Generic power is the ability to anticipate elements in a predictable sequence in a communicative event. The article examines the role of such power in a crucial situation--the admission interview in the Republic of Singapore--and argues that generic conventions cannot be divorced from the institutional and cultural constraints peculiar to a speech…

To elucidate natural spoken conversation as a genre type, the characteristics of dyadic discourse as a "communicative genre" is focused on by examining the primary intent of utterances and the four phases of the dominant exchange structure via an interactive functional analysis of an extensive database of ordinary conversations (student,…

Examines interactional strategies in several South Asian languages. The norms that affect politeness in South Asian languages are very different from those that operate in native English. Implications for teaching English in South Asia are discussed in terms of the relationship between language and "grammar of culture." (Author/LMO)