高语境与低语境

传媒学概念。美国学者霍尔曾提出了高语境传播与低语境传播。高语境传播（HC）的指的是，在传播是绝大部分信息或存于物质语境中，或内化在个人身上，极少存在于编码清晰的被传递的讯息中；低语境（LC）正好相反。东方社会很多都是“高语境”社会，例如：日本。

具体来说，高语境传播的特征是：在沟通过程中，只有很少的信息是经过编码后被清晰传递出来的，人们在交往过程中重视“语境”而非“内容”，注重建立社会信任，高度评价关系和友谊，关系的维持比较长久。沟通是含蓄的，人们对含蓄的信息非常敏感，个体从早期就学会了准确解释这些含蓄的信息。具有权力的人对下属行为负有个人责任。信任是人们履行协议的基础，协议常以书面形式确定。“圈外人”较为容易辩识，但很难进入“圈内人”的群体，在商务谈判过程中人们不太重视时间，却拘泥于形式。

他指出，有着伟大而复杂文化的中国就处于的高语境顶端，是东方文化的代表。而美国、奥地利以及大部分北欧文化倾向于低语境。他认为，美国人与中国人在传播行为方面的差异，集中体现在对直爽和委婉的偏好。研究认为：美国人偏好直言不讳；中国人强调社会和谐不直接表露自己情感，蔑视言语上的咄咄逼人。由于重视间接交流，接受者的敏感性与领会话外音的能力以及理解隐含意义的能力变得尤为关链。在西方人们通过诸如辩论和公共演讲等正式的训练，尽力提高传者的效率；而东亚人则尽力提高受者的敏感度。当人们排除了脑中所有的先入之见，使自己的头脑像镜子一般清晰时，就达到了最高的敏感阶段。当心心相印时，理想的根本不需要使用语言的交流就随之而来了。霍尔的高低语境文化概念说明人们在初次交往中消减不确定性的方式会有不同。他指出在高语境文化中，言语交流的数量并不重要，重要的是言语交流种类。具体而言，高语境文化的人们会寻求背景信息(如父亲的职业、宗教信仰)来消减不确定性。此种信息的收集，使高语境文化的人们对陌生人未来的行为上的预测有较大的把握。东方的高语境文化常被称为“不接触”文化，这种文化的成员与低语境“接触”文化相比较少地进行触摸和目光对视，交流时站在较远的距离之外，在初次交往中较少地使用非言语行为。另外，高语境文化对模糊的场合难以容忍，所有场合，哪怕只是社交集会，也要设定必须遵守的行为规范。

在高语境文化中，一个信号的大部分信息都蕴藏于语境和／或内化于个人之中，所以，可以说高语境文化的人比低语境文化的人在与陌生人交谈时更为谨慎。因此就可以说，人们在高语境文化下与陌生人初次交往时，不会有很多非言语行为。而且由于高语境文化的人群易趋同类性，这种文化下的人们比在低语境文化下更易用陌生人的文化背景来推测他们。如霍尔所说，高语境文化的人们更易意识到文化的筛选作用，而正因为此，用以预测一个陌生人的行为的惟一方法便是去了解他／她的背景，而收集与

当时场合有关的信息丝毫不能提高他们的归因自信心。而且，因为他们不了解陌生人且陌生人的行为不可预测，高语境文化成员在与他们交往时倾向于十分谨慎。对于高语境下的发言者来说，时间选择也是十分关键的。因为要尽量避免尴尬，私下议论被发展成了一种艺术形式。科恩指出“对于外人来说，高语境中的个人可能看起来不够真诚、可疑并且不怀好意，但其实这些个性特征只不过是一种外表而已，其实质是为了维护社会协调所必不可少的礼貌和委婉”

廷图美（Stella Ting-Toomey）认为：“与高语境传播联系在一起的是集体道德??维持脸面和群体协调”其传播方式是暗指式而不是直截了当的，他们仔细斟酌用语，谎言如果能够避免不愉快那么就可以接受。在高语境文化中还必须营造出一种个人关系作为未来利益伙伴关系的基础，实际上，这时的关系本身被当作了一种目的

低语境文化

目录

低语境文化内涵

低语境文化的成因及其交际方式

编辑本段低语境文化内涵

人类学家爱德华·霍尔认为传播的环境可以扩大到文化范畴。根据交流中所传达的意义是来自交流的场合还是来自交流的语言，它将文化分为高语境和低语境两种。霍尔使用下列方法定义高低语境:“高语境的交流或讯息是指大多数信息都已经体现出来了，只有极少的信息清楚地以编码的方式进行传达。低语境的交流正好相反，即大多数信息都是通过外在的语言方式进行传达。”

编辑本段低语境文化的成因及其交际方式

在剧烈变化的社会中，人们面对的往往直接就是信息的内容本身，很好涉及社会背景和说话人背景，就导致了传播内容的复杂和多变。在低语境文化中，语言传达了大多数信息，语境和参与者方面只包含极少的信息。每次他们和别人交流的时候都需要详细的背景信息，这样才能达成比较好的交流效果。

High and Low Context

Definitions of High and Low Context Main differences Entering a High or Low Context Situation

The general terms "high context" and "low context" (popularized by Edward Hall) are used to describe broad-brush cultural differences between societies.

High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. Your family is probably an example of a high context environment.

Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave.

High Context

?Less verbally explicit communication, less

written/formal information

?More internalized understandings of what is

communicated

?Multiple cross-cutting ties and intersections with others

?Long term relationships

?Strong boundaries- who is accepted as belonging vs who is considered an "outsider"

?Knowledge is situational, relational.

?Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around

a central person who has authority.

Examples:

Small religious congregations, a party with friends, family gatherings, expensive gourmet restaurants and neighborhood restaurants with a regular clientele, undergraduate on-campus friendships, regular pick-up games, hosting a friend in your home overnight.

Low Context

?Rule oriented, people play by external rules

?More knowledge is codified, public, external, and

accessible.

?Sequencing, separation--of time, of space, of activities, of relationships

?More interpersonal connections of shorter duration

?Knowledge is more often transferable

?Task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done, division of responsibilities.

Examples:

large US airports, a chain supermarket, a cafeteria, a convenience store, sports where rules are clearly laid out, a motel.

While these terms are sometimes useful in describing some aspects of a culture, one can never say a culture is "high" or "low" because societies all contain both modes. "High" and "low" are therefore less relevant as a description of a whole people, and more useful to describe and understand particular situations and environments.

Ways that High and Low Context Differ

1.The Structure of Relationships

o High:

Dense, intersecting networks and longterm relationships, strong boundaries,

relationship more important than task

o Low:

Loose, wide networks, shorter term, compartmentalized relationships, task

more important than relationship

2.

3.Main Type of Cultural Knowledge

o High:

More knowledge is below the waterline--implicit, patterns that are not fully

conscious, hard to explain even if you are a member of that culture

o Low:

More knowledge is above the waterline--explicit, consciously organized Entering High and Low Context Situations

High contexts can be difficult to enter if

you are an outsider (because you don't

carry the context information internally,

and because you can't instantly create

close relationships).

Low contexts are relatively easy to enter

if you are an outsider (because the

environment contains much of the information you need to participate, and because can you form relationships fairly soon, and because the important thing is accomplishing a task rather than feeling your way into a relationship).

Remember that every culture and every situation has its high and low aspects. Often one situation will contain an inner high context core and an outer low context ring for those who are less involved.

For instance, a PTA is usually a low context situation: any parent can join, the dates of the meetings, who is president, what will be discussed, etc. are all explicitly available information, and it is usually fairly clear how to participate in the meetings.

However, if this is a small town, perhaps the people who run the PTA all know each other very well and have many overlapping interests. They may "agree" on what should be discussed or what should happen without ever really talking about it, they have unconscious, unexpressed values that influence their decisions. Other parents from outside may not understand how decisions are actually being made. So the PTA is still

low context, but it has a high context subgroup that is in turn part of a high context small town society.

NOTE:

When you enter a high context situation, it doesn't immediately become a low context culture just because you came in the door! It is still a high context culture and you are just (alas), ignorant. Also, even low context cultures can be difficult to learn: religious dietary laws, medical training, written language all take years to understand. The point is that that information has been made conscious, systematic, and available to those who have the resources to learn it.

语境文化

语境文化，即context culture，是指说话人所在的言语,社团的文化背景与社会距离,其在跨文化交际中起着重要作用,并以最深刻微妙的方式影响着人们的行为，常常极大影响句子的意义。

目录

tendency to use high context messages over low context messages in routine communication. This choice of communication styles translates into a culture that will cater towards in-groups, an in-group being a group that has similar experiences and expectations, from which inferences are drawn. In a high context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. Words and word choice become very important in higher context communication, since a few words can communicate a complex message very effectively to an in-group (but less effectively outside that group), while in a lower context culture, the communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important.

编辑本段概念来源：

语境是使用语言的环境，包括一切主客观因素。美国文化人类学家爱德华·T·霍尔在1976 年出版的《超越文化》一书中，提出文化具有语境性，并将语境分为高语境（High Context，即HC）和低语境（Low Context，即LC）。Hall认为：“任何事物均可被赋予高、中、低语境的特征。高语境（HC）事物具有预先编排信息的特色，编排的信息处于接受者手里及背景中，仅有微小部分存于传递的信息中。低语境（LC）事物恰好相反，大部分信息必须处在传递的信息中，以便补充语境中丢失的部分（内在语境及外在语境）。”在高语境文化中，说话者的言语或行为意义来源于或内在化于说话者当时所处的语境，他所表达的东西往往比他所说的东西要多。而在低语境文化中，人们强调的是双方交流的内容，而不是当时所处的语境。同时，他还把世界各国区分为高语境文化国家和低语境文化国家，“所谓低语境是指一切都需要用语言讲清楚，也就是说双方并没有分享一个共同的语境”，“所谓高语境是指许多的意思都包括在语境之中，不需要每一点都明白无误地讲出来”。

编辑本段语境文化的分类

Gudykunst等根据Hall的理论，将12个不同文化背景的国家按“高语境”到“低语境”的方式排列为：中国、日本、阿拉伯、希腊、西班牙、意大利、英国、法国、美国、斯堪德纳维亚、德国、瑞士。从上面的排列方式不难看出，中国属于典型的高语境国家，美国则“只是偏向了天平较低的一方”，属于低语境国家。究其原因，中国属于农业国，民众安土重迁，彼此互相熟知，联系密切，有着长期共同的生活经历和背景，形成高语境文化；而美国正好相反，属于工业国，人口迁量大、速度快，加上“个人主义”和“隐私”的观念，使人们相互之间不易培养共同的生活经历和背景，在交流中不得不靠语言来表达，由此形成低语境文化。

语境文化的分类

编辑本段语境文化差异的影响

M.W.Lustig和J.Koester把HC和LC文化及交际的差别概括为：

HC和LC几乎具有完全相反的特征，HC文化主要依赖于人们思想预先设定的、先入为主的程序来传达信息；而LC文化则相反，它强调的是理性和逻辑，也就是在理性的基础上用逻辑的方法一步一步地推导出结论。换句话说，高语境中语义的承载更依赖其语境，语义主要从预设的非语言及语境中衍生出来，交际的语言本身常常不涵盖所有的信息；而在低语境文化中，语义主要包含于进行交际的语言里，其字面意义就是最大化的涵义。

扩展阅读：

?1

Diversity

?2

Higher context cultures are more common in the eastern cultures than in western,

and in countries with low racial diversity. Cultures where the group/community

is valued over the individual promote the in-groups and group reliance/support

that favor higher context cultures. Co-cultures are also conducive to higher c

ontext situations, where the small group relies on their common background to e

xplain the situation, rather than words. A lower context culture tends to expla

in things further, and it is thought that this may be related to the need to ac

commodate individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds.

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