scholarly journals Criticism and politeness strategies in academic review discourse: a contrastive (English-Italian) corpus-based analysis

Kalbotyra ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (70) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana Diani
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Review Articles ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Academic Review

Drawing on a corpus-based approach, this paper explores the mitigation strategies used to soften criticism in English and Italian book review articles in the disciplinary field of linguistics. Most corpus-based analyses on academic criticism have focused on the use and function of politeness strategies in English academic review genres, mainly book reviews. Recently, an increasing number of studies on academic book reviews have examined the issue from a cross-cultural perspective. This study attempts to contribute to the area of cross-cultural research on reviewing practices by exploring how criticisms are managed in a somewhat neglected review genre in academic discourse studies – the book review article. Criticisms will be identified on the basis of their lexico-grammatical features and further categorized into “direct” and “mitigated” (Itakura & Tsui 2011, 1369). The mitigation strategies identified in both language corpora mainly involve the use of sequences of speech acts such as praise-criticism, criticism-praise, criticism-suggestion, praise-suggestion, and hedging. However, their distributions reveal differences in the two languages. While praise is prominently used in both English and Italian book review articles, Italian-speaking linguistics reviewers employ a lower proportion of hedges than their English-speaking colleagues and are more likely to opt for suggestions as a form of indirect criticism. The results demonstrate that linguistics reviewers writing in English and Italian deploy a considerable range of linguistic devices when expressing mitigated criticism of peers. Their use and distribution are discussed in relation to national/cultural writing conventions, but also differences between “large” and “small” disciplinary cultures (Holliday 1999). Some implications for EAP learners and practitioners are also considered.

scholarly journals CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION: CREATIVITY AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES ACROSS CULTURES. A COMPARISON OF LITHUANIAN AND AMERICAN CULTURES

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-178
Author(s):  
Viktorija Jakučionytė
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
American English ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Private And Public

The purpose of this study was to identify creative reactions and politeness schemes in two languages in cross-cultural communication – American English and Lithuanian – and then compare the means of expressing politeness strategies and creative reactions in the two mentioned languages. The method used in the study is a survey, evaluated by both qualitative and quantitative methods. The research illustrated that the two mentioned cultures do indeed express creative reactions as well as use the speech acts of gratitude and apology. It also showed that American female and American male groups tend to choose more polite and creative reactions, while Lithuanian female and Lithuanian male groups tend to use less polite and creative reactions more often. Americans (both genders) do not imply the feeling of gratitude or apology, they say it directly. The Lithuanians (both genders) expressed gratitude or apology in everyday situations not as often and not as directly. In other words, the Lithuanian culture tends to use positive politeness; and vice versa, the American culture tends to use negative politeness. Besides that, the research revealed that gender plays a significant role in the answers of the survey respondents. The female Americans and female Lithuanians seem to be more polite and express more creative reactions than their male counterparts. It was also revealed that the respondents of American nationality express gratitude or apology in a more polite and creative way and use more speech acts of gratitude or apology in both private and public spheres than the group of Lithuanian respondents.

scholarly journals Mobile Sensing Around the Globe: Considerations for Cross-Cultural Research

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Vy Phan ◽  
Nick Modersitzki ◽  
Kim Karen Gloystein ◽  
Sandrine Müller
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Mobile Sensing ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Research Findings

The ubiquity of mobile devices allows researchers to assess people’s real-life behaviors objectively, unobtrusively, and with high temporal resolution. As a result, psychological mobile sensing research has grown rapidly. However, only very few cross-cultural mobile sensing studies have been conducted to date. In addition, existing multi-country studies often fail to acknowledge or examine possible cross-cultural differences. In this chapter, we illustrate biases that can occur when conducting cross-cultural mobile sensing studies. Such biases can relate to measurement, construct, sample, device type, user practices, and environmental factors. We also propose mitigation strategies to minimize these biases, such as the use of informants with expertise in local culture, the development of cross-culturally comparable instruments, the use of culture-specific recruiting strategies and incentives, and rigorous reporting standards regarding the generalizability of research findings. We hope to inspire rigorous comparative research to establish and refine mobile sensing methodologies for cross-cultural psychology.

Book review: Bidyut Mohanty and Victor Fassel (Eds.), Our Money, Our Lives: Microcredit and Women’s Empowerment in Cross Cultural Perspective

Social Change ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-372
Author(s):  
M. Vanamala
Keyword(s):  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Cultural Perspective

Bidyut Mohanty and Victor Fassel (Eds.), Our Money, Our Lives: Microcredit and Women’s Empowerment in Cross Cultural Perspective. New Delhi: Aakar Books, 2018, 280 pp., ₹795.00, ISBN 978-93-5002-555-0 (Hardcover).

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