Extenuatory Sociolinguistics: Diverting Attention from Issues to Symptoms in Cross-Cultural Communication Studies

Abstract

Sociolinguistic difficulties that often arise in cross-cultural communication are examined & the approach taken by John J. Gumperz (eg, "International Sociolinguistics in the Study of Schooling" in Cook-Gumperz, Jenny [Ed], The Social Construction of Literacy, Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 1986) to this problem area is deemed inadequate. A job interview sequence contained in the film "Crosstalk," in which an educated Indian immigrant to England applies for a college library position, is analyzed to illustrate the types of communication breakdown that occur between participants from different cultures & their underlying causes. The need to address nonverbal social & mental dimensions of apparent misunderstandings & to extend accommodation & repair notions by recognizing the hearers' roles in exchanges are stressed.