1887
Volume 29, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0957-6851
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9838
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Many studies concerning culture and rhetoric have been restricted to the binary distinction of cultures or to etic perspectives by using western theories as framework to point out the weakness of Chinese rhetoric. Taking comparative rhetoric and emic approaches, this paper focuses on logical appeal and ethical appeal to discuss the cultural values reflected in the hotel discourses. In this study content analysis was used to encode the English and Chinese hotel introductions; quantitative method was used for data comparison and an interview for investigating the persuasiveness of the Chinese rhetorical strategies. The relation between cultural values and persuasive strategies was explored. It is concluded that cultural specificity at deep level is still an indispensable factor determining rhetorical strategies despite the globalization.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/japc.00029.liu
2019-08-06
2023-12-08
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Adler, R. F., Iacobelli, F., & Gutstein, Y.
    (2016) Are you convinced? A Wizard of Oz study to test emotional vs. rational persuasion strategies in dialogues. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 75–81. 10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.011
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.011 [Google Scholar]
  2. Banerjee, S. & Chua, A. Y. K.
    (2016) A textual analysis across luxury, budget, and mid-range hotels. Journal of Information Science (SAGE Open), 1–7. doi:  10.1177/0165551515625027
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551515625027 [Google Scholar]
  3. Blinn, S. B. & Garrett, M.
    (1993) Aristotelian topoi as a cross-cultural analytic tool. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 26, 93–112.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Cai, G.
    (1998) A Chinese rhetorical tradition? Case studies in the history of Chinese rhetorical theory and practice. University of Arizona.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Cai, J.
    (2007) Difference between English and Chinese topic placement and its influence on Chinese students’ writing. Foreign Language Teaching Abroad, 1:1–12.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Chen, W.
    (2011) An Investigation of Topic Sentences in Chinese Students’ Argumentative Essays: A Multidimensional Probe (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Kristianstad University, Sweden.
  7. Cheng, A.
    (2008) Individualized engagement with genre in academic literacy tasks. English for Specific Purposes, 17, 387–411. 10.1016/j.esp.2008.05.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2008.05.001 [Google Scholar]
  8. Cheng, H.
    (1997) Toward an understanding of cultural values manifest in advertising: A content analysis of Chinese television commercials in 1990 and 1995. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74 (4), 773–796. 10.1177/107769909707400408
    https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909707400408 [Google Scholar]
  9. Coe, R. M. and Hu, S.
    (1989) Preliminary exploration of English-Chinese contrastive rhetoric. Foreign Languages (2): 40–53.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Crowley, S.
    (1990) The Methodical Memory: Invention in current-traditional rhetoric. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Crowley, S. & Hawhee, D.
    (2004) Ancient rhetorics for contemporary students. New York: Pearson Education Inc.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Dai, G. & Qiu, J.
    (2012) Language, environment and society – critical discourse analysis of ecological hotel introduction. Foreign language and Foreign Language Teaching, (1): 48–52.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Fang, T.
    (2003) A critique of Hofstede’s fifth national culture dimension. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 3(3), 347–368. 10.1177/1470595803003003006
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1470595803003003006 [Google Scholar]
  14. Faure, G. O. & Fang, T.
    (2008) Changing Chinese values: Keeping up with paradoxes. International Business Review, 17 (2), 194–207. 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2008.02.011
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2008.02.011 [Google Scholar]
  15. Feng, J.
    (2004) Reflections on cultural values in Mainland China: A content analysis of web advertisements in 2004. Modern Communication, 5, 88–92.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Ferris, D.
    (1994) Rhetorical strategies in student persuasive writing: Differences between native and non-native English speakers. Research in the Teaching of English, 28(1), 45–65.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Gu, X.
    (2008) Genre analysis of English hotel introductions. Journal of Wuhan Science and Technology, (1): 110–114.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Gunnarsson, B.
    (2000) Discourse, organizations and national cultures. Discourse Studies, 2(1): 5–33. 10.1177/1461445600002001001
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445600002001001 [Google Scholar]
  19. Hacking, I.
    (2013) What logic did to rhetoric. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 13, 419–436. 10.1163/15685373‑12342102
    https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342102 [Google Scholar]
  20. Hofstede, G. H.
    (1991) Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Hsiung, H.
    (2014) A contrastive rhetoric study: The placement of paragraph thesis statements in English and Chinese research articles. Texas A&M University-Commerce, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 3668716.
  22. Hum, S. & Lyon, A.
    (2009) Recent advances in comparative rhetoric. InA. A. Lunsford (Ed.), The Sage handbook of rhetorical studies (pp.153–165). Los Angeles: SAGE.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Li, S.
    (2011) Everything that rises must converge: A Chinese-English contrastive rhetoric case study. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 1501956.
  24. Li, X.
    (2005) Composing culture is a fragmented world: The issue of representation in a cross-cultural research. InP. K. Matsuda & T. J. Silva (Eds.). Second language writing research: Perspectives on the process of knowledge construction (pp.121–134). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Liu, Y.
    (2010) Logic and rhetorical strategies in Chinese and English news comments and Toulmin’s structure of arguments. Journal of Guizhou Minzu University, 1, 188–190.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Lu, X.
    (2004) Rhetoric of China’s Cultural Revolution: The impact on Chinese thought, culture and communication. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Mao, L.
    (2006) Reading Chinese fortune cookie: The making of Chinese American rhetoric. Logan: Utah State University Press. 10.2307/j.ctt4cgqqt
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgqqt [Google Scholar]
  28. Minkov, M. & Hofstede, G.
    (2012) Hofstede’s fifth dimension: New evidence from the world values survey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1): 3–14. 10.1177/0022022110388567
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022110388567 [Google Scholar]
  29. Morris, M., Leung, K., Ames, D. & Lickel, B.
    (1999) Views from insider and outside: Integrating emic and etic insights about culture and justice judgement. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 781–796. 10.5465/amr.1999.2553253
    https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.2553253 [Google Scholar]
  30. Oliver, R. T.
    (1971) Communication and culture in ancient India and China. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Seale, J. R.
    (1979) Expression and meaning: Studies in the theory of speech acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Sumacoa, F. T., Imrieb, B. C. & Hussaina, K.
    (2014) The consequence of Malaysian national culture values on hotel branding. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 144, 91–101. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.07.277
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.07.277 [Google Scholar]
  33. Tayeb, M. H.
    (1994) ‘Organizations and national culture: Methodology considered’. Organization studies, 15, 429–46. 10.1177/017084069401500306
    https://doi.org/10.1177/017084069401500306 [Google Scholar]
  34. Wang, W.
    (2004) A contrastive analysis of letters to the editor in Chinese and English. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 1, 72–88. 10.1075/aral.27.1.06wan
    https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.27.1.06wan [Google Scholar]
  35. Wierzbicka, A.
    (1991) Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Beilin: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Wilson, E. V.
    (2003) Perceived effectiveness of interpersonal persuasion strategies in computer-mediated communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 19(5), 537–552. 10.1016/S0747‑5632(03)00006‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-5632(03)00006-2 [Google Scholar]
  37. Wu, S.
    (1994) The influence of collectivism and individualism on argumentative writing by Chinese and North Americans. The University of Georgia.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Yang, Z. & Peng, S.
    (1999) Conceptualization of interpersonal trust among the Chinese. Sociology Research, 2, 1–21.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Yu, M.
    (2005) Sociolinguistic competence in the complimenting act of native Chinese and American English speakers: A mirror of cultural value. Language and Speech, 28(1), 91–119. 10.1177/00238309050480010501
    https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309050480010501 [Google Scholar]
  40. Zhao, N.
    (2012) Study on English hotel brochure’s discourse structure and writing strategy based on genre analysis. Journal of University of South China (Social Science Edition), 13 (1), 109–114.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Zhu, L.
    (2004) ‘Cheng’ is the foundation of rhetoric: The essence of early Chinese rhetorical theory. Journal of Fujian Normal University, 6, 19–24.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Zhu, D., Ye, Z. & Chang, Y.
    (2017) Understanding the textual content of online customer reviews in B2C websites: A cross-cultural comparison between the U.S. and China. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 483–493. 10.1016/j.chb.2017.07.045
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.07.045 [Google Scholar]
  43. Zhu, W.
    (2017) A cross-cultural pragmatic study of rapport-management strategies in Chinese and English academic upward request emails. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17(2), 210–228. 10.1080/14708477.2016.1253707
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2016.1253707 [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/japc.00029.liu
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/japc.00029.liu
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error