Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 14. ‘Advice’ in English and in Russian: A contrastive and cross-cultural perspective
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 14. ‘Advice’ in English and in Russian: A contrastive and cross-cultural perspective

  • Anna Wierzbicka
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
Advice in Discourse
This chapter is in the book Advice in Discourse

Abstract

This paper argues that the English word advice encodes a language-specific perspective on the universe of discourse and that to analyse discourse in other languages and cultures in terms of this culture-specific English word would involve imposing on them an Anglocentric perspective. The paper introduces a different approach – the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach – based on 60 or so simple and universal human concepts. Using the NSM framework, the paper presents a comparative analysis of Russian and Anglo communicative norms and values associated with the English words advice and advise and their closest Russian counterparts, and demonstrates how the differences in the meanings of these words go hand-in-hand with differences in cultural practices, norms, and values. The paper concludes by proposing contrastive “cultural scripts” for English and Russian, which can be of practical use in language teaching, intercultural communication and education.

Abstract

This paper argues that the English word advice encodes a language-specific perspective on the universe of discourse and that to analyse discourse in other languages and cultures in terms of this culture-specific English word would involve imposing on them an Anglocentric perspective. The paper introduces a different approach – the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach – based on 60 or so simple and universal human concepts. Using the NSM framework, the paper presents a comparative analysis of Russian and Anglo communicative norms and values associated with the English words advice and advise and their closest Russian counterparts, and demonstrates how the differences in the meanings of these words go hand-in-hand with differences in cultural practices, norms, and values. The paper concludes by proposing contrastive “cultural scripts” for English and Russian, which can be of practical use in language teaching, intercultural communication and education.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction to advice in discourse 1
  5. Part I. Advice in academic, educational and training settings
  6. Chapter 2. Question-prefaced advice in feedback sequences of Finnish academic supervisions 31
  7. Chapter 3. ‘You could make this clearer’: Teachers’ advice on ESL academic writing 53
  8. Chapter 4. ‘It wouldn’t hurt if you had your child evaluated’: Advice to mothers in responses to vignettes from a US teaching context 73
  9. Chapter 5. The advising sequence and its preference structures in graduate peer tutoring at an American university 97
  10. Chapter 6. ‘Yes that’s a good idea’: Peer advice in academic discourse at a UK university 119
  11. Chapter 7. Mentoring migrants: Facilitating the transition to the New Zealand workplace 145
  12. Part II. Advice in medical and health-related settings
  13. Chapter 8. Advice giving – terminable and interminable: The case of British health visitors 169
  14. Chapter 9. ‘You may know better than I do’: Negotiating advice-giving in Down Syndrome screening in a Hong Kong prenatal hospital 195
  15. Chapter 10. Requesting and receiving advice on the telephone: An analysis of telephone helplines in Australia 213
  16. Chapter 11. The pursuit of advice on US peer telephone helplines: Sequential and functional aspects 233
  17. Part III. Advice in computer-mediated settings
  18. Chapter 12. Online advice in Japanese: Giving advice in an Internet discussion forum 255
  19. Chapter 13. Online peer-to-peer advice in Spanish Yahoo!Respuestas 281
  20. Part IV. Cross-cultural and corpus linguistic perspectives on advice
  21. Chapter 14. ‘Advice’ in English and in Russian: A contrastive and cross-cultural perspective 309
  22. Chapter 15. ‘Well it’s not for me to advise you, of course...’: Advice and advise in the British National Corpus of English 333
  23. Contributors 359
  24. Subject index 367
  25. Author index 373
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.221.19wie

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction to advice in discourse 1
  5. Part I. Advice in academic, educational and training settings
  6. Chapter 2. Question-prefaced advice in feedback sequences of Finnish academic supervisions 31
  7. Chapter 3. ‘You could make this clearer’: Teachers’ advice on ESL academic writing 53
  8. Chapter 4. ‘It wouldn’t hurt if you had your child evaluated’: Advice to mothers in responses to vignettes from a US teaching context 73
  9. Chapter 5. The advising sequence and its preference structures in graduate peer tutoring at an American university 97
  10. Chapter 6. ‘Yes that’s a good idea’: Peer advice in academic discourse at a UK university 119
  11. Chapter 7. Mentoring migrants: Facilitating the transition to the New Zealand workplace 145
  12. Part II. Advice in medical and health-related settings
  13. Chapter 8. Advice giving – terminable and interminable: The case of British health visitors 169
  14. Chapter 9. ‘You may know better than I do’: Negotiating advice-giving in Down Syndrome screening in a Hong Kong prenatal hospital 195
  15. Chapter 10. Requesting and receiving advice on the telephone: An analysis of telephone helplines in Australia 213
  16. Chapter 11. The pursuit of advice on US peer telephone helplines: Sequential and functional aspects 233
  17. Part III. Advice in computer-mediated settings
  18. Chapter 12. Online advice in Japanese: Giving advice in an Internet discussion forum 255
  19. Chapter 13. Online peer-to-peer advice in Spanish Yahoo!Respuestas 281
  20. Part IV. Cross-cultural and corpus linguistic perspectives on advice
  21. Chapter 14. ‘Advice’ in English and in Russian: A contrastive and cross-cultural perspective 309
  22. Chapter 15. ‘Well it’s not for me to advise you, of course...’: Advice and advise in the British National Corpus of English 333
  23. Contributors 359
  24. Subject index 367
  25. Author index 373
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 18.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/pbns.221.19wie/html
Scroll to top button