Cross Cultural Communication Vocab For Final

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marginalization

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a type of cultural adaptation in which an individual expresses little interest in maintaining cultural ties with either the dominant culture or the migrant culture

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migrant

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an individual who leaves the primary cultural context in which he or she was raised and moves to a new cultural context for an extended time

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multicultural identity

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a sense of in-betweenness that develops as a result of frequent or multiple cultural border crossings

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predictive uncertainty

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a sense of uncertainty that stems from the inability to predict what someone will say or do

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segregation

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the policy or practice of compelling groups to live apart from each other

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separation

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a type of cultural adaptation in which an individual retains his or her original culture while interacting minimally with other groups. separation may be initiated and enforced by the dominant society, in which case it becomes segregation

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sojourners

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people who move into new cultural contexts for a limited period of time and for a specific purpose, such as for study or business

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U-curve theory

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a theory of cultural adaptation positing that migrants go through fairly predictable phases - excitement/anticipation, shock/disorientation, adjustment - in adapting to a new cultural situation.

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uncertainty reduction

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the process of lessening uncertainty in adapting to a new culture by seeking information

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W-curve theory

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a theory of cultural adaptation that suggests that sojourners experience another U curve upon returning home

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cultural imperialism

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domination through the spread of cultural products

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cultural texts

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popular culture messages whether televsions shows, movies, advertisements, or other widely disseminated messages

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decoding

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the process of interpreting a message

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encoding

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the process of creating a message for others to understand

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folk culture

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traditional and nonmainstream cultural activities that are not financially driven

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cognitive consistency

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having a logical connection between existing knowledge and a new stimulus

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compromise style

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a style of interaction for an intercultural couple in which both partners give up some part of their own cultural habits and beliefs to minimize cross-cultural differences.

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consensus style

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a style of interaction for an intercultural couple in which partners deal with cross-cultural differences by negotiating their relationship

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obliteration style

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a style of interaction for an intercultural couple in which both partners attempt to erase their individual cultures in dealing with cultural differences

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quanxi

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a chinese term for relational network

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relational learning

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learning that comes from a particular relationship but generalizes to other contexts

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self-disclosure

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revealing information about oneself

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similarity principle

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a principle of relational attraction suggesting that individuals tend to be attracted to people they perceive to be similar to themselves

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submission style

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a style of interaction for an intercultural couple in which one partner yields to the other partner's cultural patterns, abandoning or denying his or her own culture

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avioding style

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a conflict management strategy characterized in US cultural contexts by a low concern for the self and others. In some other cultural contexts, however, this strategy may be seen as tactical in maintaining harmonious relationships

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confrontation

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direct resistance, often to the dominant forces

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dominating style

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a conflict management strategy whereby an individual achieves his or her goal at the expense of others' needs

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facework

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communication strategies used to "save" our own or someone else's "face," or public image

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integrating style

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a conflict management strategy characterized by the open and direct exchange of information in an attempt to reach a solution acceptable to both parties

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international conflicts

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conflicts between two or more nations

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mediation

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the act of resolving conflict by having someone intervene between two parties

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obliging style

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a conflict management strategy characterized by playing down differences and incompatibilities while emphasizing commonalities

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empathy

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the capacity to "walk in another persons shoes"

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intercultural alliances

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bonds between individuals or groups across cultures characterized by a shared recognition of power and the impact of history and by an orientation of affirmation

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nonjudgmentalism

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free from evaluating according to one's own cultural frame of reference

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transpection

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cross cultural empathy

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dialogical approach

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focuses on the importance of dialogue in developing and maintaining relationships between individuals and communities

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discourse

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the ways in which language is actually used by particular communities of people, in particular contexts, for particular purposes

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enclaves

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(1) the territories that are surrounded by another country's territory; (2) cultural minority groups that live within a larger cultural group's territory

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honorific

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a term or expression that shows respect

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maquiladoras

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assembly plants or factories established on the US-Mexican border and using mainly Mexican labor

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interlanguage

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a kind of communication that emerges when speakers of one language are speaking in another language. The native language's semantics, syntactics, pragmatics, phonetics, and language styles often overlap and create a third way of communicating

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multiphrenia

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the splitting of the individual psychologically into multiple selves

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low-context communication

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a style of communication in which much of the information is conveyed in words rather than in nonverbal cues and contexts

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collectivistic

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the tendency to focus on the goals, needs, and views of the ingroup rather than individuals' own goals, needs, and views

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communication accommodation theory

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the view that individuals adjust their verbal communication to facilitate understanding

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conversational constraints theory

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the view that cultural groups vary in their fundamental concerns regarding how conversational messages should be constructed

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metamessage

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the meaning of a message that tells others how they should respond to the content of our communication based on our relationship to them

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nominalist position

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the view that perception is not shaped by the particular language one speaks

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pragmatics

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the study of how meaning is constructed in relation to receivers and how language is actually used in particular contexts in language communities

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critical approach

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a metatheoretical approach that includes many assumptions of the interpretive approach but that focuses more on macro-contexts, such as the political and social structures that influence communication

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semantics

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the study of words and meanings

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dialectical approach

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an approach to intercultural communication that integrates three approaches - functionalist (social science), interpretive, and critical - in understanding culture and communication. It recognizes and accepts that the three approaches are interconnected and sometimes contradictory

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signified

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in semiotics, anything that is expressed in arbitrary words, or signifiers

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emic

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a term stemming from phonemic. The emic way of inquiry focuses on understanding communication patterns from inside a particular cultural community or context

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signifiers

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in semiotics, the culturally constructed arbitrary words or symbols that people use to refer to something else

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intercultural competence

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the ability to behave effectively and appriately in interacting across cultures

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chronemics

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the concept of time and the rules that govern its use

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interpretive approach

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an approach to intercultural communication that aims to understand and describe human behavior within specific cultural groups based on the assumptions that (1) human experience is subjective, (2) human behavior is creative rather than determined or easily predicted, and (3) culture is created and maintained through communication

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cultural space

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the particular configuration of the communication that constructs meanings of various places

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proxemics

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the study of how people use personal space

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monochronic

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an orientation to time that assumes it is linear and is a commodity that can be lost or gained

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rhetorical approach

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a research method, dating back to ancient Greece, in which scholars try to interpret the meanings or persuasion used in texts or oral discourses in the contexts in which they occur

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polychronic

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an orientation to time that sees it as circular and more holistic

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social science approach

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a study of intercultural commmunication, also called the social science approach, based on the assumptions that (1) there is a describable, external reality, (2) human behaviors are predictable, and (3) culture is a variable that can be measured. This approach aims to identify and explain cultural vairations in communication and to predict future communication

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postmodern cultural spaces

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places that are defined by cultural practices - languages spoken, identities enacted, rituals performed - and that often change as new people move in and out of these spaces

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textual analysis

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examination of cultural texts such as media - television, movies, journalistic essays, and so on

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regionalism

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loyalty to a particular region that holds significant cultural meaning for that person

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absent history

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any part of history that was not recorded or that is missing. Not everything that happened in the past is accessible to us today because only some voices were documented and only some perspectives were recorded

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relational messages

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messages that communicate how we feel about others

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apartheid

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a policy that segregated people racially in South Africa

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status

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the relative position an individual holds in social or organizational settings

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colonial histories

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the histories that legitimate international invasions and annexations

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hidden histories

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the histories that are hidden from or forgotten by the mainstream representations of past events

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contact hypothesis

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the notion that better communication between groups is facilitated simply by putting people together in the same place and allowing them to interact

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intellectual histories

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written histories that focus on the development of ideas

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diasporic histories

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the histories of the ways in which international cultural groups were created through transnational migrations, slavery, religious crusades, or other historical forces

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modernist identity

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the identity that is grounded in the western tradition of scientific and political beliefs and assumptions - for example, the belief in external reality, democratic representation, liberation, and independent subjects

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grand narrative

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a unified history and view of humankind

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ascription

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the process by which others attribute identities to an individual