... Draft Workshop Paper 81 SAFER: it strikes me uh traveling around this country that (.) t) Ole... more ... Draft Workshop Paper 81 SAFER: it strikes me uh traveling around this country that (.) t) Olen matkustellut täällä people are terribly shy ... Bakhtin, M.(1986)'The problem of speech genres' In MM Bakhtin, M. Holquist, V. McGee, & C. Emerson (Eds.), Speech genres and other late ...
The main purpose of this chapter is to present to readers the spoken words of Blackfeet people wh... more The main purpose of this chapter is to present to readers the spoken words of Blackfeet people who have discussed their homeland, its landscape and all that it entails. In the process, the chapter seeks to help readers hear in those words a Blackfeet way of speaking about their land, to introduce some of the cultural meanings of Blackfeet in that way of speaking about it, and to offer an understanding of this way as a communal touchstone which is anchored in the discourse Blackfeet participants produce as they speak about their homeland
When we sit with our laptop, phone, or television, we are involved in an interaction with communi... more When we sit with our laptop, phone, or television, we are involved in an interaction with communication technology. We have our own ways of thinking, our culturally based conceptions about that technology, about what it is, how it might be of use, and also, of course, about how we will indeed use it. This general arena of activity is called by some, the human-machine interface. This is of course a complex site of activity, and of study, as complexities of use lead to research reports with reports leading to the redesign of our technological devices or machines. This cycle of human use and research results in devices being the way that they are, and thereby sets the stage for end-users to use them in the complex and at times unexpected ways that we do. One such device is being placed in the dashboard of cars or automotive vehicles generally. This sort of device allows drivers and passengers to adjust the temperature of the vehicle or the volume of speakers, to play a variety of radio stations, to play from personal music libraries, to make telephone calls, to navigate to destinations, and to conduct other such activities including the possibilities of messaging, conferencing, and other various forms of entertainment. Increasingly, multiple modes of interacting with such devices are being used. Earlier designs of these devices have relied mostly on push-button technologies. More often, now, a variety of modalities is integrated into a multimodal interface, such as touch screens or touch pads. When voice activation is used and when this is initially successful, for many tasks, users tend to like it. The engineering of this technology for the dashboard of cars has been finely studied, as well as interactions between drivers and passengers in the car; however, the interaction between the people in the car and a dashboard device has been somewhat less studied, especially the cultural variety in its conception, use, and interpretation. For various reasons, among them the complexity of tasks and missing knowledge, a human-machine interface is developed for a large market, such as the US, and subsequently localized to a variety of other markets. For speech interface utterances of the machine, the responses to the user are often translated literally from one language to another, focusing on a generic dialog rather than cultural appropriateness, unconsciously violating cultural norms for communication. One observed example is the translation of the system English request ''Please say your command'' to the German ''Bitte sagen Sie ein Kommando,'' which ignores the different meanings of Kommando in German* where the word is used solely for military purposes or for training pets and implies a boss-underling relationship and thus a notion of arbitrariness. General Motors (GM) has decided to invest into knowledge about cultural communication practices in important markets to offer a compelling human-machine interface for more pleasant user experiences. The practical difficulties GM investigators needed
Donal Carbaugh (DC) is a Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) ... more Donal Carbaugh (DC) is a Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and Chair of the International Studies Council (2004 to present). In 2007 2008, he was Distinguished Fulbright Professor and Bicentennial Chair of American Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has been Chair of both the International Communication Association’s Language and Social Interaction Division, and the National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division. In 1992, he was elected Visiting Senior Member at Linacre College, Oxford University, England, which is a lifetime appointment. Carbaugh is also Charter Member of the Research Advisory Group for the Security Needs Assessment Project of the United Nations, Geneva.
Intercultural dialogue and its many variants such as interfaith, interethnic,and interracial dial... more Intercultural dialogue and its many variants such as interfaith, interethnic,and interracial dialogue set global scenes with some sort of differencesat play. This paper examines difference by proposing ways to developa reflective capacity relative to specific dialogic practices and goals whichare typical in peacebuilding. The chapter is organized into two parts. In thefirst part, three dimensions of peacebuilding praxis are introduced whichfocus on interactional needs, relational needs, and informational needs ortruth-value. Each is explored in specific cases. The second part of the paperelaborates how these very practical matters can be valued differentlyin different religious, intellectual, and cultural traditions. The differencescan be productively engaged, however, as we deepen our understandingof the ways dialogic peacebuilding encounters activate different models ofpersonhood, means of relating, vocabularies of emotion, and ways of dwellingin the nature of things
Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, 2015
This chapter addresses issues of pragmatics and culture by presenting a framework for the cultura... more This chapter addresses issues of pragmatics and culture by presenting a framework for the cultural analysis of discourse which has been explicated and used in previous literature (e.g., Berry 2009; Carbaugh 1988a, 1990, 2005; Carbaugh et al. 1997; Scollo 2011). Indebted to the ethnography of communication (Hymes, 1972), and interpretive anthropology (Geertz 1973), this particular analytic procedure is one implementation of the theory of communication codes (Carbaugh, 2005; Philipsen 1997; Philipsen et al. 2005). As such, it takes pragmatic communication to be not only its primary data but, moreover, its primary theoretical concern. The framework responds to specific research questions, addresses particular kinds of intellectual problems, includes five investigative modes, and uses a special set of concepts. In this chapter, each of the modes is discussed as analytically distinct, yet complementary to the others, including theoretical, descriptive, interpretive, comparative, and critical analyses. Special attention is given to the interpretive mode and to intercultural interactions as a site for the application and development of cultural discourse analysis.
The intersection of language and culture is a crucial site for the study of social life; it is, m... more The intersection of language and culture is a crucial site for the study of social life; it is, moreover, a rich site for the study of intercultural communication, international relations, and cross-cultural studies of communication in general. Of special [p. 581 ↓ ] concern to interculturalists is the variety of ways in which language can be used, differences in the conceptions people hold about language itself, culturally distinctive vocabularies, culturally distinctive forms of expression, and the unique role of language as a means of communication in one setting or cultural scene relative to others. The latter concern brings into view other possible cultural means of communication, such as silence, nonverbal expressions, and nonhuman agents of communication, each of which can help place language use, generally, in its place within a culture's expressive system. Cultural analysts of language use explore these dynamics in multiple ways, including attention to culturally dense language, such as linguistic forms, which identify action, identity, emotion, social relationships, and dwelling.
... Draft Workshop Paper 81 SAFER: it strikes me uh traveling around this country that (.) t) Ole... more ... Draft Workshop Paper 81 SAFER: it strikes me uh traveling around this country that (.) t) Olen matkustellut täällä people are terribly shy ... Bakhtin, M.(1986)'The problem of speech genres' In MM Bakhtin, M. Holquist, V. McGee, & C. Emerson (Eds.), Speech genres and other late ...
The main purpose of this chapter is to present to readers the spoken words of Blackfeet people wh... more The main purpose of this chapter is to present to readers the spoken words of Blackfeet people who have discussed their homeland, its landscape and all that it entails. In the process, the chapter seeks to help readers hear in those words a Blackfeet way of speaking about their land, to introduce some of the cultural meanings of Blackfeet in that way of speaking about it, and to offer an understanding of this way as a communal touchstone which is anchored in the discourse Blackfeet participants produce as they speak about their homeland
When we sit with our laptop, phone, or television, we are involved in an interaction with communi... more When we sit with our laptop, phone, or television, we are involved in an interaction with communication technology. We have our own ways of thinking, our culturally based conceptions about that technology, about what it is, how it might be of use, and also, of course, about how we will indeed use it. This general arena of activity is called by some, the human-machine interface. This is of course a complex site of activity, and of study, as complexities of use lead to research reports with reports leading to the redesign of our technological devices or machines. This cycle of human use and research results in devices being the way that they are, and thereby sets the stage for end-users to use them in the complex and at times unexpected ways that we do. One such device is being placed in the dashboard of cars or automotive vehicles generally. This sort of device allows drivers and passengers to adjust the temperature of the vehicle or the volume of speakers, to play a variety of radio stations, to play from personal music libraries, to make telephone calls, to navigate to destinations, and to conduct other such activities including the possibilities of messaging, conferencing, and other various forms of entertainment. Increasingly, multiple modes of interacting with such devices are being used. Earlier designs of these devices have relied mostly on push-button technologies. More often, now, a variety of modalities is integrated into a multimodal interface, such as touch screens or touch pads. When voice activation is used and when this is initially successful, for many tasks, users tend to like it. The engineering of this technology for the dashboard of cars has been finely studied, as well as interactions between drivers and passengers in the car; however, the interaction between the people in the car and a dashboard device has been somewhat less studied, especially the cultural variety in its conception, use, and interpretation. For various reasons, among them the complexity of tasks and missing knowledge, a human-machine interface is developed for a large market, such as the US, and subsequently localized to a variety of other markets. For speech interface utterances of the machine, the responses to the user are often translated literally from one language to another, focusing on a generic dialog rather than cultural appropriateness, unconsciously violating cultural norms for communication. One observed example is the translation of the system English request ''Please say your command'' to the German ''Bitte sagen Sie ein Kommando,'' which ignores the different meanings of Kommando in German* where the word is used solely for military purposes or for training pets and implies a boss-underling relationship and thus a notion of arbitrariness. General Motors (GM) has decided to invest into knowledge about cultural communication practices in important markets to offer a compelling human-machine interface for more pleasant user experiences. The practical difficulties GM investigators needed
Donal Carbaugh (DC) is a Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) ... more Donal Carbaugh (DC) is a Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and Chair of the International Studies Council (2004 to present). In 2007 2008, he was Distinguished Fulbright Professor and Bicentennial Chair of American Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has been Chair of both the International Communication Association’s Language and Social Interaction Division, and the National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division. In 1992, he was elected Visiting Senior Member at Linacre College, Oxford University, England, which is a lifetime appointment. Carbaugh is also Charter Member of the Research Advisory Group for the Security Needs Assessment Project of the United Nations, Geneva.
Intercultural dialogue and its many variants such as interfaith, interethnic,and interracial dial... more Intercultural dialogue and its many variants such as interfaith, interethnic,and interracial dialogue set global scenes with some sort of differencesat play. This paper examines difference by proposing ways to developa reflective capacity relative to specific dialogic practices and goals whichare typical in peacebuilding. The chapter is organized into two parts. In thefirst part, three dimensions of peacebuilding praxis are introduced whichfocus on interactional needs, relational needs, and informational needs ortruth-value. Each is explored in specific cases. The second part of the paperelaborates how these very practical matters can be valued differentlyin different religious, intellectual, and cultural traditions. The differencescan be productively engaged, however, as we deepen our understandingof the ways dialogic peacebuilding encounters activate different models ofpersonhood, means of relating, vocabularies of emotion, and ways of dwellingin the nature of things
Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, 2015
This chapter addresses issues of pragmatics and culture by presenting a framework for the cultura... more This chapter addresses issues of pragmatics and culture by presenting a framework for the cultural analysis of discourse which has been explicated and used in previous literature (e.g., Berry 2009; Carbaugh 1988a, 1990, 2005; Carbaugh et al. 1997; Scollo 2011). Indebted to the ethnography of communication (Hymes, 1972), and interpretive anthropology (Geertz 1973), this particular analytic procedure is one implementation of the theory of communication codes (Carbaugh, 2005; Philipsen 1997; Philipsen et al. 2005). As such, it takes pragmatic communication to be not only its primary data but, moreover, its primary theoretical concern. The framework responds to specific research questions, addresses particular kinds of intellectual problems, includes five investigative modes, and uses a special set of concepts. In this chapter, each of the modes is discussed as analytically distinct, yet complementary to the others, including theoretical, descriptive, interpretive, comparative, and critical analyses. Special attention is given to the interpretive mode and to intercultural interactions as a site for the application and development of cultural discourse analysis.
The intersection of language and culture is a crucial site for the study of social life; it is, m... more The intersection of language and culture is a crucial site for the study of social life; it is, moreover, a rich site for the study of intercultural communication, international relations, and cross-cultural studies of communication in general. Of special [p. 581 ↓ ] concern to interculturalists is the variety of ways in which language can be used, differences in the conceptions people hold about language itself, culturally distinctive vocabularies, culturally distinctive forms of expression, and the unique role of language as a means of communication in one setting or cultural scene relative to others. The latter concern brings into view other possible cultural means of communication, such as silence, nonverbal expressions, and nonhuman agents of communication, each of which can help place language use, generally, in its place within a culture's expressive system. Cultural analysts of language use explore these dynamics in multiple ways, including attention to culturally dense language, such as linguistic forms, which identify action, identity, emotion, social relationships, and dwelling.
On a beautiful fall day in Cody, Wyoming, Scott Frazier, a member of the Native American Crow Nat... more On a beautiful fall day in Cody, Wyoming, Scott Frazier, a member of the Native American Crow Nation, was discussing water and wind. As an educator, he had been invited to speak on these matters at a conference on Native Land and the People of the Great Plains. Mr. Frazier spoke energetically to his mostly Native audience about the importance traditional people place on watching and observing one's surroundings. He summarized his point through a slowly paced, highly refl ective, measured tone, in these words: Listen to the wind or water If we quit listening Th e spirits quit talking Th en we stop We don't want to stop Indeed! As Mr. Frazier directed us, if we listen to wind and water, we can open our eyes and ears to the world around us. So opened, our minds can sense in the world its spirited nature, and learn from it. Th is deep process is identifi ed by Mr. Frazier as "listening, " and through it, we are off ered a way, not of stopping, but of keeping things going, becoming better educated, equipped with a proper knowledge that is more attuned to the world that surrounds us.
The UMass Department of Communication has an active group of faculty and students working in ethn... more The UMass Department of Communication has an active group of faculty and students working in ethnographic and cultural approaches to social interaction. In addition to offering focused coursework and individual mentoring, we meet twice each month as a group for Discourse Laboratory meetings to share data and work on analyses together. Topical foci of our research include intercultural communication, environmental communication, personhood, ethnic and racial identity, power in discourse, management of disagreement, interaction in the media, and mediated interaction. Faculty in this area of our graduate program vary in background and specific research interests, but we are united in addressing questions of social interaction, culture, and meaning:
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