Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Introduction ix
4. Part I. Language, biology and culture: The crucial debate
5. Minds in Uniform: How generative linguistics regiments culture and why it shouldn't 3
6. The sociobiology of language 27
7. Part II. Theoretical positions
8. Some general thoughts about linguistic typology and dialogue linguistics 53
9. Intercultural dialogue and academic discourse 73
10. The speech act of refusals within the minimal action game: A comparative study of German and Japanese 95
11. Gestural regulators in French, Japanese and American English dialogues 115
12. Quantity scales towards culture-specific profiles of discourse norms 141
13. Part III. Empirically oriented studies of the 'mixed game': Specific action games, politeness and selected verbal means of communication
14. Dialogue interpreting as intercultural mediation: An analysis in health care multicultural settings 155
15. Cultural differences in the speech act of greeting 177
16. Refusals and politeness in directive action games: Cultural differences between Korean and German 191
17. How diplomatic can a language be? The unwritten rules in a language: An analysis of spoken Sinhala 213
18. Cultural values and their hierarchies in everyday discourse 227
19. Cultural and contextual constraints in communication 239
20. General index 257
21. List of contributors 261