“Dialogue” in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Japanese, Korean, and Russian Discourses

Abstract

Dialogue has become a key, cultural term in global English. Pleas for its use and enactment are prominent in many spheres of international activity. Following earlier works, this article explores terms (or characters) and practices which relate to dialogue in three cultural discourses: Japanese, Korean, and Russian. Revealed for each are the distinctive goals being targeted, implicit moral rules for conduct, as well as the proper tone, mode, and interactional structure at play. The distinctive features in each discourse of dialogue are discussed, as well as common features. Cross-cultural knowledge of this kind can clarify and address vexing problems such as the cultural balancing of information and truth with relational concerns.

Keywords:

• Ethnography of Communication
• Cultural Discourse Analysis
• Dialogue Studies

Acknowledgements

The authors thank David Boromisa-Habashi, Xinmei Ge, Clifford Goddard, Tamar Katriel, Igor Klyukanov, Gerry Philipsen, Saila Poutiainen, and Anna Wierzbicka for sustained discussions related to this paper. Donal Carbaugh thanks Jon Nussbaum for supporting a conference plenary session at the 2005 International Communication Association meetings on Dialogue, and Francois Cooren for organizing and inviting him to the International Communication Association's preconference in 2005 on Dialogue. Earlier parts of this research were presented by Carbaugh as keynotes at the 2005 Nordic Intercultural Communication conference on Intercultural Dialogue in Finland, at the National Communication Association's conference on Intercultural Dialogue in Turkey (virtually), and at the 2010 Shanghai Normal University's biennial conference on Intercultural Communication in China. Carbaugh thanks, respectively, Nancy Aalto, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Jaakko Lehtonen, Irja Pietila, Liisa Salo-Lee, and Xiadong Dai for these opportunities to engage in Intercultural Dialogue.

Notes

1. Transcript from the television program, Nippon Housou Kyoukai (‘‘Haato wo tunagou,’’ 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Donal Carbaugh

Donal Carbaugh is Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Elena V. Nuciforo

Elena V. Nuciforo is a Doctoral Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Makoto Saito

Makoto Saito is Assistant Professor at Westfield State University, Massachusetts, USA

Dong-shin Shin

Dong-shin Shin is Assistant Professor at State University of New York, Brockport, USA