Leniency and testiness in intercultural communication

As early as 1961, J.t..M. Trim made the following observation: "Onc (...) feels that the rise-fall used by many Poles in simple statements does denote intellectual arrogance, that the hea stress, syllable-by-syllable descent, and low level nucleus found in some North German statement sentences rs domineering. As a result, wc react sharply. The foreigner, bewildered, knows only that a promising friendship has foundcred for no apparent reason. Thus human relations suffer and the myths of 'national character'grow." (Trim 1961: 35, emphasis in original) In these sentences, Trim discusses the possible consequences that intercultural encounters between native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) may have at the level of group perceptions. He refers to the way in which the diverging realization by NNSs of the suprasegmental layers of the language (here, English) may lead the NS to attribute these differences to psychological characteristics of the interlocutor. Thus, Trim points out, intercultural communicative encounters can support or give rise to stereotypes about cultural, racial, or ethnic groups.