Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Self-disclosure in initial interactions amongst speakers of American and Australian English

  • EMAIL logo und
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. Mai 2015

Abstract

Getting acquainted with others is one of the most basic interpersonal communication events. Yet there has only been a limited number of studies that have examined variation in the interactional practices through which unacquainted persons become acquainted and establish relationships across speakers of the same language. The current study focuses on self-disclosure practices in initial interactions between first language speakers of English from Australia and the United States. It was found that while both American and Australian participants volunteered self-disclosures in the context of presentation-eliciting questions, there was a noticeable tendency for the American participants to self-disclose without being prompted by questions from the other participant. We also found that there was a tendency for the Australians to use positive assessments in response to self-disclosures less often and with a lesser degree of intensity than the American participants. These tendencies in self-disclosure practices are argued to reflect the ways in which underlying cultural premises are used by participants. However, given that a significant degree of inter-speaker and same-speaker variability was also observed, it is concluded that the study of pragmatic variation be situated on the level of interactional routines, relational dyads, and upwards that are engaged in particular social activities.

References

Arundale, Robert.2006. Face as relational and interactional: A communication framework for research on face, facework, and politeness. Journal of Politeness Research2(2). 193216.10.1515/PR.2006.011Suche in Google Scholar

Arundale, Robert.2010a. Constituting face in conversation: Face, facework and interactional achievement. Journal of Pragmatics42(8). 20782105.Suche in Google Scholar

Arundale, Robert.2010b. Relating. In MiriamLocher & SageLambert Graham (eds.), Interpersonal pragmatics, 137166. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110214338.1.137Suche in Google Scholar

Barron, Anne & Klaus P.Schneider (eds.). 2005. The pragmatics of Irish English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110898934Suche in Google Scholar

Berry, Michael.2009. The social and cultural realization of diversity: An interview with Donal Carbaugh. Language and Intercultural Communication9. 230241.10.1080/14708470903203058Suche in Google Scholar

Brezina, Vaclav & MiriamMeyerhoff.2014. Significant or random? A critical review of sociolinguistic generalisations based on large corpora. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics19(1). 128.10.1075/ijcl.19.1.01breSuche in Google Scholar

Brown, Penelope & StephenLevinson.1987. Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Button, Graham & NeilCasey.1984. Generating topic. In J.Maxwell Atkinson & John C.Heritage (eds.), Structures of social action, 167190. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511665868.013Suche in Google Scholar

Button, Graham & NeilCasey.1985. Topic nomination and topic pursuit. Human Studies8(1). 355.10.1007/BF00143022Suche in Google Scholar

Carbaugh, Donal.1997. Finnish and American linguistic patterns: A cultural comparison. In Larry A.Samovar & Richard E.Porter (eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader. 8th edn., 221226. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.Suche in Google Scholar

Carbaugh, Donal.2002. Some distinctive features of U.S. American conversation. In William F.Eadie & Paul E.Nelson (eds.), The changing conversation in America, 6175. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.10.4135/9781452229195.n4Suche in Google Scholar

Carbaugh, Donal.2005. Cultures in conversation. London: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar

Carbaugh, Donal.2007. Cultural discourse analysis: Communication practices and intercultural encounters. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research36(3). 167182.10.1080/17475750701737090Suche in Google Scholar

Carbaugh, Donal.2012. A communication theory of culture. In AnastaciaKurylo (ed.), Inter/Cultural communication: Representation and construction of culture, 6987. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.10.4135/9781544304106.n4Suche in Google Scholar

Carbaugh, Donal, SunnyLie, LieneLocmele, & NadezhdaSotirova.2012. Ethnographic studies of intergroup communication. In HowardGiles (ed.), International communication association’s handbook of intergroup communication, 4457. New York & Abingdon: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar

Culpeper, Jonathan & MichaelHaugh.2014. Pragmatics and the English language. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-1-137-39391-3Suche in Google Scholar

Derlega, Valerian, SandraMetts, SandraPetronio & StephenMargulis.1993. Self-Disclosure. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Suche in Google Scholar

Dindia, Kathryn.2000. Self-disclosure, identity, and relationship development: A dialectical perspective. In KathrynDindia & SteveDuck (eds.), Communication and personal relationships, 147162. Chichester: Wiley.Suche in Google Scholar

Fuchs, Stephan.2001. Against essentialism: A theory of culture and society. Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press.10.4159/9780674037410Suche in Google Scholar

Garfinkel, Harold.1967. Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Suche in Google Scholar

Glenn, Philip.2003. Laughter in interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511519888Suche in Google Scholar

Goddard, Cliff.2006. “Lift your game Martina!”: Deadpan jocular irony and the ethnopragmatics of Australian English. In CliffGoddard (ed.), Ethnopragmatics: Understanding discourse in cultural context, 6597. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110911114.65Suche in Google Scholar

Goddard, Cliff.2009. Not taking yourself too seriously in Australian English: Semantic explications, cultural scripts, corpus evidence. Intercultural Pragmatics6(1). 2953.10.1515/IPRG.2009.002Suche in Google Scholar

Goddard, Cliff.2012a. ‘Early interactions’ in Australian English, American English, and English English: Cultural differences and cultural scripts. Journal of Pragmatics44(9). 10381050.Suche in Google Scholar

Goddard, Cliff.2012b. Cultural scripts and communication style differences in three Anglo Englishes. In BarbaraKyrk-Kastovsky (ed.), Intercultural miscommunication: Past and present, 101120. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.Suche in Google Scholar

Haugh, Michael.2010. Jocular mockery, (dis)affiliation, and face. Journal of Pragmatics42(8). 21062119.10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.018Suche in Google Scholar

Haugh, Michael.2011. Humour, face and im/politeness in getting acquainted. In BethanDavies, MichaelHaugh & AndrewMerrison (eds.), Situated politeness, 165184. London: Continuum.Suche in Google Scholar

Haugh, Michael.2012. Conversational interaction. In KeithAllan & KasiaJaszczolt (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of pragmatics, 251274. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139022453.014Suche in Google Scholar

Haugh, Michael.2014. Jocular mockery as interactional practice in everyday Anglo-Australian conversation. Australian Journal of Linguistics34(1). 7699.10.1080/07268602.2014.875456Suche in Google Scholar

Haugh, Michael.2015. Im/politeness implicatures. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110240078Suche in Google Scholar

Hepburn, Alex & Galina B.Bolden.2013. The conversation analytic approach to transcription. In TanyaStivers & JackSidnell (eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis, 5776. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9781118325001.ch4Suche in Google Scholar

Holliday, Adrian.1999. Small cultures. Applied Linguistics20(2). 237264.10.1093/applin/20.2.237Suche in Google Scholar

Holt, Elizabeth.2013. ‘There’s many a true word said in jest’: Seriousness and nonseriousness in interaction. In PhillipGlenn & ElizabethHolt (eds.), Studies of laughter in interaction, 6989. London: Bloomsbury.10.5040/9781472542069.ch-004Suche in Google Scholar

Jefferson, Gail.1979. A technique for inviting laughter and its subsequent acceptance-declination. In GeorgePsthas (ed.), Everyday language: Studies in ethnomethodology, 7995. New York: Irvington.Suche in Google Scholar

Jefferson, Gail.1984. On stepwise transition from talk about a trouble to inappropriately next-positioned matters. In J.Maxwell Atkinson & John C.Heritage (eds.), Structures of social action, 191222. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511665868.014Suche in Google Scholar

Jefferson, Gail.2004. Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In GeneLerner (ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation, 1323. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.125.02jefSuche in Google Scholar

Maynard, Douglas & DonZimmermann.1984. Topical talk, ritual and the social organization of relationships. Social Psychology Quarterly47. 301316.Suche in Google Scholar

Pearce, W. Barnett & Stewart M.Sharp. 1973. Self-disclosing communication. The Journal of Communication23(4). 409425.10.1111/j.1460-2466.1973.tb00958.xSuche in Google Scholar

Petronio, Sandra.2002. Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Pillet-Shore, Danielle. 2010. Making way and making sense: Including newcomers in interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly73(2). 152175.10.1177/0190272510369668Suche in Google Scholar

Pillet-Shore, Danielle. 2011. Doing introductions: The work involved in meeting someone new. Communication Monographs78(1). 7395.10.1080/03637751.2010.542767Suche in Google Scholar

Pillet-Shore, Danielle. 2012. Greeting: Displaying stance through prosodic recipient design. Research on Language and Social Interaction45(4). 375398.10.1080/08351813.2012.724994Suche in Google Scholar

Pomerantz, Anita.1988. Offering a candidate answer: An information seeking strategy. Communication Monographs55. 360373.10.1080/03637758809376177Suche in Google Scholar

Potter, Jonathan & AlexaHepburn.2010. Putting aspiration into words: ‘Laugh particles’, managing descriptive trouble and modulating action. Journal of Pragmatics42(6). 15431555.Suche in Google Scholar

Rayson, Paul.2008. From key words to key semantic domains. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics13(4). 519549.10.1075/ijcl.13.4.06raySuche in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel.2001. Getting serious: Joke >> serious ‘no’. Journal of Pragmatics33. 19471955.10.1016/S0378-2166(00)00073-4Suche in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel.2007. Sequence organization in interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511791208Suche in Google Scholar

Schneider, Klaus P.1987. Topic selection in phatic communication. Multilingua6(3). 247256.10.1515/mult.1987.6.3.247Suche in Google Scholar

Schneider, Klaus P.1988. Small talk: Analysing phatic discourse. Marburg: Hitzeroth.Suche in Google Scholar

Schneider, Klaus P.2008. Small talk in England, Ireland, and the USA. In Klaus P.Schneider & AnneBarron (eds.), Variational pragmatics: A focus on regional varieties in pluricentric languages, 99139. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.178.06schSuche in Google Scholar

Schneider, Klaus P.2010. Variational pragmatics. In MirjamFried, Jan-OlaÖstman, & JefVerschueren (eds.), Variation and change: Pragmatic perspectives, 239267. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/hoph.6.18schSuche in Google Scholar

Schneider, Klaus P.2012. Appropriate behaviour across varieties of English. Journal of Pragmatics44(9). 10221037.10.1016/j.pragma.2011.09.015Suche in Google Scholar

Schneider, Klaus P. & AnneBarron (eds.). 2008. Variational pragmatics: A focus on regional varieties in pluricentric languages. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.178Suche in Google Scholar

Scollo, Michelle.2011. Cultural approaches to discourse analysis: A theoretical and methodological conversation with special focus on Donal Carbaugh’s cultural discourse theory. Journal of Multicultural Discourses6(1). 132.10.1080/17447143.2010.536550Suche in Google Scholar

Silverstein, Michael.1984. On the pragmatic ‘poetry’ of prose: Parallelism, repetition, and cohesive structure in the time course of dyadic conversation. In DeborahSchiffrin (ed.), Meaning, form and use in context: Linguistic applications, 181199. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Stewart, Edward C. & Milton J.Bennett. 1991. American cultural patterns. A cross-cultural perspective. Revised edn. Yarmouth, MN: Intercultural Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Stivers, Tanya.2013. Sequence organization. In TanyaStivers and JackSidnell (eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis, 191209. Malden, MA: Blackwell-Wiley.10.1002/9781118325001.ch10Suche in Google Scholar

Stokoe, Elizabeth.2010. ‘Have you been married, or . . . ?’: Eliciting and accounting for relationship histories in speed-dating interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction43(3). 260282.Suche in Google Scholar

Svennevig, Jan.1999. Getting acquainted in conversation. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.64Suche in Google Scholar

Svennevig, Jan.2014. Direct and indirect self-presentation in first conversations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology33(3). 302327.10.1177/0261927X13512307Suche in Google Scholar

Tottie, Gunnel.2002. An introduction to American English. Oxford: Blackwell.Suche in Google Scholar

Usami, Mayumi.2002. Discourse politeness in Japanese conversation. Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo.Suche in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2015-5-7
Published in Print: 2015-7-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

Heruntergeladen am 14.4.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/multi-2014-0104/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen