crosstalk

[Anthea Fraser Gupta]

Aurolyn mentioned Gumperz's 'Crosstalk': some people may not know what
this was. It was a pioneering programme made in 1979 that argued that
cross-cultural misunderstandings could result when intonation patterns
and cultural norms differed. The situations were transactions (bank
customer / clerk; job applicant / appointing committee): it was applied
research intended to be useful to employers.

You can see a clip at:

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Anthro/gumperz/gumptalk.html

There is also a book:

Crosstalk. Background Materials and Notes to Accompany the B.B.C. film
(with T.C. Jupp and Celia Roberts). London: National Centre for
Industrial Language Training.

It was controversial at the time, and gave rise to a great deal of
discussion, rebuttal, argument, and response of all sorts heated and
temperate.

Anthea

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Anthea Fraser Gupta (Dr)
School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT
<www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg>
NB: Reply to a.f.gupta at leeds.ac.uk
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