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of specific discourse components used, English speakers used discourse
markers oriented towards topic negotiation ('well') and topic change
('anyway', 'still'), whilst German speakers used markers to either support
their own positions ('und' [and]), or express agreement (genau'; 'ja ja'
['correct'; 'yeah yeah]) or contradiction (ja aber, 'doch' ['yes but'; marker to
express contradiction]) with others' positions. The result of these
characteristics was two rather contrasting styles of 'in-group' conversation.
Similar to House, rather than condemning the Germans as overly
aggressive individuals with little interest in interpersonal relations and
interlocutor face concerns, and elevating the English to sensitive and
harmonious practitioners of equilibric conversation, Watts pointed to differing
social norms that directly inform such culturally specific verbal behaviour. A
key, essentially heuristic framework employed to account for these styles as
culturally specific variations on a universal theme was what Watts termed'politic
work'. Each contrastive style was part and parcel of such 'politic work', that is:
... socio-culturally determined behaviour directed towards the goal of
establishing and/or maintaining in a state of equilibrium the personal
relationships between the individuals of a social group... during the ongoing
process of interaction. (ibid., 135)6.
Compared to the English style of politic work, and read from an Anglo-
centric position, the conversational behaviour favoured by the German
conversationalists might prima facie appear to run the risk of endangering the
fabric of interpersonal relations, of threatening or disturbing equilibrium.
However, echoing Houses earlier claims as to differing communicative norms,
Watts noted that such politic work by definition functioned equally to achieve
and maintain - indeed was integral to - the harmony between participants in
each cultural milieu. Both styles of conversational behaviour, although prima
facie contradictory, could be seen to perform then the same function, namely
maintaining interpersonal equilibrium and strengthening closed group bonds,
whilst allowing for the normative development of essentially sociable
conversation.
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