ECSTRA/ELiX Wiki: Projects/ECSTRA

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Welcome to ECSTRA (European Communicative Strategies)!

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Goal of the Project

In this project we want to compare different communicative strategies for given situations in order to find out where different European nations are similar and where they differ; in a second step we also want to find out where Europe differs from other civilizations. In a way this is an onomasiological project like EuroHiT (onomasiology deals with the question “What are the names for a thing/concept/object X?”).

NOTE: There is already a number of studies whose data we will first have to enter here (if you'd like to contribute systematically and enter the data from a specific book, contact the coordinator). In a second step we shall see where data and information are missing.

When the project is in an advanced stage, we plan to compose printed works for a general audience that will enable general and specific intercultural competence so that people will more easily manage communication with people from different nations.

We’ve started this project with the help of this questionnaire (DOC, PDF).

If you click on the Category link at the bottom there is a list of items that have so far been accepted for the Project.

Article Structure

Each article is structured the following way:

1. the entry word which expresses the general communicative act, always supplemented by “(ECSTRA)”, e.g. “greeting (ECSTRA)”
2. a list of typical situations that should be referred to in the single language sections
3. the various European language sections
4. for some countries: a reminder that regional differences might be prominent
5. a section for other annotations
6. a section for information on non-European languages
7. a section for listing frequent errors that certain non-natives make in certain languages
8. a list of relevant categories

(Here is a sample for new articles).

Guidelines

• Whenever you add information be as precise as possible: say for which situation, for which age group, for which region, for which speaker-hearer constellation your information is valid.
• Use the form of your original language and add a literal translation in one or two of the languages used on ELiX Wiki.
• Linguistic forms should be written in italics (xxx), meanings and translations should be given in single inverted commas (‘xxx’). Citations should be given in (“...”)
• If you would like to add information on another European language feel free to do so and add a new language section.
• If you would like to carry out a larger questionnaire study, please contact the project coordinator, Joachim Grzega (joachim.grzega@ku-eichstaett.de).

Remember our general guidelines:

1. ELiX Wiki permits multilingualism. For reasons of communication, though, the languages that you should use in this Wiki are the five most wide-spread languages in Europe: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.
2. We would appreciate if you registered, although this is not an absolute reguirement. Feel free to start a User page which allows others to see who you are and where you are an expert in.
3. Only add information to existing articles, don’t start new articles (except for the Project EuroLex). All articles have been deliberately chosen for the single projects. If you feel that an article should be added please write an e-mail to the main coordinator first (joachim.grzega@ku-eichstaett.de).
4. When you add information, please indicate your sources (if the information is your own personal observation, indicate this by writing “PO”; if your information is based on our questionnaire, indicate this by “Q”).
5. If you doubt the correctness of data, please discuss this on the corresponding Talk page first before you make any changes.
6. When you discuss something on the Talk page, always be friendly and be aware that different users have different expertise in different things.
7. Sign your contributions on the Talk page, but don’t sign the ones on the Article pages.
8. Try to formulate your comments as simply as possible that people with other mother tongues have a bigger chance to follow as well.
9. Use jargon if you must, but explain it, if possible.
10. Try to stick to the layout suggested—this will later facilitate working your information into books.

Frequent Sources

For studies on European communicative stategies see the bibliography in the ELiX section Varia.