A cross-cultural study of the smile in the Russian- and English-speaking worldстатья
Информация о цитировании статьи получена из
Web of Science
Статья опубликована в журнале из списка Web of Science и/или Scopus
Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 2 декабря 2016 г.
Аннотация:Although the smile is a universal facial expression, the use of smiles in communication
varies across cultures. This may lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication. Both
Americans and Europeans experience the same frustration and communication failure
when they do not find smiling faces in Russia. At the same time, it is common for Russian
people to perceive the smiles of Westerners as artificial and insincere. What is the reason
for such a difference in perception? Why don’t Russians smile in some situations?
The study of the use of the smile as a non-verbal sign in a few chosen communicative
contexts across Russian, European and American cultures showed the difference in its
meaning and distribution according to the cultural tradition. The reason could stem from
the difference of Russia’s history when compared to that of Western Europe, as well as in
the specific restrictions in Russian Orthodox Christianity and the traditions of laughter in
Russia. All the meanings and specific cases of distribution are clearly retained and
expressed in the languages. If we compare the Russian улыбка and улыбаться with the
English smile, we can see both common and distinctive semantic elements and different
connotations.
Key words: intercultural communicationsmile, non-verbal sign, language, semantics,connotation