Evaluations Related to Finger Pointing in a Request: a Multi-method Pragmatic Analysis of an Intercultural Encounter

What is it about?

In everyday interactional encounters, rarely are politeness or other relational characteristics explicitly mentioned by interactants. Given this rarity, one salient feature—French interactants commenting on finger pointing by a Finnish interactant—merited closer analysis._x000D_ _x000D_ In addition to the analysis of the actual interaction, Finnish and French informants replied to a questionnaire, and a post-interaction follow-up interview was conducted with the Finn. _x000D_ _x000D_ French informants expressed more tolerance towards different behaviour from a foreigner, deviating from French norms when compared with French participants during the actual interaction. This suggests that, during regular interactions among close friends, a foreigner may be expected to learn the norms of the target culture. _x000D_ _x000D_ However, due to insufficient language skills, the non-native speaker did not fully understand the “problem” with her behaviour. Additionally, evaluations from Finnish and French informants indicate a cross-cultural difference: specifically, French informants evaluated finger pointing more negatively than Finnish informants. _x000D_ _x000D_ Although the Finnish interactant emphasised the need for adapting to the norms of the target culture, she questioned the right of the native speaker to interfere with the behaviour of a foreigner. _x000D_ _x000D_ Evaluations of behaviour are closely linked to the identity of the person. Due to insufficient intercultural skills, the members of the target culture may not be aware of such evaluations. _x000D_

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