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Consolidating this array <strong>of</strong> findings, House (1996; 1998a, b; in press),<br />

has identified five dimensions, along which German and English speakers<br />

'habitually display different preferences in terms <strong>of</strong> communicative choice'<br />

(House 1996x, 345) (see table 2.1).<br />

Table 2.1. Parameters <strong>of</strong> German - English Communicative<br />

Differences<br />

Directness<br />

Orientation<br />

towards Self<br />

Indirectness<br />

Orientation<br />

towards Other<br />

Orientation Orientation<br />

towards Content<br />

Towards<br />

Addressees<br />

Explicitness Implicitness<br />

Ad-Hoc Formulation Verbal Routines<br />

Source: House (in press)<br />

Findings from the analysis <strong>of</strong> a range <strong>of</strong> discourse phenomena and<br />

textual materials provides not only evidence for differences in the realisation <strong>of</strong><br />

specific speech acts, but clearly points to more fundamental differences in<br />

social norms informing how discourse, fellow interlocutors, and one's self as<br />

speaker are normatively oriented to in verbal interaction in the two speech<br />

communities. I shall discuss these issues further below.<br />

Although approaching discourse from a different disciplinary and<br />

analytical standpoint, Watts (1989) corroborated much <strong>of</strong> what has been<br />

observed by House and colleagues. Based on a comparative analysis <strong>of</strong> two<br />

conversations between English and Swiss-German family members in their<br />

respective cultural settings, Watts identified salient differences which further<br />

suggested fundamental social norms guiding speakers' orientations to<br />

verbal intercourse and conventional understandings <strong>of</strong> facework practices.<br />

59

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