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Taking these problematics as a starting point - one empirical, the
other analytical - this study shall nevertheless attempt, in the first instance,
to address facework as basis for differences in English and German
communicative style. In doing so, I shall necessarily consider the nature of
face and facework, and how these might best be conceptualised in the
cross-cultural analysis of communicative style, in particular, as part and
parcel of what I shall refer to as sociable conversation.
On a Personal Note: Background to the Study
This research project has as much to do with personal experience,
as it has to do with a specific 'research problem'. It does not - at least in
the empirical sense - refer to a set of issues which were 'new' to me at the
outset of the work which I would eventually submit in partial fulfilment of
my doctoral studies. Rather, this study points to a set of issues with which
I was already quite familiar before I embarked on the surveying of relevant
literature and data gathering.
In spring 1992 1 paid my first visit to Germany with my wife to be,
Elke. I had the usual Anglo-centric preconceptions about'the Germans';
loud, brash, and perhaps potentially aggressive towards me as an
'Englishman' (based in 'the War schema that so many of we English carry
as Anglo-centric baggage when travelling in Europe). These perceptions
seemed confirmed very soon after first attending German 'sociable
gatherings' and upon attempting to make 'sociable' contributions to
conversation. For instance, my attempts to inject humour were often not
taken as 'funny' at all and often picked up as matters for more serious
comment, leaving me with the feeling that I hadn't (or shouldn't) have
joked about such matters in the first place. 'Throwaway' comments were
also something that I quickly learnt to avoid, as what was conversationally
thrown away by myself was often quickly picked up by some other
participant in the talk and subsequently given back to me to be further
developed. It wasn't long though before I noticed it was not ME that was
being patronised or discriminated against, in fact quite the opposite, I
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