With school swinging into momentum, speech events rode on its wave and it is a hell lot more interesting than its building block - speech acts. ^__^ Much akin to studying in elementary school, which kid enjoys reciting the A B Cs over and over and over and over and over huh?! As compared to putting F, U and N together and in many other ways!! :DD I think speech events are much more fun and intellectually challenging. Or maybe its just me.. I used to love legos and building blocks! Hee...
I guess the main reason why speech events interest me so much is its purpose. A study of speech events can preserve whatever remains of an ailing culture and a disappearing language. Perhaps Im sentimental. As a real estate major, more often than not, we are expected to look out for redevelopment potential of buildings and lands. But I think sometimes, somethings should just remain as they are for age is a form of beauty that is impossible to recreate. Speech events like buildng conservation helps to preserve what our ancestors once created. Admist busily moving forward, we may occasionally slow down, admire the winsomeness of simplicity and marvel at how far we've progress...
Other than preserving our own culture, speech events also help us get to know more about other cultures which without proper guiding, can take one a lifetime to understand.
With regards to the Japanese marriage proposal, Im so glad Singaporean does it a whole different way!! My cousin recently just got proposed to and her boyfriend went through the whole jazz of booking the AV room (she is a teacher), played music in the background, made a soft toy bear, and kneeled down with a diamond ring before whisking her off for a romantic dinner date. She said yes!! Imagine if she were Japanese and had looked down remaining silence instead of being all jocular.... Would that had meant a yes in our culture? And how would her (now) finance had reacted!? I can only leave it to your imaginations for spelling it out spoils the fun... :p I am so loving my own culture! But then again, that statement is biased!
In any case, Im glad someone came up with the brilliant idea of speech events... (:
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i agree with you that from speech event, we can understand what our ancestors have created and how different ancestors (such as Japanese and Chinese) have their own ways of doing things. Although we might all be asians, something as simple as a speech event can tell us lots of things~ =)
ReplyDeleteif its up to me (who is proposing) i will definitely want an answer instead of silence (although silence might mean consent). But then again, if my bf proposes to me infront of a whole big crowd, i might be too shy to say yes lol.
If you notice, Japanese look down almost all the time because they are bowing and nodding their heads too much. It didn't matter which speech event. As long as there's one going on, one party will be inferior to the other and will often look downwards. Superior VS subordinate, Husband VS Wife, Teacher VS students......... nation with sore necks
ReplyDelete@huey: I always thought that it is rude to be proposed in front of a crowd. What if I am not ready to marry but in order to protect my bf's 'face' do I have to agree? Is that a from of blackmail!?
ReplyDelete@Yiwen: I think doctors in Japan make a lot of money. Especially if you specialize in necks!
A very good illustration of how one speech event may have different enactments in different cultures.
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