Download (23MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository

and English differences in conversational style in general (e. g. Byrnes 1986,
Straehle 1997, Watts 1989).
What the findings presented above have also pointed to is the positive
social values (Goffman 1967) which were earlier argued to guide participants in
each culture (Byrnes 1986, Friday 1994, Straehle 1997, Watts 1989) in their
conversational behaviour, and ones which were linked to images of selfhood.
(see Chapter 3). It is these images of selfhood - what I have already referred to
as sociable selves - and their role in both positive and negative alignment
which I want to move on to explore more closely in the following chapter.
6.7 Conclusion
In this chapter I have provided evidence of how the model of equilibrium
suggested in Chapter 3 might be evidenced to be conversationally played out in
English and German vernacular cultures. I have included conversational
excerpts from my particular gatherings primarily as illustrative data to furnish the
application of the heuristic model of conversational facework. These data
illustrate the operation of positive and negative dynamics in both conversational
milieus in terms of their co-present occurrence, ratification and non-ratification,
and the potential for disequilibrium by conversational moves which may breach
either positive or negative thresholds of sociability. Alongside the application of
these concepts, I have sought to weave into the discussion a comparative
dimension, by highlighting cultural differences between German and English
sociability. Comparatively, a picture of the English and German sociability
should be coming more clearly into focus, and for those already acquainted,
begin to reinforce and be validated by what they will have experienced
themselves of facework in each culture.
1 R7