Post One: How Can There Be Action in Speech??

In a Western wedding ceremony, when’s the exact moment a couple 'legally wedded'? It’s believed that it's the moment the priest pronounce 'you are now man and wife'. How can such a short statement create such a big impact on many people's lives? According to Ward (2004), the legal 'binding' occurs upon signing the wedding contract. Yet, the statement above gives the impression that the words itself was an action. This is a fine example of a concept we know as 'speech act'. As paradoxical as it may sound (how can there possibly be an action in speech?), speech act has been a part and parcel of the lives of people who’ve been blessed with the gift of speech. I got the image below from http://courses.media.mit.edu/:

Speech act can be as ubiquitous as making a promise, saying 'sorry' or inviting friends over to dinner. It's basically words that represent an action. And what fascinates me most is how it varies tremendously with culture!

Truthfully, I was never this eager to learn about cultures. I owe this enthusiasm to my exchange in Canada. Singapore may boast itself to be a cosmopolitan nation but one should stay in Vancouver to experience what a 'truly cosmopolitan' lifestyle really is:

Singaporeans are likely to reject compliments as it’s seen to be humble whereas Canadians tend to agree.

My first day in Canada: I told an American friend she looked great. To my surprise, she responded 'I know!'. That gave me the impression that she's yet another haughty and braggy teen, like what I've seen on MTV's 'Sweet Sixteen'. It took me four months to be able to swallow the fact that 'all Americans are snobbish', because they respond similarly to compliments. Perplexed, I felt as though I was being overly humble but my roommates found it disrespectful when I rejected their compliments.

Only after the 'Speech Act' lecture I've learnt it was more polite to agree than to reject in Western cultures. Intrigued, I perused through Google Scholar to find out more about the are of giving and receiving compliments in Malays. A futile attempt, though not totally. All information was accurate but not well-substantiated.

Malays are 'generous' in giving compliments. But their common ‘compliment receipt’ strategy is to 'deflect'; first, politely agree (e.g. say 'thank you') or more often, reject (e.g. say 'no lah'), followed by ‘deflection’, claiming that these attributes are not possible without God's grace.

Knowing that culture is dynamic, I have this impression that the younger ones (who’re evidently more 'westernised' than their senior counterparts) are more likely to adopt the ‘agree’ response strategy. So I put up the following on my Facebook status and the responses come right after (in the blue box):

All except the last respondent are young-generation Malays. Surprisingly, 3 out of 5 still adhere to the traditional compliment response strategy. A larger sample size is definitely required to prove my ‘hypothesis’.

Looks like I’ve got a lot more to learn about my culture. =)