Reflections on Written Discourse

I found today's class rather engaging and enriching for several reasons. The main learning point of our session today was on the various discourse types with genetic language types; i.e the dominant and unique trends in the rhetoric of various language and cultural groups.

The pictorial figures introduced by Kaplan to describe the writing styles of people in different language and cultural groups were interesting and relatively close to reality. We learnt that English rhetoric follows a linear style of writing with an introduction, topic sentence, supporting sentences and conclusion. Semitic rhetoric adopt a parallel writing style which tend to appear simplistic due to an overwhelming use of coordinating words like and, so, etc. Next, in the Oriental rhetoric, it follows a circular writing pattern which starts at the peripherals; with a tendency to 'beat around the bush', before arriving at the main point towards the end of the passage. Following this, Romance rhetoric such as that of German writers adopts a digressive approach in that the writer starts and ends with the main point but tends to digress in the middle of the essay. Finally, in Russian rhetoric, it tends to be more digressive in nature and often, the reader would find it difficult to see the direction in which the writer is digressing to.

To get a better idea of the above types of discourses dominant in the various language and cultural groups, we broke into groups to discuss an activity in which we analyzed the unique styles and characteristics of writing styles common in Arabic, Chinese, Indian and Australian writers.

I felt that it was a great way to learn about the unique styles of writing of other cultures and language groups. For instance, I learnt that in Arabic writers' use of prepositions are usually direct translations from conversations in Arabic. They also have very structure/ordered sentence structure and are itemized and repetitive in nature. In our discussion of Oriental writing, it was interesting to see how the reader needs a background so as to understand the meanings of culturally loaded words such as 'gentleman of flowers', 'hermit of flowers' etc, used by the Chinese writers. In addition, Chinese writers tend to carry hidden meanings or messages which critic the society within their essay. This can be seen through the use of several imagery and analogies to bring their point across. This could probably because expressing such views directly may be too sensitive and they might even be prosecuted too. Hence, an indirect form of writing is adopted. Another interesting observation we gathered was from our discussion on letters written by Chinese and Australians. For example, in Oriental letter writing, reasons are usually placed before requests, as compared to letters written by Australians in where it is the exact opposite, i.e requests before reasons. It was interesting to see that the letter written by an Australian was short and sweet, direct and to the point compared to that of the Chinese writer where is is rather lengthy.

In conclusion, in light of all we have learnt about written discourse, I think it is crucial and important to be aware of the different writing styles of various language groups and cultures. This is because such an awareness will enable me to use the appropriate style of writing in the respective cultures which I come into contact with. For instance, adopting an Indian writing style when I am in India, a Chinese style when I am in China and so on. This would prevent any potential miscommunication which may arise due to the use of an inappropriate writing approach.

Reflections on Spoken Discourse

After today's class, I managed to acquire a better understanding of the various culture-specific operations of speech events which involve the use of spoken discourse in the form of narratives, telephone openings, the use of listener responses in conversations etc. In addition, I have also learnt how to apply analytic strategies to the spoken discourses in my own culture.

I feel that in our Singapore context, the use of 'Singlish' enables both speaker and recipient the unique way to simplify or shorten their sentences. This is because 'singlish' is part and parcel, an integral part of their everyday conversations. Hence an interesting observation can be seen in Singaporean phone conversations in that openings and closings are done in a straightforward and direct way.

We also discussed about American phone openings. It is interesting that when calls are made, the person who answers the phone will usually be the one who will say 'hello' first, before the caller. In this sense, the 'ringtone' functions like a 'pat on the shoulder'; and the caller thus expects the other party to say 'hello'.

Next, in the subject of narratives, I learnt that even though similar stories may be told in English and Chinese contexts, these narratives are very different in their purpose or function. For instance, English narratives serve an entertainment purpose; as compared to Chinese narratives which have a moral/education purpose, to teach favourable character values/behaviors etc.

I also learnt that the extent of listener responses differs across cultures. For instance listening responses are frequently used in the conversations amongst people in Japan. The Japanese might even tend to emphasize, take note or comment on each other's listening responses.

Finally, on a lighter note, the session ended with an enjoyable and interesting activity in which we broke into groups to create and form our own narratives based on a series of pictures. It was indeed a creative and fun way to apply what we have learnt during the class.

Reflections of Speech Events

In my view, I think speech events encompass the macro aspects of communication systems, as compared to speech acts which encompass the micro aspects of communication systems. This is mainly because speech events consist of a series of speech acts. However, there exists a significant difference between the two in that speech events are governed by rules for the use of speech. In addition, there is relatively more analysis required for speech events because there are several components, details and description to be considered as compared to speech acts. These include the genre, topic, purpose, setting, key, participants, message form, act sequence, rules for interaction and norms for interpretation. I think it is interesting that changing some of the above components can sometimes change the entire speech event; i.e when the purpose of the event is changed in the case of a professor changing his teaching approach from a lecture style to that of a tutorial discussion.

Finally, I think the activity/discussion which we had towards the end of the session aided my understanding as well as application of what I have learnt about speech events. We had an enriching and insightful discussion of common speech events in everyday life such as informal conversations over lunch etc; and breaking it down into its various components for a closer analysis. I personally feel that it would be great if we could have more time allocated for such group discussions during the future sessions as it would be very beneficial for our learning. :)