Multimodal (im)politeness: the verbal, prosodic and non-verbal realization of disagreement in German and New Zealand English

Abstract

The present study takes a multimodal approach to speech act analysis. It investigates the disagreeing behaviour of Germans and New Zealanders exhibited during televised panel discussions on a verbal, prosodic, and non-verbal level. More specifically, the present study aims to uncover whether there are differences in the use of prosodic and non-verbal cues between the two groups and if potential differences influence how polite a disagreement is perceived to be. The investigation showed that, on a verbal level, Germans have a preference for more concise disagreements, with a more direct and explicit disagreeing style, producing a large number of strengthening devices, while New Zealanders produce more indirect disagreements, containing a large number of softening devices. Prosodically, the Germans differ from the New Zealanders by using audibly loud and fast speech significantly more frequently, while the two groups’ use of mean pitch, pitch range and intensity range differs little. On a non-verbal level, Germans produce significantly more non-verbal cues during disagreements than their New Zealand counterparts. The main difference between the two groups, however, lies in how their disagreeing behaviour differs from their non-verbal behaviour in neutral speech. While Germans use significantly fewer non-verbal cues in neutral speech than in disagreements and also use a much more limited range of non-verbal cues, the New Zealanders’ non-verbal behaviour in disagreements differs little from their behaviour in neutral speech. In order to test the effect of these differences on the perceived level of politeness, two questionnaires were developed; one prosodic questionnaire testing the effects of loud and fast speech in disagreements on the perceived level of politeness and one non-verbal questionnaire testing the effect of a large number of non-verbal cues on the perceived level of politeness. The results show that fast and loud speech has a negative effect on politeness, as perceived by New Zealanders. A large number of non-verbal cues only appear to have a negative effect on the level of politeness, as perceived by New Zealanders, when disagreements exhibit a high level of involvement and emotion. Overall, it appears that German disagreeing behaviour is likely to be perceived negatively by New Zealanders.