Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 12

P-time.People from cultures on P-time live their lives quite differently. P-time cultures, for example, deal with time holistically. They can interact with more than one person or do more than one thing at a time. This multidimensional approach to the moment explains why there is more interrupting in conversations carried on by people from Arabic, Asian, and Latin American cultures. Africans are another culture that takes great stock in the activity that is occurring at the moment and emphasize people more than schedules. Time for Africans is defined by events rather than the clock or calendar. For P-time cultures, time is less tangible; hence, feelings of wasted time are not as prevalent as in M-time cultures. This leads, of course, to a lifestyle that is more spontaneous and unstructured — characteristics that often confuse and frustrate Americans and other Westerners.

Within the United States, there are co-cultures that use time differently from the dominant culture. Most Native American Indian languages do not even have a word for second, minute, or hour. Mexican Americans frequently speak of "Latino time" when their timing varies from that of the dominant culture. The Polynesian culture of Hawaii has "Hawaiian time," a concept of time that is very relaxed and reflects the informal lifestyle of the Native Hawaiian people. And among Samoans, there is a time perspective referred to as "coconut time," which is derived from the notion that it is not necessary to pick coconuts because they will fall when the time is right. African Americans often use what is referred to as "BPT" (Black People's Time) or "hang-loose time." This concept, which has its roots in the P-time cultures of Africa, maintains that priority belongs to what is happening at that instant. Statements such as "Hey, man, what's happenin'?" reflect the importance of the here and now.

Silence. An African proverb states, "Silence is also speech." We contend that silence sends us nonverbal cues concerning the communication situations in which we participate. Observe the poignant use of silence when the classical composer strategically places intervals of orchestration so that the ensuing silence marks a contrast in expression. Silence can indeed be a powerful message.

Silence cues affect interpersonal communication by providing an interval in an ongoing interaction during which the participants have time to think, check or suppress an emotion, encode a lengthy response, or inaugurate another line of thought. Silence also helps provide feedback, informing both sender and receiver about the clarity of an idea or its significance in the overall interpersonal exchange. Silence cues may be interpreted as evidence of agreement, lack of interest, injured feelings, or contempt. Silence cues go beyond the verbal channel, often revealing what speech conceals. The intercultural implications of silence are as diverse as those of other nonverbal cues, as Crystal (1997: 174) helps to illustrate:

Cross-cultural differences are common over when to talk and when to remain silent, or what a particular instance of silence means. In response to the question "Will you marry me?", silence in English would be interpreted as uncertainty; in Japanese it would be interpreted as acceptance. In Igbo, it would be considered a denial if the woman were to continue to stand there, and an acceptance if she ran away.

In the Eastern tradition, the view of silence is much different from the Western view. Easterners do not feel uncomfortable with the absence of noise or talk and are not compelled to fill every pause when they are around other people. In fact, there is often a belief among many Eastern traditions that words can spoil an experience and that inner peace and wisdom come only through silence. Buddhism teaches that "what is real is, and when it is spoken it becomes unreal." Many Japanese proverbs also underscore the value of silence over words: "It is the duck that squawks that gets shot," "Out of the mouth comes all evil," "A flower does not speak," and "The mouth is to eat with not to speak with." Compare these perceptions of silence with the American saying "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." You can easily imagine how the use of silence might create communication problems when people representing these two divergent styles come together. For example, the Japanese use silence to consider the Americans offer, whereas Americans interpret the silence as rejection."