Tradition and Culture in Mexico - Essay Example

Dimensions of the Verbal and Nonverbal Contexts UNIQUE VERBAL PHRASES AND NONVERBAL S IN MEXICAN CULTURE Introduction Mexico is located in middle America, to the south of the United States, flanked by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on the east, and by the North Pacific Ocean on the west. The capital is Mexico city and the government is a federal republic. More than half the ethnic population consist of mestizo who are Amerindian-Spanish, a third of Amerindian, and a small percentage of whites and others constitute the remaining. The climate varies from tropical to desert (Mexico, 2008). Mexico consists of thirty two states and one federal district. In Latin America it is the third largest country, and has the highest population, of more than one hundred million people. It is a country with a rich history, tradition and culture (Hist Chnl Mgzn, 2008). Mexico suffers from continued economic and social concerns including low real wages, underemployment for a large section of the population, unequal income distribution, and few opportunties for progress for the predominantly Amerindian population in the economically deprived southern states. For the first time since 1910, The National Action Party defeated the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in the 2000 elections, and Felipe Calderon is the current president of the country (CIA, 2008). Mexico is home to more Spanish speakers than any other country in the world. The diverse cultures and social customs of Mexican people influence the distinctive interactive modes of the indigenous languages spoken in the country. . This paper proposes to identify unique verbal phrases or colloquialisms and unique nonverbal codes used by Mexicans, based on their culture and language traditions. Discussion Spanish is the official language resulting from the Spanish control of Mexico from around 1525 to 1821. However, nearly a hundred Native American languages are still spoken in Mexico, no single indigenous language prevails, and most Mexicans who speak an indigenous language also speak Spanish. The most important of the Native American languages is Nahuatl, followed by Maya, Mixteco and Zapateco (Mexico, 2008). Unique Colloquialisms and Nonverbal Codes used by Mexicans Haviland (p.81) states that his research on natural conversation and interpersonal interactions in Zinacantan, for over twenty years in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, has provided deep insights into the verbal and nonverbal codes of communication used by the people of that region. Tzotzil is a Maya language spoken by the indigenous Tzotzil Maya people in the Mexican state of Chiapas.The structure and characteristics of ordinary, routine Zinacanteco or Tzotzil conversation constitute socializing, and are essential elements of social interactions with Indians or non-Indian ladinos. Certain maxims or principles govern well-formed conversations, and are based on a logic of deduction and inference. Emerging from certain concepts of human inter-relationships, words and phrases do not occur in isolation; they form a part of a sequence of linguistic elements which are related to the social context. Conversational Implications: An example is that: a person sitting in a room looks at another individual who enters the room from the rain and cold wind, leaving the door ajar. He says to the person who enters, “there’s a draft”. The declarative sentence “there is a draft” is considered to be an imperative one, in which there is an indirect command or request to the other person to shut the door, which is implied in the words (Haviland: 81). Retaining of Information, Speaking of Lies, Evasiveness, Irrelevance: Frequently, the Zinacantecos violate Grice’s conversational maxims that were formulated in 1975. The maxim of quantity that one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more; and the maxim of quality that one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence (Kasher: 117), are both not followed by the Zinacantecos. Research reveals that Zinacantecos do tell premeditated lies routinely, since it is considered of crucial importance that domestic confidentiality and privacy should not be leaked out to anyone outside the family. An example for this is the case of an individual who was confined to his house due to a broken leg, and was in considerable pain and unable to walk. When a neighbour enquired of a family member, “Mi ip to li chepe?” (Is Joe still sick?), he answered “Lek xa, chanav xa jutuk” (He’s well now, he can walk a little), since all the members of the household were given detailed instructions about the exact phrasing of the lie in reply to any question regarding Joe’s condition (Haviland: 97). In the Zinacantan context, individuals expect some kind of false information rather than the truth, especially the whole truth. In fact, there is almost a tradition of interpretive technique in Zinacantan, by which a grain of truth is attempted to be extracted “from the great boulders of deception that are routinely thrown about” (Haviland, 1988: 98). For example, if an individual asks a Zinacantan flower vendor “Mi ich’am lanichime?” (Did your flowers sell well?), then he will either reply “Tey jutuk” (they sold a little bit) or “Mu xch’am” (they didn’t sell). The first reply can be correctly interpreted to mean that the vendor managed to sell the whole load, and the second answer would actually mean that although perhaps he did not manage to sell the entire load, he was able to get some profit from his sales. This reveals not only the hiding of the truth, but also the attempt to evade giving the correct information. Another example of evasiveness is seen in this case: when two people meet on a path, A asks B where he is going “Bu chabat?”. B replies “Muk’bu chibat” (I am going nowhere). If A persists in his questioning, B will continue to evade the issue by replying that he is coming from a visit; from over up yonder. When a Zinacanteco is intrusively inquisitive about someone else’s affairs “what are you doing?”, he can expect to be informed “I am not doing anything, I am just here”. A further example of the polite formula spoken by a visitor to a neighbour’s house with a definite errand, will actually deny the errand. On being questioned by the host on what the visitor had to say, he invariably replies “I am not saying anything”. Haviland (p.99) states that most normal conversation in Zinacantan are seemingly evasive, with the intention to hide information about their personal activities. Evasiveness and irrelevance is also found in Malagasy language of Madagascar, Africa, where, for example, the prominence of persons and other elements of a sentence are reduced. Instead of saying “your brother is looking for you” in Malagasy, the individual says evasively and seemingly irrelevantly to the other person, “there is looking-for going on” (Haviland: 97). All conversations, whether in Zinacantan or Tzotzil, have a three-part structure consisting of the opening, the body of the conversation, and the closing. However, in brief encounters, only the closing or leave taking is spoken. When two Zinacantecos meet on the path, A says to B “I am going”, and B replies “Go then!”. This is different from other languages where a short greeting is used in brief encounters. On the whole, there is observed a semi-cooperative minimal use of language for giving information, and in normal conversations, which is considered to be based on the general culture of safe-guarding one’s family’s privacy from others who are seen more as competitors rather than neighbours or acquaintances (Haviland: 111-112). Nonverbal Codes: In Mexican, the negative expression of “there is not any” or “nothing”is nonverbally expressed in the form of a gesture, which involves a simultaneous downwards and sideward thrust of the fore-arms, towards the person addressed, beginning with the palms facing in, fingers touching the center of the chest, a little below the neck and terminating with the palms facing out, fingers outstretched, approximately a foot from the sides of the body. The exclamation “No puedo, te digo!” is uttered simultaneously (Kaulfers: 255). In many other languages, including in the Australian Guugu Yimidhiir, where the expression is called guya, holding up the empty hand and displaying the palm is often used either as the answer, or as part of the answer along with verbal reply to an enquiry (Haviland: 91). In Mexico, the exclamation “imposible!” when expressing emphatic final negation is frequently reinforced with a brisk sideward and downward extension of the fore-arms. The gesture begins with the arms crossed at the centre of the chest, slightly below the chin, with palms open and fingers touching the shoulders. The action is completed with a full sideward thrust of the fore-arms to the hip level so that the hands extend about twenty inches from the side of the body. The exclamation is uttered concurrently with the action, with the head turned completely away from the person addressed (Kaulfers: 251). Affirmation is indicated by a gesture almost similar to that of negation. In this, the direction of the movement is the emphatic affirmative. The fore-arm is swung vertically instead of horizontally, parallel to the body, through an arc of ninety degrees, extending from the waistline to the eyes. Positiveness or emphatic affirmation is expressed by the term “seguro” , and young Mexicans accompany this utterance with the action of briskly thrusting the fore-arms sidewards and downwards, starting with the fists clenched, thumbs almost touching the nose, and ending slightly below the waist level with the fingers outstretched, palms facing down (Kaulfers: 251). Mutual gaze is considered to be an important channel of nonverbal communication. A research study conducted on Mexican American (MA) parents as opposed to European American parents by Schofeld et al (p.173). Hierarchical power arrangements are characteristic of many MA families (Baca-Zinn & Wells: 252) It was found that status differences in parent-child interactions may account for high visual dominance ratios for MA parents, as also the importance of respeto or maintenance of harmonious relationship through respect for self and others, in Mexican American families which could be the reason for children’s lowered level of gaze to show deference to parents. Respeto is mutually maintained among family members, hence may influence parent gaze as well as child gaze (Halgunseth et al: 1282). Like status difference, direct control over child behavior by Mexican American parents also impact the higher level of parental gaze. Besides these factors, acculturation was also found to be an important factor, which made both MA families and EA families similar in the level of parent-child gaze occurrence. Thus, it is seen that gestures and nonverbal codes form an essential part of normal interaction in Mexican culture. Conclusion This paper has highlighted unique verbal phrases, patterns of speech, and distinctive nonverbal codes used by Mexicans, which are related to their culture and language traditions. The evasive characteristics and hiding of truth in the social interactions of the Zinacantecos has been discussed. It is found that verbal interactions are minimalistic, and there is a tendency to deny any positivity in one’s life’s activities, such as successfully achieving something. Further, outright lies and retention of information are considered to be an acceptable part of social life. Though friendships are treasured, and good conversations are enjoyed, the safeguarding of family information from prying questions is an art that Mexicans appear to have mastered. References Baca-Zinn, M. & Wells, B. Diversity within Latino families: New lessons for family social science. In D. Demo, K. Allen & M. Fine (eds.). Handbook of family diversity: 252 -273. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). Mexico. The World Factbook. 2008. Available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/mx.html Halguneth, L.C., Ispa, J.M. & Rudy, D. Parental control in Latino families: an integrated review of the literature. Child Development, 77 (2006): 1282-1297. Haviland, John B. Minimal maxims: cooperation and natural conversation in Zinacantan. Mexican Studies. 4.1 (1988): 79-114. Kasher, Asa. Pragmatics: critical concepts. Great Britain: Routledge. Kaulfers, Walter V. Curiosities of Colloquial Gesture. Hispania, 14.4 (1931): 249-264. Mexico. Mexico: language, culture, customs and etiquette. Kwintessential Cross Cultural Solutions. 2008. Available at: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/mexico-country-profile.html Schofield, Thomas J., Parke, Ross D., Castaneda, Erica K. & Coltrane, Scott. Patterns of gaze between parents and children in European American and Mexican American families. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 32 (2008): 171-186. Hist Chnl Mgzn (The History Channel Magazine). All about Mexico. 2008. Available at: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=785&display_order=7&mini_id=1099 Read More

       Conversational Implications: An example is that: a person sitting in a room looks at another individual who enters the room from the rain and cold wind, leaving the door ajar. He says to the person who enters, “there’s a draft”. The declarative sentence “there is a draft” is considered to be an imperative one, in which there is an indirect command or request to the other person to shut the door, which is implied in the words (Haviland: 81).

       Retaining of Information, Speaking of Lies, Evasiveness, Irrelevance: Frequently, the Zinacantecos violate Grice’s conversational maxims that were formulated in 1975. The maxim of quantity that one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more; and the maxim of quality that one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence (Kasher: 117), are both not followed by the Zinacantecos. Research reveals that Zinacantecos do tell premeditated lies routinely since it is considered of crucial importance that domestic confidentiality and privacy should not be leaked out to anyone outside the family. An example of this is the case of an individual who was confined to his house due to a broken leg and was in considerable pain and unable to walk. When a neighbor enquired of a family member, “Mi ip to li chepe?” (Is Joe still sick?), he answered “Lek xa, chanav xa jutuk” (He’s well now, he can walk a little), since all the members of the household were given detailed instructions about the exact phrasing of the lie in reply to any question regarding Joe’s condition (Haviland: 97).

        In the Zinacantan context, individuals expect some kind of false information rather than the truth, especially the whole truth. In fact, there is almost a tradition of interpretive technique in Zinacantan, by which a grain of truth is attempted to be extracted “from the great boulders of deception that are routinely thrown about” (Haviland, 1988: 98). For example, if an individual asks a Zinacantan flower vendor “Mi ich’am lanichime?” (Did your flowers sell well?), then he will either reply “Tey jutuk” (they sold a little bit) or “Mu xch’am” (they didn’t sell). The first reply can be correctly interpreted to mean that the vendor managed to sell the whole load, and the second answer would actually mean that although perhaps he did not manage to sell the entire load, he was able to get some profit from his sales. This reveals not only the hiding of the truth but also the attempt to evade giving the correct information.

        Another example of evasiveness is seen in this case: when two people meet on a path, A asks B where he is going “Bu chabat?”. B replies “Muk’bu chibat” (I am going nowhere). If A persists in his questioning, B will continue to evade the issue by replying that he is coming from a visit; from over up yonder. When a Zinacanteco is intrusively inquisitive about someone else’s affairs “what are you doing?”, he can expect to be informed, “I am not doing anything, I am just here”. A further example of the polite formula spoken by a visitor to a neighbor’s house with a definite errand will actually deny the errand. On being questioned by the host on what the visitor had to say, he invariably replies “I am not saying anything”. Haviland (p.99) states that most normal conversations in Zinacantan are seemingly evasive, with the intention to hide information about their personal activities.

        Evasiveness and irrelevance are also found in the Malagasy language of Madagascar, Africa, where, for example, the prominence of persons and other elements of a sentence are reduced. Instead of saying “your brother is looking for you” in Malagasy, the individual says evasively and seemingly irrelevantly to the other person, “there is looking-for going on” (Haviland: 97).

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