Culture-Specific Communicative Styles as a Framework for Interpreting Linguistic and Cultural Idiosyncrasies

Abstract

This paper attempts to define a culture-specific communicative style which I call communicative ethno-style and determine the factors which lead to its formation. While defining communicative ethno-style some generalizations are unavoidable and reference is made to a typical user of standard language and his/her communicative behaviour in interpersonal interaction in everyday situations. At the same time it is not possible to take a dichotomous approach in describing the communicative styles as they form a continuum and need to be viewed in comparison. In this paper I demarcate the dominant features of Russian communicative style as opposed to British and emphasize the importance of a systemized description of culture specific communicative differences through communicative ethno-styles. This is important for developing pragmatic and discourse competence necessary for intercultural communication. The study is based on empirical data obtained through questionnaires, interviews and observations and follows contextual, pragmatic, discourse analyses. The theoretical framework is based on Politeness Theory (Brown and Levinson, 1987; Leech, 1983, 2005; Watts, 2003), Speech Act Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) and the Theory of Cultural Scripts (Wierzbicka, 1991/2003, 2002, 2006).