We will now explore the concept of contextualisation cues through an article by Deborah Tannen entitled ‘Interactional Sociolinguistics as a resource for Intercultural Pragmatics’.
Giving various examples of the work of John Gumperz, the article explains how a speaker’s use of language can signal the intended way for a message to be interpreted, and how differences in interpretation can be explained.
When you read the article, please don’t worry too much about the subject-specific terminology at the beginning. Try to take notes on the following:
p. 205 (last paragraph) - p. 206 (first paragraph): In an employment interview, what were applicants judged on?
p. 206 (last paragraph) - p. 207: In Gumperz’ airport example, what caused the problems between the South Asian employees and the British customers?
- In the article, Tannen introduces the term ‘contextualisation cue’. What is meant by this?
- Can you think of an example from your own professional practice where mismatch or misinterpretation of a verbal or non-verbal feature has led to miscommunication?
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