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Chapter 6: Language and Intercultural Communication
Chapter 6
Language and Intercultural Communication
Learning Objectives
After studying the material in this chapter, students should be able to accomplish the following
objectives:
1. Discuss the four components of language.
2. Explain the nominalist, relativist, and qualified relativist positions on language and
perception.
3. Describe the role of metaphor in understanding intercultural communication.
4. Identify cultural variations in communication style.
5. Give examples of variations in contextual rules.
6. Explain the power of labels.
7. Understand the challenges of multilingualism.
8. Explain the difference between translation and interpretation.
9. Understand the phenomenon of code switching and interlanguage.
10. Discuss the complexities of language policies.
Key Terms
• Bilingual
• Co-cultural groups
• Code switching
• Communication style
• Equivalency
• High-context communication
• Interlanguage
• Interpretation
• Language acquisition
• Language policies
• Lingua franca
• Low-context communication
• Metamessage
• Multilingual
• Nominalist position
• Qualified relativist position
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Chapter 6: Language and Intercultural Communication
• Relativist position
• Social positions
• Source text
• Target text
• Translation
Detailed Chapter Outline
Introduction
• Language is a central element in intercultural communication, whether face-to-face or
online.
o There are often challenges, like understanding slang, and the issue of power is
always present.
• The sheer number of languages spoken in the world today, approximately 7,000, is
staggering.
I. Social Science Perspective on Language
A. Language and Perception
• According to the nominalist position, perception is not shaped by the particular
language one speaks. Language is simply an arbitrary “outer form of thought.”
o Thus, all people have the same range of thoughts, which they express in different
ways with different languages.
student, Benjamin Whorf (1956), based on linguistic research they
conducted in the 1930s and 1940s on Native American languages.
▪ According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, language defines people’s
experience.
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Chapter 6: Language and Intercultural Communication
▪ Another example is the variation in verb forms in English, Spanish, and
French.
❖ The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that, based on this variation in
verb form, French, English, and Spanish speakers may think
o It questions the basic assumption that all people inhabit the same perceptual
world, the same social reality.
• However, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has been critiqued by a number of studies that
challenge the connection between language and how people think (Deutscher, 2010).
o Studies of children’s language acquisition seem to suggest that language and
to speak probably does shape their orientation to the world and the people and objects
they encounter (Deutscher, 2010).
B. Language and Thought: Metaphor
• A metaphor is an expression where a word (or words) is used outside of its normal
conventional meaning to express a similar concept (Lakoff, 1992).
• Metaphors can also be a useful way to understand other cultures.
o Some metaphors are universal, like the metaphor of an angry person as a
pressurized container, for example (Kövecses, 2005).
C. Cultural Variations in Communication Style
• In addition to cultural differences in metaphor use, social science scholars also identify
differences in the way people use language in everyday conversations.
• Communication style combines both language and nonverbal communication.
• It is the metamessage that contextualizes how listeners are expected to receive and
interpret verbal messages.
o A primary way in which cultural groups differ in communication style is in a
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information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person,
while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message”
(Hall, 1976, p. 79).
▪ In contrast, in low-context communication, the majority of meaning and
• The direct versus indirect dimension refers to the extent to which speakers reveal their
intentions through explicit verbal communication and emphasizes low-context
communication.
o A direct communication style is one in which verbal messages reveal the
speaker’s true intentions, needs, wants, and desires.
• Different communication styles are responsible for many problems that arise between
men and women and between persons from different ethnic groups.
o These problems may be caused by different priorities for truth, honesty, harmony,
and conflict avoidance in relationships.
• The elaborate versus understated dimension of communication styles refers to the
▪ Free self-expression is not encouraged.
▪ Silence is especially appropriate in ambiguous situations; if one is unsure of
what is going on, it is better to remain silent.
• The exact style falls between the elaborate and the understated, as expressed in the
maxim “Verbal contributions should be no more or less information than is required”
(Grice, 1975).
• In international negotiations, visible differences in style can contribute to
misperceptions and misunderstandings.
D. Influence of Interactive Media Use on Language and Communication Style
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Chapter 6: Language and Intercultural Communication
• Some experts wonder about the influence of communication technologies on
communication style.
o In general, e-mail, text messaging, and especially Twitter emphasize low-context,
direct and understated written communication.
texts as well as photos and videos in order to convey more emotional meanings to
one’s messages.
o Not everyone adopts or uses all available technologies.
o Moreover, people may adopt the technologies to their own style.
o In addition to highlighting cultural differences in language, interactive media also
have an enormous impact on slang and humor.
E. Slang and Humor in Language Use
• According to language expert Tom Dalzell (2005), slang is generally wittier and
cleverer than standard language.
• It’s inventive and creative and serves an important function—it establishes a sense of
community identity among its users, often in opposition to standard language users.
o Slang, then, can be perceived as a barrier to those outside the language group.
• Slang is particularly important for youth cultures; it’s almost imperative to invent slang
that belongs to each generation and is unintelligible to parents and other adults.
o Communication accommodation theory (CAT) suggests that there is an optimum
o Another type of humor that presents a barrier in intercultural communication is
humor at the expense of another.
• These different uses of language communicate different things to their culturally
disparate audiences.
o As they also demonstrate, it is not easy to interpret language use from other
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time. Instead, one might recognize that style operates dynamically and is related
to context, historical forces, and so on.
o Furthermore, one might consider how tolerant one is when one encounters others
who communicate in very different ways and how willing or able one is to alter
one’s own style to communicate better.
II. Interpretive Perspective on Language
• The interpretive perspective focuses on an in-depth understanding of communication use in
context and how communication practices may vary from one cultural context to another.
A. Variations in Contextual Rules
• A dialectical perspective reminds one that the particular communication style one uses
may vary from context to context.
• Many research studies have examined the rules for the use of socially situated language
in specific contexts.
o They attempt to identify contexts and then “discover” the rules that apply in these
change their communication style in another.
• Understanding the dynamics of various speech communities helps people to see the
range of communication styles.
III. Critical Perspective on Language
• A critical perspective on language suggests that, in order to use language effectively in
• The co-cultural communication theory, proposed by communication scholar Mark Orbe
(1998), describes how language works between dominant and nondominant groups—or
co-cultural groups.
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• Groups that have the most power (whites, men, heterosexuals) consciously or
unconsciously formulate a communication system that supports their perception of the
world.
o This means that co-cultural group members (ethnic minorities, women, gays) must
emphasize assimilation—trying to become like the dominant group—or they
can try to accommodate and adapt to the dominant group.
▪ They can also try to remain separate from the dominant groups as much as
possible.
• These three sets of orientations result in nine types of communication strategies.
be self-monitoring (“I’d better be careful about what I say in this
organization to make sure I don’t offend those in power”), and, above all,
avoid controversy.
▪ These strategies emphasize trying to fit and be accepted by the dominant
group.
▪ However, this strategy can promote an us-versus-them mentality, and some
people find it difficult to maintain this strategy for very long.
o Aggressive assimilation strategies emphasize fitting in, and co-cultural members
who take this approach can go to great lengths to prove they are like members of
the dominant group.
▪ The cost may entail ridicule from members of that co-culture who may
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accuse this individual of acting white, thinking like a man, or “straight.”
• Nonassertive accommodation strategies emphasize blending into the dominant culture
but tactfully challenging the dominant structure to recognize co-cultural practices.
o Using this strategy, the co-cultural individual may be able to influence group
• Assertive accommodation strategies try to strike a balance between the concerns of co-
cultural and dominant group members.
o These strategies include communicating self, doing intra-group networking, using
liaisons, and educating others.
• Aggressive accommodation strategies involve moving into the dominant structures and
o Co-cultural members with this orientation may periodically use assertive as well
as aggressive accommodation strategies and so may be perceived as genuinely
committed to the larger group’s good.
o However, co-cultural members who consistently use aggressive accommodating
strategies may find themselves alienated from both other co-cultural members and
group.
o Perhaps the most common strategy is simply avoiding interactions with dominant
group members whenever possible.
o The benefit of this approach is that co-cultural members do not have to deal with
any negative feelings or stereotypes about their group, but the cost is that they
that it promotes co-cultural unity and self-determination.
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o The cost, however, is that co-cultural group members must try to survive without
having access to resources controlled by the dominant group.
• Aggressive separation strategies are used by those for whom co-cultural segregation is
an important priority.
B. Discourse and Social Structure
• Just as organizations have particular structures and specific positions within them,
societies are structured so that individuals occupy social positions.
o Differences in social positions are central to understanding intercultural
communication.
positions of the groups affect communication.
o Group differences lend meaning to intercultural communication because the
concept of differences is key to language and the semiotic process.
C. The “Power” Effects of Labels
• People often use labels to refer to other people and to themselves.
relationships between speaker and listener.
o Sometimes people use labels to communicate closeness and affection for others.
o Sometimes people intentionally invoke labels to establish a hostile relationship.
o Sometimes people use labels that are unintentionally offensive to others.
• Discourse is tied closely to social structure, so the messages communicated through the
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not lead to distancing in the relationship or be offensive.
o But if the speaker and listener are strangers, then these same labels might invoke
anger or close the lines of communication.
o Furthermore, if the speaker is in a position of power, then he or she has potentially
an even greater impact.
IV. Moving Between Languages
A. Multilingualism
• People who speak two languages are often called bilingual; people who speak more
than two languages are considered multilingual.
o Rarely do bilinguals speak both languages with the same level of fluency.
o More commonly, they prefer to use one language over another, depending on the
context and the topic.
• Sometimes entire nations are bilingual or multilingual.
• The 10 most popular languages in the United States in are ranked as follows in
use in a given situation.
▪ These decisions are sometimes clearly embedded in power relations.
▪ Sometimes a language is chosen as a courtesy to others.
• An interesting linguistic phenomenon known as interlanguage has implications for the
teaching and learning of other languages.
o Some work hard to learn other languages and other ways of communicating, even
if they make numerous errors along the way.
o Others retreat into their familiar languages and ways of living.
B. Translation and Interpretation
• Translation generally refers to the process of producing a written text that refers to
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o The original language text of a translation is called the source text; the text into
which it is translated is the target text.
• Interpretation refers to the process of verbally expressing what is said or written in
another language.
o The ways in which different languages convey views of the world are not
equivalent.
• Some languages have tremendous flexibility in expression; others have a limited range
of words.
o The reverse may be true, however, for some topics.
meaning with the original meaning.
o However, for those interested in the intercultural communication process, the
emphasis is not so much on equivalence as on the bridges that people construct to
cross from one language to another.
• People often assume that translators and interpreters are “invisible,” that they simply
o People often assume that anyone who knows two languages can be a translator or
an interpreter.
▪ Research has shown, however, that high levels of fluency in two languages
do not necessarily make someone a good translator or interpreter.
o Because of the complex relationships between people, particularly in intercultural
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V. Language and Identity
• The relationship between language and culture becomes more complicated when one looks
at the complexity of cultural identities at home and abroad.
A. Language and Cultural Group Identity
• Linguists say that each language is a unique lens, a unique way of viewing the world,
and they are increasingly concerned about what is being lost when a language goes
extinct.
o When language disappears so does significant aspects of cultural diversity.
• The language one speaks and the language others think one should speak can create
barriers in intercultural communication.
B. Code Switching
• Code switching is a technical term in communication that refers to the phenomenon of
changing languages, dialects, or even accents.
• Code switching and language settings brings up the question of how does a bilingual
person decide which language to speak in a setting where there are multiple languages
spoken?
o A helpful theory here is communication accommodation theory (CAT).
▪ This theory posits that in some situations individuals change their
communication patterns to accommodate others—depending on the
situation and the attitude of the speaker toward other people.
VI. Language Politics and Policies
• Nations can enact laws recognizing an official language, such as French in France or Irish
in Ireland (despite the fact that more Irish speak English than Irish).
• Some nations have multiple official languages.
• In the United States, there is no official national language, although English is the de facto
national language.
• Laws or customs that determine which language is spoken where and when are referred to
as language policies.
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o Language policies are embedded in the politics of class, culture, ethnicity, and
economics.
▪ They do not develop as a result of any supposed quality of the language itself.
o Sometimes nations develop language policies as a way of protecting minority
between economic and political relations inside and outside the nation.
o Language policies can help resolve or exacerbate these tensions.
VII. Language and Globalization
• Globalization has sparked increased interest in some languages while leaving others to
disappear, and with increasing language hybridity, has called into question stability, purity,
o Sometimes, small, unindustrialized communities are forced to choose between their
language and participation in the larger world—due to global economic pressures.
o Media and communication technologies also have made a dramatic impact on
language use.
• Global forces can sometimes produce other changes in language use, like producing a new
Europe.
• More recently, English has become the lingua franca of international communication.
• How do culture, communication, power, and context play out in the domination of
English?
o The intimate connections between language and culture mean that the diffusion of
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United States were French, Spanish, and German.
o However, some suggest that, in order for the United States to remain a key player on
the global stage, its citizens should be studying Chinese and Arabic.
o Experts observe that China is very close to overtaking United States as the
predominant actor in the major power system (Kissane, 2005).
Discussion Questions
1. Is it possible for two people to communicate effectively if they don’t speak the same
language?
2. Should everyone learn a second language?
3. How do you feel when someone describes you with (a) a label that you like and (b) a label
that you don’t like?
4. What is the relationship between the language you speak and the way you perceive reality?
5. What are some cross-cultural variations in language use and communication style?
6. What does a translator or an interpreter need to know to be effective?
7. Why do some people say that we should not use labels to refer to people but we should
treat everybody as individuals? Do you agree?
8. Why do people have such strong reactions to language policies, as in the “English only”
issue?
9. What is your communication style? Are you a high-context communicator, or are you a
low-context communicator?
10. What are some of the functions of language or ways in which we use language?
11. What are your cultural rules concerning silence and public forms of speech?
12. What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and what does it have to do with language and
perception?
13. Why do people use labels when referring to themselves or others?
14. What are some advantages to being bilingual or multilingual?
15. What are some of the challenges caused by speaking more than one language?
16. What are some of the ways in which co-cultures adapt to dominant group communication
styles?
17. When might it be appropriate to use code switching?
Classroom Exercises and Chapter Activities
1. Nuts and Bolts of Second Language Acquisition Assignment: The purpose of this
assignment is to familiarize students who have not experienced learning a second language
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the person about what it was like to learn the second language, why he or she was
2. Current Language Issues Assignment: This assignment is designed to increase students’
awareness of current debates on the use of language. Choose a language-related issue (for
example, “English-only” or bilingual education), and briefly discuss the history of the issue
with the class. Describe the format of the debate to be conducted by the students. Then,
assign groups of four members each to play certain roles associated with the topic. For
The other pair should present the drawbacks of the proposed language for the people
represented by the pair. In pairs, students can research their assigned topic. You can give
them two weeks to prepare for the class debate on the issues assigned to them. Students
will probably need part of the class period before the scheduled debate to coordinate their
efforts with their partners.
question or challenge the group’s positions in a five-minute cross-examination. This
process should be continued until all of the teams have presented on the issue.
To debrief the debate, you could raise the following questions:
• What do you learn about this issue during the process of preparing for the debate?
• Is it easier for you to take a stand on this issue now than it was before the debate?
between cultural groups?
• How does the debate over this issue in society affect intercultural communication and
intercultural relationships today?
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• What is the role of power in the debates over this issue?
3. Variations in Language Style Assignment: This assignment will help students differentiate
between elaborate and understated communication styles. Assign or have students locate a
speech written in one of the styles. During class, have students read an excerpt from their
4. Regional Language Variations Activity: Show students the video titled American Tongues.
5. Power of Labels Exercise: This exercise is designed to demonstrate the power of labels for
students and the ways in which labels are used to describe negative and positive
characteristics of different groups of people. List a few broad terms on the board such as
“man,” “woman,” “lawyer,” and “doctor.” Ask the students to quickly write down as many
6. Exploring Labels Assignment: The purpose of this assignment is to encourage students to
recognize the labels of different cultural groups that they have been exposed to and the way
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them write a report that addresses the following questions:
• Identify and describe your chosen cultural group, using the labels you can remember.
7. Communication Style Activity: This exercise is designed to make students more aware of
their own preferred communication style by asking them to play a role that may contain
verbal and nonverbal behaviors that are different from their own. Divide the students into
pairs, and have them decide who will play person A and person B. Distribute a set of
Next, ask them the following questions:
• What behaviors were you asked to perform?
• How did it feel to perform that particular behavior?
• Is that behavior your preferred way of communicating? Why, or why not?
8. The Power of Words: A powerful way to discuss the power of language is to have students
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take two pieces of scratch paper and write either “mother” or “freedom” on it, choosing the
word that means the most to them. You could have them look at the word and think about
what it means to them. On the second piece of paper, have students write a one- or two-
word descriptor of the most disgusting thing that comes to their minds (these can be kept
private). Then, have them look at what they wrote and “try to visualize it.” Instruct the
students to kiss the piece of paper with the disgusting thing, and have them put the other
paper with the word that means the most to them on the floor and step on it. Students are
often hesitant, but they usually comply. Then, you can ask them how they felt while doing
these acts. The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate the power of words. It can also lead
to a discussion of semantics, denotation, and connotation.
Suggested Videos
1. American Tongues (Distributed by Facets Multimedia, 1988, 56 minutes)
2. Bilingual Americans (Distributed by Video Knowledge, New York, 1990, 55 minutes)
3. Dialects (Distributed by Indiana University, 1959, 29 minutes)
4. Language and Communication (Distributed by Insight Media, New York, 1983, 30
minutes)
5. Gender and Communication: She Talks, He Talks (Distributed by Insight Media, New
York, 1994, 22 minutes)
Examining the communication gap between men and women, this video explores the
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Chapter 6: Language and Intercultural Communication
6. Communicating across Cultures (Copeland Griggs Productions, 1987, 29 minutes)
7. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Directed by Spike Lee, 2006, 255
minutes)
This heart-rending, intimate portrait of New Orleans in the wake of the destruction of