Characteristics of the Contemporary English Phatic Communication Style

Liliana Slavianova University of Ruse

Introduction
Aim: to define the cultural characteristics of the phatic communication in English based on the theoretical platforms of Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede

The paper:
Defines key terms Gives a brief overview of the two theoretical models Suggests parameters for communication style analysis Describes the characteristics of the contemporary English communication style

communication
According to Craig Storti "is one of the most common of all human behaviors...." Contrary to its simple definition, the process of communication is highly complex, multilayered and dynamic

communication
Depends on the perception, interpretation and evaluation of a person's behavior which includes verbal versus non-verbal as well as consciously versus unconsciously sent messages

communication
the process of encoding and decoding highly dependent on a person's cultural background which "determines the meanings attached to particular words and behaviour" (Adler 1997).

culture
Now there are hundreds of definitions. a shared system of attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour" (Gibson 2000). "a shared system of perceptions" (Martin Soley 2003). The latter indicates that culture plays a highly significant role in communication.

 The terms "intercultural communication" or "cross-cultural communication" apply when the sender and the receiver of a message are from different cultures

communication styles across cultures

Differences in communication styles, determine how much of the meaning people encode into actual words.

Eduard Halls theory

"context carries varying proportions of the meaning." In other words, meaning that is not encoded into words by the message sender is supplied by context.

"low-context" communication systems

people translate a large part of the meaning into explicit code (Hall 1979). As a result, "the spoken word carries most of the meaning". People explicitly say what they want to convey without beating around the bush.

high-context communication
a large part of the meaning lies in the physical context, which includes facial expressions, tone of voice and gestures. As a result, the message itself carries less information. People do not explicitly say what they want to convey. Instead, they beat around the bush until their interlocutor decodes the message correctly

Hofstede theory of national cultural dimensions

Power Distance (PDI) Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS) Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

Phatic communication
the nonreferential use of language to share feelings or establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas ritualized formulas intended to attract the attention of the listener or prolong communication.

Emotional communication/emotive communication

Unconscious demonstration of emotions Spontaneous Expressing both positive and negative emotions conscious demonstration of emotions concern for people's sensitivities Social function

Parameters for communication style analysis

distance / intimacy in communication degree of formality / informality subjective / objective - orientation degree of imposition of the communicative action direct / indirect expression of communicative intentions orientation of emotions level of expressiveness degree of ritualization wordiness / brevity.

British communication style

distant (strict observance of the distance) unimposing (communicative impact is minimized ) indirect or implicit (in terms of expressing communicative intention ) cooperative (characterized by clear orientation towards the interlocutor) informal (symmetry and equality between interlocutors) personally-oriented (priority is on person, not status ) friendly and polite (show friendliness and optimism )

British communication style

emotive (relative to the manner of expression of emotions and their communicative function) expressive (characterized by frequent use of superlative adjectives in many situations) hyperbolic (exaggeration of the qualities and characteristics) insincere (oriented largely to the form and not the content of the speech, which, in turn, leads to a difference in their semantic and pragmatic meaning) wordy (use of a wide variety of language tools )

Conclusions
People from different cultures have different understandings of the interaction process and different communication styles culture and communication are therefore closely related one way of avoiding cross-cultural communication problems is having a better understanding of cross-cultural differences

Conclusions
Halls and Hofstedes theoretical models help to analyze the cultural dimensions of each culture and to outline its characteristics culture only exists by comparison the achieved results refer to the English communication style compared to the Bulgarian

Thank you for your attention!