Speech acts, as Dr Deng has discussed with us, is essentially the use of language to perform a particular act. Some examples of everyday speech acts include compliments, criticism, apologies, invitatons or promises. Culture and tradition greatly determine how a speech act is performed. As a result, a particular speech act varies across different language communities. Under a highly cosmopolitan setting in Singapore, it is important to understand, accept and perhaps, appreciate speech acts of different language groups.
We further analysed the cross cultural variation of compliment responses among American English speakers and Chinese speakers. When an average American speaker receives a compliment, he accepts, returns, deflects or rejects it. Statistics show that a big majority of American English speakers gladly accepts the compliment and usually returns a compliment. (i.e. Thank you, you look great too.) On the other hand, while the average Chinese speaker occasionally accepts the compliment, a big majority of them would reject it or thank and denigrate (i.e. Thank you, but I don't think I look that great) The statistics Dr Deng share with us clearly reflect on the differences in social values of the 2 language groups. While the American English speaker was brought up to regard himself positively, the Chinese speaker was inculcated with virtues of humility and modesty. Personally, it is amazing to see how 2 language groups can react so differently to an everyday speech act.
For the Singaporean society, our cultures are a hybrid mix of both Chinese and Western cultures and therefore our compliment responses are a combination of returning as well as thanking and denigrating. If there is one that comes close to highlighting the Singaporean culture, it would perhaps be joking it off. (i.e. Thanks man, I got this jacket from sale one la) That is of course, if the Singaporean ever makes an effort to compliment.
We further analysed the cross cultural variation of compliment responses among American English speakers and Chinese speakers. When an average American speaker receives a compliment, he accepts, returns, deflects or rejects it. Statistics show that a big majority of American English speakers gladly accepts the compliment and usually returns a compliment. (i.e. Thank you, you look great too.) On the other hand, while the average Chinese speaker occasionally accepts the compliment, a big majority of them would reject it or thank and denigrate (i.e. Thank you, but I don't think I look that great) The statistics Dr Deng share with us clearly reflect on the differences in social values of the 2 language groups. While the American English speaker was brought up to regard himself positively, the Chinese speaker was inculcated with virtues of humility and modesty. Personally, it is amazing to see how 2 language groups can react so differently to an everyday speech act.
For the Singaporean society, our cultures are a hybrid mix of both Chinese and Western cultures and therefore our compliment responses are a combination of returning as well as thanking and denigrating. If there is one that comes close to highlighting the Singaporean culture, it would perhaps be joking it off. (i.e. Thanks man, I got this jacket from sale one la) That is of course, if the Singaporean ever makes an effort to compliment.
That one instance of Singaporean compliment response may be counted as an acceptance as it consists of two acts: thanking and explaining. But agree with you that complimenting may be even more demanding than responding to it in the local context.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting anecdote on cultural differences between the Americans and Singaporeans :) Perhaps one more way of understanding the situation is in knowing that Western (or more specifically American) cultures typically value egalitarianism, whereas the recognition of hierarchy in relationships is important for Asian societies. This would help explain why in the former, there is preference for relating to one another on a more personal, informal basis, whereas in an Asian organisation (or society in general), there is preference for deference when relating with one another.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to understand these differences in order to forge effective working partnerships, especially in the context of increased cross-cultural interaction via globalization.