ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS PRESENT INSIDE THE DIALOGUE "WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PARTY"

ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS PRESENT INSIDE THE DIALOGUE "WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PARTY"


 The analysis of this dialogue between friends during a party allows us to grasp the importance of the cultural role of the "party" in people's social life in Italy. In fact, the party becomes a synonym of socialization through the party organized at home or in a bar outside. This method has become a form of ritual very popular among young people and not only as an ideal path to facilitate the knowledge of new people in today's context where it becomes increasingly difficult to meet new people in real.

The party is ultimately a way to bring everyone closer in harmony with a cultural dimension of "low social distance" between members of the society. In addition, the party responds to a cultural need for "weak avoidance of uncertainty" resulting from a prevalent presence of the "individualism" dimension in which everyone must take care of themselves and the tasks to be carried out are more important than relationships for the people in contemporary world. To remedy this situation we are forced to adhere within a dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" as a useful cultural dimension to strengthen the need for a positive face present in people who permanently live the "individualism" type dimension as a form fortress of its "negative face" always under siege. In essence, the possibility of enhancing one's positive face is possible through a "weak avoidance of uncertainty" by living with little stress and anxiety, with a greater tendency to personal well-being by increasing one's ease in ambiguous and chaotic situations such as a party. The party plays the role of bringing out a desire to adhere to a "satisfied" cultural dimension, giving importance to free time and with a greater sense of control over one's life.

Taking a cue from the conversational analysis of this dialogue in the light of the tools of linguistic politeness, we observe in Stefano's first turn of speech an attempt to strengthen his positive face in front of a girl named Rosa by mentioning "what a nice party" as a form of description the real in order to create a form of "collectivism" dimension with the attempt to increase belonging or sharing a situational frame with the other interlocutor. This sharing is eventually mitigated by a filler such as the adverb "vero (true)" so as not to make Rosa's negative face pay too many costs if she does not ratify the same vision of the event. In Rosa's reply we see her ratification of Stefano's need for a positive face as well as her adhesion as a way to obtain a positive face in turn, adding at the end "( c' anche un sacco di gente (there are a lot of people) " as an element of ease in the party in harmony with a cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" and as an element of curiosity towards different people. Stefano continues the dialogue asking "do you know the birthday girl?" as a question that can be perceived as a threat to the need to protect Rosa's negative face because not everyone present is truly "invited" by the birthday girl and is also a way of asking if your presence is legitimate as in the conversations between peers within a cultural dimension of "low social distance". In fact, Rosa does not know the birthday girl and therefore has to incur costs in the need to protect her negative face and then offers an explanation ( she come with a good friend of the birthday girl) to mitigate these costs to obtain benefits for the initial need for a positive face present in the dialogue. Stefano continues his interaction with Rosa asking "have you been here for a long time?" remaining in adherence to a dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" because it needs structure and clarity in order to be able to be culturally "satisfied", which give him a greater sense of control over one's own life and that of others. In fact Rosa says "I have just arrived" by subscribing in this way to the need for "strong avoidance of uncertainty" present in Stefano's question.

After these first questions "finally" Stefano introduce himself in order to avoid paying costs for the lack of his presentation in terms of a positive face. Rosa's reply is concise as a way to stay in defense of her negative face while Stefano's presentation remains short but adds another question like "where are you from?" in line with his need for clarity and at the same time try to access useful information to create an "in-group" or not according to Rosa's answer.
 Rosa qualifies her answer in harmony with Stefano's need for clarity and during the replies she said "and you?" adhering de facto to the need to know whether or not there is the possibility of "in-group" or "out-group" membership with his new interlocutor. Stefano's answer is now a classic in Italy, namely the presence of a citizen of the south who works and lives in the north. In fact, Stefano says "I live in Turin" but "I am Sicilian from Pachino", that is to say he lives in Turin in harmony with an "individual" cultural dimension where I use my right to privacy, in which the other members of the societies are considered as individuals or perhaps in the worst case as "out-group" in many other cases where the "collectivism" dimension prevails. The affirmation of Stefano "I am Sicilian, of Pachino" represents a way to emphasize his regional and local belonging above all as a true "in-group" of his person and not so much Sicily. In fact, Stefano asks Rosa if she knows this village with the risk of losing her need for a positive face for the simple fact that not everyone is required to know Pachino especially when the dialogue takes place in Turin (as will be discovered at the end of the dialogue). Stefano does not have to pay these costs to his need for a positive face because Rosa knows this small town in Sicily and therefore grants Stefano's positive face in term of interactional benefits. However, these benefits are mitigated by mentioning the proximity of this municipality with Africa, which is usually perceived as an element of threat and impediment for the enhancement of the need for collective face present in Sicilian citizens and in particular of Pachino.

Then Rosa mentions the presente of tomatoes as a way to restore Stefano and Pachino's collective face again because that place is famous for tomatoes production. Stefano ratifies Rosa's words which are in any case beneficial and then continues the conversation asking "are you alone at the party?" in full harmony with his need for clarity as a cultural dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" and at the same time he realise a question in line with an "individualism" question  in order to increase Rosa's right to privacy. In addition, this question is a form of threat to the need \ right to defend the territory of the negative face of Rosa in front of the possibility of association or not with the interlocutor. Rosa replies to this question in a concise way "no", which represents a cost to be incurred for Stefano's positive face even if these costs are mitigated by the description of his contextual situation in which Rosa claims to "have come with a friend who now went to drink with another friend "as a form of cost reduction but also as a form of benefit granted to Stefano's need for a positive face. Stefano records the answer with "ah I understand" to underline the lack of willingness to pay costs in terms of a positive face while he continues with his questions in line with the dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" with a question that usually many people prefer to avoid to made for a female person because "how old are you?"  are usually information that often remain in the sphere of one's own privacy in terms of "individualism" cultural dimension. In any case, Rosa, given her relative young age, ratifies the question with a short answer (I am 30 years old) and addresses the same question to Stefano to obtain reciprocity as a form of reducing the costs incurred by this question for his need to protect his negative face trying to make Stefano pay negative costs too. Initially Stefano tries to avoid these costs due to his negative face in terms of willingness to remain in the "individualism" dimension with the right to privacy through a request such as " can you guess my age" as a way to create a form of adhesion to a cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty". Rosa accepts by stating that Stefano "is perhaps 22 years old" so it is a way to give Stefano a positive face simply by indicating less years to a another person. The addition of the adverb "perhaps" covers the function of mitigating the excess of benefits offered to Stefano's positive face. In fact Stefano does not ratify because they are undiscovered benefits when he says "do not exaggerate" and offering the answer "25 years". In this way, Rosa ratifies motivating her first response so as not to suffer other costs for her negative face by stating "you look younger". Rosa also makes a question to continue the dialogue in harmony with the cultural dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" when she asks Stefano "what job do you do?" as a question to emphasize the need for clarity. Stefano records this method of obtaining benefits for his positive face when he claims to be an "engineer in a multinational company". Rosa's answer is "ah" as a positive but short surprise ratification in order to not to give too many benefits to Stefano's positive face. However, Rosa continues with her response inviting Stefano to get to know his friends as a way to get out of an "individualism" type dimension and adhere to a "collectivism" type, trying to emphasize belonging to a group of friends. This is also a way to enhance Rosa's positive face by adhering to a "satisfied" cultural dimension because it is a way of saying she is happy and showing a greater sense of control in her life. The presentations are simple and informal as they occur in a "party" context even if the request to repeat his name made by Stefano to Jean can be perceived as a small threat to the negative face of Jean, who could live this request for repetition as a small threat to his negative face as well as feeling incompetent in Italian and therefore adhere in this situation to a dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty". Jean's repeat again "I'm Jean, I'm French", in turn signalling his belonging to a given "in-group" in terms of "collectivism".

Stefano, as usual, continues with his questions "where from?" for his need for clarity and Jean's answer is "from Paris but I'm a bit in Italy because I work as a journalist". In this reply Jean manages to confer many benefits to his positive face with his belonging to the city of Paris as a mythical city in the world and therefore creating a certain social distance with the interlocutor and then his work as a journalist highlights another form of benefit in terms of enhancing one's positive face. Stefano replies with "journalist ah" to make a ratification full of positive surprise by listening to Jean's reply. Stefano continues the dialogue trying to get more information on Jean's journalism sphere to remain faithful to his preferred cultural dimension as "strong need to avoid uncertainty". Jean's reply will be "I deal with sports, I am a sports correspondent" as a way to provide details that further enhance her positive face towards Stefano. The latter notes with an "interesting" to give Jean a positive face but without paying too many costs for his need to protect his negative face within these presentations. In fact, Jean ratifies "yes a lot" as a useful answer to increase his positive face out of all proportion. Then Rosa intervenes to talk about Christine calling her "Christine is a foreigner" to push again into the "collectivism" dimension because it emphasizes belonging to a given "in-group" and therefore this presentation pushes Christine to be perceived as " out-group. " Stefano takes note asking "where is Christine from?" and his reply will be a way to emphasize his more national German type membership as the main form of "in-group" because Christine comes from Bavaria (southern Germany) but has lived for a long time in Cologne (northern Germany) and now she lives in Turin because her husband is Italian. So Christine's response is very structured and clear in keeping with the cultural need for "strong avoidance of uncertainty".

Stefano flies over these data and asks to know what Christine is doing in Turin by anticipating in his question two possible options such as "do you work or study?" In essence, in order to maintain faith in his dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty", he needs to know what the work activity of his interlocutor is and the place of origin. For example, the importance of work highlights an adherence to a cultural dimension of "masculinity" type because work prevails as an existential dimension in people's lives at the expense of family, free time or training. Christine replies to Stefano's question with "I teach German in a private school" to signal his ratification to Stefano's need for clarity by providing a qualified response to obtain in turn benefits for the enhancement of his positive face within these presentations.
In the context of these presentations it is useful to point out how Jean and Christine did not ask what job Stefano did as if they wanted to signal their right of non-association with Stefano as a typical response in the "individualism" dimension where speaking for oneself is a good thing to be protected and membership is not emphasized in any way. Another interpretation could see Stefano as the person who manages the turns of speech in this conversation and therefore his role seems to be to ask questions without having to undergo others. In short, they are all beneficial for his need for a positive face while they are strokes for the protection of the negative face of the other interlocutors. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that Stefano's questions as a form of cultural adhesion to a "strong avoidance of uncertainty" are almost always ratified without major problems of adhesion by the other interlocutors while this data could be a source of big intercultural misunderstandings if this dialogue took place in another country.

DIALOGUE




Stefano: Ciao! Bella festa, vero?
Rosa: Sì, è davvero bella e poi c’è un sacco di gente!
Stefano: Conosci la festeggiata?
Rosa: No, non la conosco, ma sono venuta con un amico che la conosce bene.
Stefano: Mhm. È da molto che sei qui?
Rosa: No, no. Sono appena arrivata. Saranno 10 minuti.
Stefano: E come ti chiami?
Rosa: Mi chiamo Rosa. Piacere.
Stefano: Io sono Stefano, ciao. Di dove sei?
Rosa: Abito in provincia di Biella, a Cossato. E tu?
Stefano: Io abito a Torino da qualche anno, perché lavoro in una Società di Torino, ma sono siciliano, di Pachino, che è un piccolo paese: l’hai mai sentito?
Rosa: Ah, certo! Non è il paese della Sicilia che è più vicino all’Africa? Quello dei famosi pomodori?
Stefano: Sì, brava! Hai indovinato. Sei qui da sola?
Rosa: No, sono venuta appunto con questo mio amico che è un ragazzo francese che abita nel mio
stesso palazzo. Però adesso è andato a bere qualcosa con un’altra amica e non lo vedo.
Stefano: Ah, ho capito. E quanti anni hai?
Rosa: Ho trent’anni. E tu?
Stefano: Prova a indovinare.
Rosa: Ventidue forse.
Stefano: No, non esagerare, venticinque.
Rosa: Ah, sembri più giovane. E che lavoro fai?
Stefano: Sono ingegnere in una multinazionale.
Rosa: Ah, ecco che arrivano i miei amici; vieni che te li presento. Allora, questo è Jean e lei è Christine.
Stefano: Piacere, Stefano.
Jean: Ciao, sono Jean.
Stefano: Scusa, puoi ripetere il tuo nome? Non ho capito!
Jean: Sono Jean! Sono francese.
Stefano: Di dove?
Jean: Di Parigi, ma sono qui per un po’ in Italia perché lavoro come giornalista.
Stefano: Ah, giornalista. Di cosa ti occupi in particolare? Sport, musica…
Jean: Mi occupo di sport, faccio il corrispondente sportivo.
Stefano: Interessante!
Jean: Sì, molto.
Rosa: Anche Christine è straniera.
Stefano: Ah sì? Di dove sei?
Christine: Sono tedesca. Sono nata in Baviera, ma ho vissuto per tanti anni a Colonia e adesso sono
qui a Torino perché mio marito è italiano.
Stefano: E tu lavori o studi?
Christine: Insegno tedesco in una scuola privata.