Article Title

A communications model of culture contact

Authors

James A. Yost, SIL-UND

DOI

10.31356/silwp.vol17.23

Abstract

From the introduction: "Most anthropologists currently involved in the study of culture contact recognize the importance of adequate communication for successful transmission of ideas or traits. Some, such as Niehoff, have made explicit the importance they feel it has: "Communication by the innovator is probably the single most important kind of action in which he will engage, since it is a prerequisite for everything else that follows. No ideas or techniques can be transferred from one person to another unless there are channels of communication established to transfer them, and these are the patterns of communication. If no adequate patterns of communication are established, the other innovator techniques cannot take place. (Niehoff, 1966:15). However few investigators concentrate upon the formal properties of communication itself when dealing with cross-cultural contact situations. Much, of course, has been done by social psychologists dealing with communication at an intra-cultural level, but few studies follow the pattern established by Eisenstadt (1952) in dealing with communication at an inter-cultural level.

"The format of this paper will be to briefly note possible definitions of communication, to note some proposed models of communication and, finally, to attempt to determine if these models are appropriate for the cross-cultural contact situation."

Recommended Citation

Yost, James A. (1973) "A communications model of culture contact," Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session: Vol. 17, Article 23.
DOI: 10.31356/silwp.vol17.23
Available at: https://commons.und.edu/sil-work-papers/vol17/iss1/23