Culture Bound Differences in Mode of Greetings in Hindus and Muslims-----A Case in Intercultural Communication. Abdul Baseer M.Phil. (English), Ph.D. (English) candidate at International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Lecturer in Linguistics Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan Sofia Dildar Alvi M.A. (English), M.Phil. Lecturer in English Government College University Faisalabad Pakistan Fareha Zafran Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan Abstract Despite having lived together for almost more than one thousand years, Hindus and Muslims do have considerable cultural differences due to difference of Cultural Capital, a term borrowed from Bourdieu (1977). This paper brings forth the differences in greeting manners of both these ethnic communities. Although the Middle Region Communication ( Meyrowitz, 1985) is more and more obvious today between these extreme communities----- e.g. media bringing them together by decreasing the distance between their backstage and frontstage communication points (Goffman,1959), and making their different scripts (Abelson, 1981) and schemata homogenous ----- this paper presents the intercultural communication difference when the members of both these communities do greet eachother following their own greeting manners. Key words: Intercultural, communication, pragmatics, greetings manners COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 93
1. Models and Principles Co-orientation Model (Chaffee and McLeod, 1968; McLeod and Chaffee, 1973; Suzuki, 1997) is the underlying constituent model of Communication Principle (Gruning and Hunt, 1984). While Communication Principle accounts for the equality of the communication actors in the process of two way communication, the Co-orientation Model explains this nature of equality through agreement, accuracy, and congruency. This model emphasizes a communication leading to a joint action. Messages are understood on the basis of a cultural situation. But due to the difference of the Cultural Capital----- a system of mental evaluation schemata for perceiving the world around us and assigning values to it, and these influence peoples values and value choices ----- the intercultural communication breaks down and the message gets misinterpreted. Goffman s Theatre Model (1959) of backstage vs frontstage captures only to a minor degree the phenomenon of social change: due to a gap between these stages the phenomenon of social change becomes ununderstandable for the communication actors belonging to two or more different cultures. Hindus are a totally different cultural community having their individualistically representative identity quite distinct from that of Muslims. Difference of Cultural Capital exists still, despite the fact that both are coming closer by having found a Middle Region Communication plan through the experience of centuries old mutual living and, after partition, through the Indian TV channels. 2.Methodology The present study deals with the phenomenon of misinterpretation of the messages sent through verbal and nonverbal greeting signals by Hindu communication actors to some young Muslim boys involved in that specific communication. Since Hindu greet in quite a different COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 94
way, their non-verbal greeting signal may lead to a communication breakdown when greeting to Muslims. This study focuses with respect to this problem on the Hindu visitors coming from India (Ptyala) to Nankana Sahib (a place near Faisalabad), the Janam Bhomi of Sikh Saint Baba Guru Nanak, so a sacred place of worship for them. Although this is the sacred place of the Sikhs, some Hindus do visit it also out of respect. The participants of the study were eleven in number: seven middle aged Hindus and four young Muslim boys (minor workers) who worked in Nankana Sahib. The visitors from India were the members of a Patyala based Hindu Parmarker family. They consisted of seven members: five males (Anopam, Nitin, Manish, Shayam and Karan) and two females (Radhika and Narayani). They came to Nankana to pay homage to Baba Guru Nanak and fulfilling their Manat. The four Muslim boys were Zia, Afzal, Zubir and Farid. For the present research a seven- point structured interview was conducted. The study reveals that the young Muslim boys sometimes misinterpret the nonverbal greeting signal/s (e.g. joining of hands upright flatly) sent by a Hindu visitor. Seven point structured interview deals with the questions aiming at the greeting manners (both Verbal and Nonverbal) of Hindu visitors and young Muslim boys at Nankana Sahib, stressing the difference of greeting styles keeping in view gender, age, relationship and religious/ social/ cultural values as variables. During the interview, all of the five male Hindu members provided the same answers, i.e. there was no difference in their answers. The two females did not answer for the questions. They only said that the same answers (answers by males) could serve as their answers to the seven questions as their opinion is not different from that of the five males. The content of the four young Muslim boys was also the same: Muslims greeting style is same among every Muslim individual living in the Subcontinent. The answers of the Muslim respondents show that non-muslims nonverbal greeting signal is quite different from that of Hindus. So the young Muslim boys understudy misinterpreted the nonverbal greeting signals of the Hindus: Hindus nonverbal COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 95
greeting styles seem to them as more than greeting. These signals carry some additional meaning/ value. While to Hindus these are nothing more than their centuries old cultural system of greeting. 3.Seven Point Structured Interview A structured interview keeping in view the variables of gender, age, relationship and religious/ social values was developed having seven direct questions aiming at the nature of greeting convention (both verbal and nonverbal) in Hindu visitors and the Muslim young male minor workers who work near the sacred place at Nankana. The language of the interview was Urdu as both the groups could communicate in Urdu only. While the content of their answers as well as the questions are presented in English (see Appendix). The researchers/ interviewers asked them seven questions related to above-mentioned variables and recorded the answers after listening to them carefully. The interview consisted of seven points. First question asks about the nature of greeting manner when greeting to the member of the same gender. Second asks about the same when the counterpart in greeting belongs to the opposite gender. Third question aims at the nonverbal greeting style of the respondents. Fourth question is about the nature of genderoriented nonverbal greeting style. Fifth asks about the age as variable influencing the greeting manner. Sixth question explores whether the degree of formality/ informality has any effect on the style of verbal and nonverbal greeting. Last question focuses on finding whether greeting is a social norm only (e.g. merely a force of habit constructed through the phenomenon of Social Facts) or it is the integral part of the moral values stemming through the religious culture of the communities in question. COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 96
4.Analysis of Qualitative Data The focus of the analysis is finding the difference of greeting styles in the already mentioned groups belonging to two different religion- based cultures. (For items of the interview see Appendix). 1. Hindus greet their counterpart involved in greeting stage of communication through a verbal sign Namasty. This they do quite the same while greeting to their counterpart of both the genders. Muslims verbal greeting signal Aslam o Alikum also remains the same for both the genders. So the difference between both the communities is the difference of verbal sounds. 2. Both the Hindus and Muslim respondent answers were not different from that of the answers to the question 1. 3. Hindus while saying Namasty raise their hands flatly and upright together. Moreover, the younger ones bend down to earth and touch the feet of the older counterpart. Pakistani Muslims shake hands during greeting while saying Aslam o Alikum. So difference of nonverbal greeting signal is obvious. Muslim boys say that for sometime in the beginning they took Hindus nonverbal greeting signal as their appeal to be forgiven, for no obvious reason, by the other person involved in communication. For them Hindus nonverbal greeting signals of joining hands and touching the feet was a signal to convey that they were seeking forgiveness from the other person. Burt after sometime they began to understand that Hindus greet nonverbally in this way. 4. Male Hindus when greet females, they bend their necks a bit out of respect. This submissive posture of neck while greeting females is common in both the Hindus and the Muslims of course. 5. Age does matter in greeting modes for both the Hindus and Muslims. Both have submissive posture when greeting to the older counterpart. COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 97
6. The verbal greeting signal remains the same in both communities as mentioned above, while nonverbal greeting signals vary according to the degree of formality/ informality with the greeting counterpart. In informal situations only the verbal expression conveys the greeting message, while nonverbal signals become less important. 7. Greeting in both the communities is a moral value stemming from the religious concepts. Both Hindus and Muslims do greet because greeting is the part of their religious code of conduct while developing a contact with the other person. It is a religious norm rather than the social one. 5.Results The interviews show that the Muslim young workers misinterpreted sometime in the past the nonverbal greeting signals of joining hands and touching the feet of the older counterpart by the Hindu visitors to Nankana Sahib. Their nonverbal signals of greeting were interpreted as their appeal for apology. But after sometime these Muslim boys found Middle Region Communication plan, so began to interpret Hindus nonverbal signals correctly. COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 98
References Abelson, R. (1981). Psychological Status of the Script Concept. In American Psychologist. Vol.36. Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press. Chaffe, S. and McLeod, J. (1968). Sensitization in Panel Design: A Coorientational Experiement. Journalism Quarterly. Vol 45. Goffman, E (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday, Anchor Books. Gruning, J. and Hunt, T. (1984). Managing Public Relations. Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. McLeod, J. and Chaffe, S. (1973). Interpersonal Approaches to Communication Research. American Behavioral Scientist. Vol 16. Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No Sense of Place. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Suzuki, S. (1997). Cultural Transmission in International Organizations: Impact of Interpersonal Communication Patterns in Intergroup Contexts. Human Communication Research. Vol 24. COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 99
Appendix Structured Interview Culture bound differences in mode of greetings. 1. How do you greet the person of your gender? 2. How do you greet the person of cross gender? 3. What are your non-verbal greeting manners? 4. Are there any gender specific fixities in non-verbal greeting manners? 5. Does age matters in changing the greeting mode? If so, explain how. 6. Does relationship matters in changing the greeting mode? If so, explain how. 7. Is greeting an integral moral value or a mere social norm in your culture? COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 100