Open AccessPower Distance and Verbal Index in Kazakh Business Discourse
Author(s) -
Buadat Karibayeva,
Salima S. Kunanbayeva
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics and english literature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2200-3592
pISSN - 2200-3452
DOI - 10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.2p.9
Subject(s) - hofstede's cultural dimensions theory , kazakh , index (typography) , context (archaeology) , power (physics) , china , sociology , uncertainty avoidance , linguistics , social psychology , social science , psychology , political science , computer science , geography , collectivism , law , individualism , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , world wide web , archaeology
Kazakh business discourse is a relatively new area for research, and hence many of the cultural preferences are yet to be explored. This paper focuses on measuring Hofstede’s power distance index for Kazakh culture. A novel technique is proposed, where verbal index is calculated from analysis of publically available texts delivered by representatives of different cultures. In particular, we analyzed public speeches delivered by leaders ofNew Zealand,UK,Germany,Australia,USA,Greece,China,India, andKazakhstan. From these texts we derived a verbal index, which closely correlated to Hofstede’s power distance data. As a result, we were able to obtain a power distance index of 58 forKazakhstan, which was previously unavailable in literature. Furthermore, this method can be used as a cheaper alternative to conducting surveys in estimating Hofstede’s power distance indexes for different cultures