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.A contemporary offshoot of writer responsible communication includes self-help guides, mainly for their intent on helping the reader help themselves.English is often considered a writer responsible language because of its associ-ation with short sentences and paragraphs, common use of language, omis-sion of meaningless words and phrases, avoidance of long introductory phrasesand clauses, and a desire to control sprawl.The English language is stronglyassociated with writer responsibility.Reader responsibility is more or less the opposite.Reader responsiblecommunication moves toward a centralized thesis, progresses from specificto general principles, follows induction or quasi-induction, confirms existingarguments, and frequently overlooks counterarguments.The conclusion inreader responsible writing confirms existing ideals.Languages associated withreader responsibility include but are not limited to Japanese, Chinese, Russian,French, and Spanish.The ethical aspect of communication arises when a reader expects some-thing different from the writer.Writer responsible authors may dismiss theimportance of details (insufficient context), convey the obvious (insulting),engage the reader through informal language (unprofessional), and democrat-ically argue an opinion (pointless).Reader responsible authors may spend toomuch time on details (irrelevant), deliver secondary information (unfocused),engage the reader through stylized or formal language (unprofessional), andEthics of Intercultural Writing 103forcefully argue an opinion (dogmatic).Underscoring all of these differencesis a deep sense of ethics.5.1.1 The writerDetermining who is responsible for communication is easily the most impor-tant ethical aspect of intercultural writing.Joseph Williams, writer responsibleauthor of Style, notes that the majority of his book is based on the assumptionthat we  owe readers to be clear. Williams guidelines indicate writer responsi-bility, a principle based on the assumption that accountability for misunder-standing falls on the writer.While the reader may be at fault (say, permittingone to be distracted while reading), Williams assumes the writer must doall she can to effectively deliver a message.But Williams is careful to followhis ethical principle with a polite disclaimer, noting that readers also have aresponsibility for earnestly trying to understand a complex passage.That said,Williams advice is clear use verbs, cut meaningless words, use affirmativesentences, and  write to others as you would have others write to you.Writer responsibility follows what is normally called deductive reasoning.The type of logic in which one principle directly locks onto the next principleis referred to as deduction.Deductive reasoning is seen as the foundation ofnearly the entire history of Western logic, although it has been seriously over-hauled in the past century.And when people are accused of being unreasona-ble or illogical, the reference is almost always to logical deduction.Considerthe following argument on chess.If there are no chance factors in chess then chess is a game of pure skill.There are no chance factors in chess.Therefore, chess is a game of pure skill.If the premises of this argument are true then the argument is also true.But onehas to agree that there are no chance factors in chess.One also has to agree thatchess is a game of pure skill since there are no chance factors in chess.Thus, itonly follows that chess is a game of pure skill.This kind of deductive reasoningmimics the ethical principles of writer responsibility.It is important to note that deduction is not the only kind of reasoningavailable for solving problems.And as can be seen in a game of chess, deductionis only as powerful as its premises.Each premise overlaps with the next premise.If each premise is true then it creates a sense of logical flow.The goal is to builda series of overlapping topics from beginning to end.Readers take a clearunderstanding of the topic and its reasoning.The writer has been responsible.104 Writing Around the WorldBut this also does not mean the reader must always agree.In fact, the powerof deduction is only as strong as its weakest link.Many arguments fail to per-suade because the reader simply disagrees with one or more premise in thesequence.In our game of chess, the most obvious issue is with the firstpremise chance factors are a part of chess.The ethical dimension of writer responsibility, then, is making an argumentoverlap.Premises must be vivid and accurate, and each claim must neatlyfit with its neighboring claim.Further, the entire sequence must flow frombeginning to end, leaving no missing gaps.The bulk of one s paper should bespent weaving two or three main points toward a single framework.The readeris obviously free to disagree with a conclusion, but not because the methodof reasoning is unsound.Rather, disagreement may only come in the form ofcontesting one or more premises.The ethical implications of mixing reader and writer responsible forms ofcommunication are immense, but they can be distilled into several principles.First, a writer responsible author should adapt her reader responsible proseto be flowery and ornate.Also important is emphasizing additional detail andcontext, two aspects of writing often avoided in writer responsible cultures [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]