Module 3: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Varieties and Registers of Spoken and Written Language

Course Objectives:

1. Determine culturally appropriate terms, expressions, and images (sensitivity to gender,

race, class, etc.)
2. Adopt cultural and intercultural awareness and sensitivity in communication of ideas

Overview:

This module talks about intercultural communication as well as the varieties. It talks
about the forms of intercultural communication, improving intercultural competence,
varieties of language, characteristics of spoken and written language, forms or types of spoken
language, types of words, ways on how to choose appropriate language, political correctness,
and culturally (in) appropriate images.

Living in a globalized world, you encounter people with diverse cultural backgrounds.
Such interaction occurs in social, educational, political, and commercial settings. Such
interaction occurs in social, educational, political, and commercial settings. Hence, in today’s
era of increased global communication, it is imperative to understand intercultural
communication for us to enhance our intercultural awareness and competence. Intercultural
competence is essential for us to live harmoniously despite our difference in culture.

Course Materials:

What is Intercultural Communication?

Jandt (1998) introduced the intercultural and intracultural communication.

Intercultural Communication refers to interaction with people from diverse culture. On the
other hand, Intracultural Communication is the interaction between or among members of the
same racial or ethnic group or co-culture.

Forms of Intercultural Communication

• Interracial Communication
o It refers to the interaction of people belonging to different races.
 • Interethnic Communication
o It is the interaction among people of different ethnic origins.

• International Communication
o It is the interaction between representatives from different nation.

Improving Intercultural Competence

The following guidelines may help you enhance your ability to communicate
effectively across cultures (Gamble & Gamble, 2008).
1. Recognize the validity and differences of communication styles among people.
2. Learn to eliminate personal biases and prejudices.
3. Strive to acquire communication skills necessary in a multicultural world.

Varieties of Language

Lin (2016) presents the following nature of language variation as prescribed by most
linguistics based on the ideas of Mahboob (2014).

1. Language varieties when communicating with people within (local) and outs (global)
our community.
2. Language varies in speaking and in writing.
3. Language varies in everyday and specialized discourses.

Characteristics of Spoken Language

• The situation in which the spoken variety of language is used and in which it develops
presupposes the presence of an interlocutor.
• The spoken language is mostly maintained in the form of a dialogue
• The spoken language utilizes the human voice and all kinds of gestures which give
additional information.
• The spoken language is spontaneous but momentary. It vanishes after having fulfilled
its purposes, which is to communicate the thought, no matter how trivial or important.
• The spoken language cannot be detached from the user of it.
• The spoken language widely uses intensifying words. These interjections and words
with strong emotive meanings, as oaths, swear-words, and adjectives which have lost
their primary meaning.
• The spoken language is characterized by the insertion into the utterance of words
without any meaning, which are called “fill-ups” or empty words such as “well”, “and
all”, “so to say”, “whatever”, etc.
Varieties of Spoken Language

There are five types of spoken language. These are followed by situations that illustrate
each category.

• Interactional
o It is used for having social function. This makes use of informal type of speech
which aims to develop relationship between interlocutors

Example:
A: Hi! How are you today?
B. I’m good. You?
A: I’m okay.

• Referential
o It is providing the listener some information referring to objects or abstract
concepts. The speaker assumes that the listener has knowledge on the matter at
hand. In return, the listener has to know the context before they can understand
the references.

Example:
The mobile phone unit has been sent via door -to-door at 10 o’clock. Please notify
the office once you have received it.

• Expressive
o It is showing the speaker’s judgements or feelings about a person, event, or
situation.

Example:
It’s truly unbelievable! How could she do such a terrible thing.

• Transactional
o It is used for getting information or making a deal. It has a specific purpose and
is driven by needs and wants rather than sociability. Unlike interactional
language, transactional spoken language has its intention to achieve a give-and-
take relationship between the speaker and the listener. Here, a specific query is
a given specific answer.

Example:
A: May I know how much this parcel costs?
B: You can give me P100.00.
 • Phatic
o It means engaging in small, plain talk. The speaker and listener use minimal
amount of language to engage in the conversation. This spoken language variety
poses familiarity of topic and context between the speaker and the listener.

Example:
A: Coffee?
B: Yes, black.

Characteristics of Written Language

• The written variety presupposes the absence of an interlocutor.

• The written language is mostly maintained in the form of a monologue.
• The written language is more carefully organized and more explanatory. Most often,
the word choice is more deliberate.
• The written language is able to live forever with the idea it expresses.
• The written language can be detached and objectively looked at. The writer has an
opportunity to correct and improve what has been put on the paper.
• The written language bears a greater volume of responsibility than its spoke
counterpart.

Spoken and Written Language

Both varieties, however, may be different in terms of their phonetics, morphology,

lexicon, and syntax. Yet, most striking difference between the spoken and written language is
in the vocabulary used. There are words and phrases typically colloquial, on one hand, and
typically bookish, on the other hand. If colloquial words and phrases find their way in the
written language, they immediately produce a marked stylistic effect and can be used for the
speech characterization.

Types of Words

COLLOQUIAL NEUTRAL LITERARY

daddy father parent
get out go away retire
go on continue proceed
guys friends associates
Forms/Types of Spoken and Written Language

SPOKEN WRITTEN
Face-to-face Reports
Telephone conversation Memos
Virtual conferencing Emails
Group discussions Fax messages
Meetings Business correspondence
Speech Illustrations

Culturally Responsive, Engaging, and Appropriate Language

“Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling drug dealer an undocumented
pharmacist.” - Anon

The choice of words is a powerful strategy in communication. When Confucious said,

when words lose their meanings, people lose their freedom,” the control of language is an
essential tool for an engaging and responsive communication. Hence, cultural
appropriateness of language is conforming toa. Culture’s acceptable expressions and
standards of behavior and thoughts. This is referred to as “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.”

Ways on How to Choose Appropriate Language

• Notice and reflect on disrespectful language, thoughts, and actions.

• Respect people of different races.
• Use language that includes the LGBTQIA+ people.
• Avoid exclusionary, gender-specific language.
• Avoid using explicitly religious terms in mixed-religious company.
• Avoid expressions that devalue people with physical or mental disabilities.
• Refrain from language that groups people into one large category.

Political Correctness

Political correctness has an important purpose: it promotes equality by demonstrating

an understanding that all people and groups are valuable to society regardless of race, culture,
religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
 NON-POLITICALLY POLITICALLY CORRECT
CORRECT
Housewife Domestic Engineer
Global warming Climate change
Broken home Dysfunctional family
Slum area Economically deprived area
Wanted criminal Person of interest
Lazy Motivationally deficient
Dustman Sanitation engineer
Insane Reality challenged
Caretaker Site engineer
Stupid Intellectually impaired
Chairman Chairperson/Chair
Mother/father Parent
Husband/wife Partner
Immigrant Newcomer
Jungle Rain forest
Shoplifting Irregular shopping
Unemployed Economically inactive

Culturally Inappropriate Images

Cultural Appropriation of images is the adoption of the iconography of another

culture, and using it for purposes that are unintended by the original culture or even offensive
to that culture’s mores. This poses deeper concerns and issues of communication in which the
origin of that particular culture gets offended.

How well can you detect culturally inappropriate images and illustrations? Take a close
look at the images below.

What are your observations on the images presented above?

Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural Sensitivity is an attitude and a way of behaving in which you are aware of and
acknowledge cultural differences. This is crucial for effective interpersonal communication
(Franklin & Mizell, 1995). If you can tell how the above pictures pose insensitivity to those
who made them, then you are sensitive enough.

Enrichment:

Did you know?

“Politically correct” is not about being right; it is more of being respectful and
considerate. Being politically correct means that you avoid expressions and actions
that may exclude, marginalize, or offend a particular group of people. The term first
became popular during the 1970s and 1980s.

Assessment:

Create a short dialogue considering ethical standards and political correctness in the
following intercultural communication scenarios:

1. A tourist, who is Korean, asks you for the directions going to Cagsawa Ruins.
2. It is your first day of class and you noticed one of your classmates, who is a Muslim,
sitting silently on his/her chair while the others are getting to know each other.
3. Supposed you are a hiring manager in a company and a member of LGBT community
applied for a position in a job.

Save your work in PDF format then upload it on the posted classwork in google
classroom.

References:

Agustin, Racquel, et. al. Communication in Multicultural Contexts: Meanings and Purposes.
Panday-Lahi Publishing House, Inc. 2018

Wakat, Geraldine S. et. al., Purposive Communication. Lorimar Publishing, Inc. 2018