Re: my grammar

From:    Rodlox R <rodlox@...>
> but from what I've heard, most people appreciate it when someone (at least
> initially) speaks to them in their (the former, not the latter)'s own
> language, rather than their (the latter, not the former)'s own language.
I think this varies from culture to culture.  There's a well-known
anthropological distinction between positive face (associative
politeness) and negative "face" (impositional politeness).
It is my understanding that although all cultures seek to optimize
both kinds of face, when there is a conflict some cultures maximize
one kind over the other. In America, the tendency seems to be to
consider telling people what language to speak very rude -- at least,
that's my experience; I associate it with racists and antiimmigrant
opinions.  In my experience, continental Europeans tend to take the
opposite stance, that making no effort to speak the others' language
is very rude.  Thus, Americans would seem more to seek to preserve
negative face, while Europeans more positive face, with respect to
this issue at least (the opposite is the case with respect to other
cultural phenomena).

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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