomed to English linearity, to the extent that it leads us to be critical of any form of writing that diverges from the prototypical 'English' structure. Often it is easy to dismiss the writing of other non-native speakers of English very quickly, classifying their writing as 'bad', just because they do not develop their ideas the same way as we do. An awareness of the types of thinking and writing that can vary across cultures would help reduce any unwarranted discrimination on our part towards members of other countries and societies.

As we learn to appreciate the idiosyncracies of each other's writings, we gain better access to each other's thoughts and ideas. Hence, it is important to gain a sound understanding each other's style of writing as it would greatly aid in the communication and exchange of valuable knowledge and philosophies between cultures.

Male and Female Listener Responses (Wk 4: Spoken Discourse)

The phenomenon of Listener Responses as it is termed in communication research is truly an intriguing one. In particular, cultural norms affect not just the types of expressions used but also the frequency at which they are expected to occur. Some of the ones that I've heard in my own interactions with people include 'Mm-hmm', 'Ok', and 'Uh-huh'. Who ever thought such simple vocalizations can carry so much meaning?

One interesting study that I read about was on how men and women differ in their use of backchannel responses (eg. Scollon and Scollon, 2000, in their paper on 'Intercultural Communication and Stereotyping'). It was posited that differences between men and women arise largely because they have contrasting perceptions about the functions of discourse. Researchers have discovered that across cultures, there is often a difference in the belief about whether language is used primarily for the purposes of conveying information or expressing relationships. In general, it seems that women pay more attention to the relational aspects of discourse as compared to men.

For example, Deborah Tannen noted that in American culture, men in general seem to prioritize the conveying of information over the relationship-building functions of discourse. What this entails is that we can probably expect shorter and less frequent backchannel responses from men when they are in a conversation.

In relationship guidebooks, women always seem to be complaining about how all men are "terrible listeners", that they "just don't understand" our problems as much as other women. Perhaps it's time to reconsider these labels that we have imposed on them - our men could just be more 'passive' listeners, who merely see less of a need to provide vocal feedback to their interlocutors (including their girlfriends or wives) very often during a conversation. It does not necessarily mean that they are being less receptive or less attentive than our other female friends...

So, what do you say, ladies? Give the men a break now? :)

Week 3: an Event-ful lesson

While all along we have probably been familiar with the existence of a conventional sequence of utterances for certain types of speech, such as the vows taken at a wedding ceremony, it was really interesting to learn how even more common types of speech events can have an identifiable sequence structure that may be studied and analyzed as well.

One of these speech events is the market transaction. Who ever thought that the exchange which goes on between the friendly vegetable seller and his or her customer in the neighbourhood wet market would also be somewhat structured, and governed by established cultural norms? With the framework at hand (incorporating the 10 components of a speech event),I feel better equipped to pay more attention to speech events around me and to derive greater meaning from their varied components. On the whole, this week's seminar helped me better appreciate the value of studying speech, and how it can contribute to a deeper understanding of the inner workings of society and culture.

I reckon that when I follow my mother on her grocery shopping trip to the neighbourhood wet market this week, it'll be a whole new exciting experience. :)