A book says:

|Overlap vs. interruption (speaking at the same time).
....
|Germans often start speaking while others are speaking in
|order to show eager involvement in the conversation. To an
|American who believes that only one person should be speaking
|at a time, this overlap comes across as an interruption, an
|attempt to take the floor before the American has finished.
|The American will probably yield the floor, feeling
|interrupted, convinced that the German wants only to speak,
|not to listen. But the German who intended the overlap as a
|show of enthusiasm will conclude that the American has no
|more to say or is unwilling to contribute ideas to the conversation.

My comment: Remembering the deliberations of a German-
speaking jury I just watched on TV, I have the impression
that, there, the interruptors try to find the sweet spot for
an "interruption" which happens just at the point where the
speaker was about to finish speaking anyway. If a speaker
was not finished yet, he will usually protest, "I wasn't finished
yet." or "Please let me finish!", which will then be respected.

* Stefan Ram:

> A book says:
>
>|Overlap vs. interruption (speaking at the same time).
> ...
>|Germans often start speaking while others are speaking in
>|order to show eager involvement in the conversation. To an
>|American who believes that only one person should be speaking
>|at a time, this overlap comes across as an interruption, an
>|attempt to take the floor before the American has finished.
>|The American will probably yield the floor, feeling
>|interrupted, convinced that the German wants only to speak,
>|not to listen. But the German who intended the overlap as a
>|show of enthusiasm will conclude that the American has no
>|more to say or is unwilling to contribute ideas to the conversation.
>
> My comment: Remembering the deliberations of a German-
> speaking jury I just watched on TV, I have the impression
> that, there, the interruptors try to find the sweet spot for
> an "interruption" which happens just at the point where the
> speaker was about to finish speaking anyway. If a speaker
> was not finished yet, he will usually protest, "I wasn't finished
> yet." or "Please let me finish!", which will then be respected.

Like some other characterization of "German" vs. "American" language
behavior you quoted here, it reminds me a lot of the difference between
East-coast Americans (speaking with overlap, louder, more direct) and
West-coast Americans that Deborah Tannen studied, in her less popular
work.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Tannen#%22High-involvement%22_vs._%22high-considerateness%22>

--
I hate the space-time continuum!
-- Dreamer, Supergirl S06E18

On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 11:58:16 AM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote:
> * Stefan Ram:
>
> > A book says:
> >
> >|Overlap vs. interruption (speaking at the same time).
> > ...
> >|Germans often start speaking while others are speaking in
> >|order to show eager involvement in the conversation. To an
> >|American who believes that only one person should be speaking
> >|at a time, this overlap comes across as an interruption, an
> >|attempt to take the floor before the American has finished.
> >|The American will probably yield the floor, feeling
> >|interrupted, convinced that the German wants only to speak,
> >|not to listen. But the German who intended the overlap as a
> >|show of enthusiasm will conclude that the American has no
> >|more to say or is unwilling to contribute ideas to the conversation.

That is utter nonsense. Why the hell is Stefan incapable of
identifying his sources? What is "a book"?

> > My comment: Remembering the deliberations of a German-
> > speaking jury I just watched on TV, I have the impression
> > that, there, the interruptors try to find the sweet spot for
> > an "interruption" which happens just at the point where the
> > speaker was about to finish speaking anyway. If a speaker
> > was not finished yet, he will usually protest, "I wasn't finished
> > yet." or "Please let me finish!", which will then be respected.

??? Jury deliberations are not secret?????

Stefan _is_ still in the Stasi!

> Like some other characterization of "German" vs. "American" language
> behavior you quoted here, it reminds me a lot of the difference between
> East-coast Americans (speaking with overlap, louder, more direct) and
> West-coast Americans that Deborah Tannen studied, in her less popular
> work.

I have the distinct impression that the Thanksgiving dinner that Tannen
has been writing about for many decades now was in Philadelphia. (I've
heard her speak several times but never found it interesting enough to
read her stuff.)
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Tannen#%22High-involvement%22_vs._%22high-considerateness%22>

On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 11:58:16 AM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote:
> * Stefan Ram:
>
> > A book says:
> >
> >|Overlap vs. interruption (speaking at the same time).
> > ...
> >|Germans often start speaking while others are speaking in
> >|order to show eager involvement in the conversation. To an
> >|American who believes that only one person should be speaking
> >|at a time, this overlap comes across as an interruption, an
> >|attempt to take the floor before the American has finished.
> >|The American will probably yield the floor, feeling
> >|interrupted, convinced that the German wants only to speak,
> >|not to listen. But the German who intended the overlap as a
> >|show of enthusiasm will conclude that the American has no
> >|more to say or is unwilling to contribute ideas to the conversation.
> >
> > My comment: Remembering the deliberations of a German-
> > speaking jury I just watched on TV, I have the impression
> > that, there, the interruptors try to find the sweet spot for
> > an "interruption" which happens just at the point where the
> > speaker was about to finish speaking anyway. If a speaker
> > was not finished yet, he will usually protest, "I wasn't finished
> > yet." or "Please let me finish!", which will then be respected.
>
> Like some other characterization of "German" vs. "American" language
> behavior you quoted here, it reminds me a lot of the difference between
> East-coast Americans (speaking with overlap, louder, more direct) and
> West-coast Americans that Deborah Tannen studied, in her less popular
> work.
>
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Tannen#%22High-involvement%22_vs._%22high-considerateness%22>

Trying to read English vs German crime shows is funny, because German uses so many fewer conjuctions.

On 2022-07-09 16:23:39 +0000, Peter T. Daniels said:

> On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 11:58:16 AM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote:
>> * Stefan Ram:
>>
>>> A book says:
>>>
>>> |Overlap vs. interruption (speaking at the same time).
>>> ...
>>> |Germans often start speaking while others are speaking in
>>> |order to show eager involvement in the conversation. To an
>>> |American who believes that only one person should be speaking
>>> |at a time, this overlap comes across as an interruption, an
>>> |attempt to take the floor before the American has finished.
>>> |The American will probably yield the floor, feeling
>>> |interrupted, convinced that the German wants only to speak,
>>> |not to listen. But the German who intended the overlap as a
>>> |show of enthusiasm will conclude that the American has no
>>> |more to say or is unwilling to contribute ideas to the conversation.
>
> That is utter nonsense. Why the hell is Stefan incapable of
> identifying his sources? What is "a book"?

That's one of the great mysteries about Stefan's posts. I doubt whether
he's likely to change.

--
Athel -- French and British, living mainly in England until 1987.

On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 2:33:18 PM UTC-4, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2022-07-09 16:23:39 +0000, Peter T. Daniels said:
> > On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 11:58:16 AM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote:
> >> * Stefan Ram:

> >>> A book says:
> >>> |Overlap vs. interruption (speaking at the same time).
> >>> |Germans often start speaking while others are speaking in
> >>> |order to show eager involvement in the conversation. To an
> >>> |American who believes that only one person should be speaking
> >>> |at a time, this overlap comes across as an interruption, an
> >>> |attempt to take the floor before the American has finished.
> >>> |The American will probably yield the floor, feeling
> >>> |interrupted, convinced that the German wants only to speak,
> >>> |not to listen. But the German who intended the overlap as a
> >>> |show of enthusiasm will conclude that the American has no
> >>> |more to say or is unwilling to contribute ideas to the conversation.
> > That is utter nonsense. Why the hell is Stefan incapable of
> > identifying his sources? What is "a book"?
>
> That's one of the great mysteries about Stefan's posts. I doubt whether
> he's likely to change.

Oh, hello. Did you find the disquisition you requested on Syriac useful?