Intelligibility, Comprehensibility, and Interpretability - Assignment Example

Exam Essay What does it mean by ‘interaction as cooperation’? Interaction means the capacity to a reciprocal influence or action between any two languages while cooperation refers to the process of working as a team or together to meet the same objective or end. As such, the phrase ‘interaction as cooperation’ could be used to refer to having two individuals who are culturally diverse to work together as a team and come up with a universally standardized, compromised or understandable means of communication or interaction. Define schemas and scripts. Provide your own examples (not from the readings or lecture notes). A schema is any previous experience or knowledge that we may have about something or someone, such that when we see a similar thing, you tend to relate it with the initial experience. As such, it is a cognitive model that aids in interpreting or properly organizing information within our environment. For instance, if an individual previously saw a police officer dressed in officer suits, including guns, huts, amongst others, then the next he or she spots an individual dressed in a similar suit then the schema would inform him or her that that is an officer. Contrarily, a script is an expected conduct of one’s role or a sequence of ordinary behaviours for a known situation, thus a default standard of actions or conduct for certain roles. If at one point an individual spots a police officer chasing and arresting an individual, then the next time a similar situation occurs then the script would inform the individual that any person who arrests individuals is a police officer, thus the assumption comes into play. How do cultural schemas and scripts influence/diversify/complicate international communication in English? When the theories of schema and scripts are applied into need to communicate internationally in English, then the relationship between the use English language, context and culture come into play. Learning how to communicate in English is not enough to pass a message or communicate meaning, but how the language is used in a particular context and culture may have a totally different meaning from what the native speakers of English meant for the same word. The theories of schema and scripts illustrate that there are frameworks or models within which a language can be used and an expected conduct or behaviour that is expected when a particular word is spoken. Thus, acquaintance of cultural frameworks and contexts of situation always make up a backdrop for English language use, both in the foreign and one’s indigenous or local language. This means that students using English for communication must always reflect on their own contexts of using the newly adopted English language in order to cope. Thus, learning to use English as an international language is not limited to language skills only, but majorly the capacity to communicate across varied cultures since English is more often than not used in situations where individuals from diverse countries and different cultural backgrounds have a meeting, therefore students must be prepared in advance for the cultural challenges that such circumstances always comprise. What are the parameters of politeness? How does each of the parameter influence/diversify/complicate international communication in English? Provide your own examples (not from the readings or lecture notes). This makes reference to cultural parameters of politeness. The concept of being polite is an issue of etiquette. In fact, it is about having respect, being sensitive or considerate to people’s values, feelings and culture. As such, it is imperative to note that English is a foreign language in some countries and its use in various situations really depends on what those individuals believe in. It is therefore advisable that when in a mixed cultural set up, an individual should observe others first before acting or uttering certain words. For instance, one needs to observe how individuals of a certain cultural background greet and address one another, or better yet get to know what kinds of topics they are discussing since different settings as defined by schema theory require diverse standards of customs or formality, and these specific standards many a time define what is polite or not. For instance, it is polite to present individuals in a formal situation than introduce them. As such, a younger or an individual who is less accomplished is presented to the older or much more accomplished personality. Such as, “Mr. Osama, may I present Mr. Colorado?” Explain the differences between intelligibility, comprehensibility, and interpretability. Why are intelligibility, comprehensibility, and interpretability claimed as ‘interactional activities’? Intelligibility refers to apprehensibility of a word by the mind or intellect only, while comprehensibility refers to the quality or capacity of a language or thought to be easily understood. Finally, interpretability is the quality of a language communication to be conceptualized or the conceptualization and construability of a particular communication. These words are claimed as interaction capabilities because interaction refers to a reciprocal action and any communication made to an individual in any language has to be interpretable, intelligible and comprehensible to whomever it is communicated to whenever an interaction between two languages takes place. This would enable a reciprocal action or giving of a positive feedback in effect to the language communicated. Do we need a ‘Standard English’ to communicate successfully – intelligibly, comprehensibly, and interpretability? It is indeed factual that we need a ‘Standard English’ to make successful communications. There is a current ongoing challenge in regard to making English an international language. Since globally there are various cultures that happen to interpret, comprehend and conceive various English words to mean different things in varied contexts and cultural definitions, it is imperative that a Standard English language is developed to enable uniformity or universality. In this way, confusions that arise in terms of using the same English word to mean different things in different situations and cultures would be solved. What are the factors causing the diversity of writing in English? The main factors that cause diversity of writing in English are culture, colonisation and contextual references. As a result, different dialects and languages find their way into international communication set ups. It is therefore necessary for communicators to affirm the various patterns and languages that come with cultural backgrounds to enable effective and successful communication in written English. Explain some features of writing that you would encounter in international communication contexts. Suggest why it might be different from the ones with which you are very familiar. Different individuals have different cultural backgrounds and as such, the written English differs between native and non-native speakers of English. Secondly, the written English adopted by students or a country depends on the English speaking nation that colonised them, and this is particularly important because colonisation and trade between different nations brought about the spread of English use in communication. For instance, countries that were colonised by Britons speak and write British English that is totally different from the written and spoken English that those nations that were colonised by the United States speak. To be more particular, the words ‘color’ and ‘colour’ illustrate both American and British English Systems respectively. Conclusively therefore, cultural background, context or circumstances and colonising nations determine what type of English a student or citizens of a nation write. In a similar manner, fields of employment or professionalism also bring about diversity in writing. Novelists, Engineers, Artists, IT specialists and Writers may use the same word to mean different things. This too can be categorised under situations or circumstances of communication, and a word such as Scripts may mean something else from what technical teams in computers may use it for. What are the arguments for and against Globish as a newly emerged model of communication in English? Globish is a simplified form of Anglo-American English language that is often used as a global mixture of languages or language used as a way of communication between individuals with different native languages or lingua franca. As such, English is taught, learnt and used in a common way that speakers of various native languages can comprehend. Proponents of Globish language use argue that the vital reason behind their support for adopting Globish as an international language is that it is difficult to learn English language. Since learning English is so difficult according to them, and it takes too long to gain proficiency in it, coming up with a simple form of English, with words that are limited such as Globish would enable each and every individual in the world to overcome similar challenges. Moreover, these proponents have a feeling that proficiency in English use is well limited to its native speakers and as such prefer using Globish, which they find comfort in having Americans learn at least a foreign language. Contrarily, opponents of the idea of using Globish internationally argue that English is the only tolerable or up to standard means of communication internationally. As such, most international companies such as those located in UAE restrict their official correspondence to English, while at the same time employing individuals from varied cultures. Further, they state that individuals devoted to learning English never and will never meet challenges as evident in various non-native English speaking nations in the world. In fact various business personnel and work mates globally have already adopted the trend. In addition, these opponents of using Globish indicate that it has only 1500 basic words as opposed to English’s 613, 000 words as in the Oxford English Dictionary, thus lacks the proper structure and ruled of grammar, which English has, and should not be used. Do you believe Globish is the best model for international communication? Why or why not? In my own opinion, I think English is already well established, has the proper structure and grammar that can be used to regulate its use and adopting a new language would pose the same challenges as using English because people would still have to learn its rules. Similarly, Globish still has limited vocabularies unlike English which has an advantageously large number of vocabularies that eases its use in an international context. These numerous positive dints, aforementioned, associated with English make me favour English as a universal means of communication. In fact, creating a new language, developing it to meet international standards, and creating proficiency in it would take several years, which would amount to time wastage and tricky as compared to advancing English use. Read More