Chapter 90. RealComm4e_chapter_outline

90.1 Section Title

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Chapter 4

Verbal Communication

What to Expect

The Nature of Language
The Functions of Language
Language and Meaning
Problematic Uses of Language
Language is Bound by Context

Chapter Outline

Language is the system of symbols we use to think about and communicate experiences and feelings.
1. A word is a type of symbol-a sign used to represent a person, an idea, or a thing; together, words form the basis of language.
2. Cognitive language is the specific system of symbols a person uses to describe people, things, and situations; it influences language and is related to the person’s thoughts, attitudes, and society.
3. Language is ruled by grammar, which is the system of rules that guides the creation of words, phrases, and sentences, and helps ensure communication clarity.
  1. Phonological rules are rules about how words should be pronounced.
  2. Syntactic rules are rules about the placement of words in a sentence.
Ask Yourself:
- How do you define family? What about home? Where do these definitions come from?
- How do the rules of grammar help you communicate clearly?
Communication acquisition requires not only learning individual words in a language but also learning how to use that language appropriately and effectively in the context of the situation.
1. We use language to control, or influence, ourselves, others, and the environment.
2. We use language in an informing role, to both give and receive information. This calls on four skills.
  1. Questioning
  2. Describing
  3. Reinforcing
  4. Withholding
3. We use language to express feeling, by letting people know how much we value (or don’t value) them.
4. We use language for imagining, or expressing our ability to think, play, and be creative in communication.
5. We use language effectively by demonstrating successful ritualizing, or learning the rules for managing conversations and relationships.
Ask Yourself:
- How does language help you feel in control in a given environment?
- What steps might be involved in using language competently to inform?
Sometimes the meaning of language can change in regard to what is appropriate and effective in a given situation.
1. Language is affected by semantics, the relationship among symbols, objects, people, and concepts, and the meaning that words have for people.
2. Language is affected by pragmatics, the ability to use the symbol systems of a culture appropriately.
3. Words have multiple meanings.
  1. The denotative meaning of a word is its consistently accepted definition.
  2. The connotative meaning of a word is the emotional or attitudinal response people have to it.
4. Language can be thought of in terms of an abstraction ladder.
  1. Lower-level abstractions are specific and can help you understand more precisely what people mean.
  2. High-level abstractions are general and vague. However, they can accomplish certain communication goals.
    1. Evasion is language that excludes specific details (for example, “I have plans tonight”).
    2. Equivocation uses words that have unclear or misleading definitions (for example, “You look different”).
    3. Euphemisms replace offensive words with terms that are thought to be less upsetting (for example, “My grandfather passed away”).
Ask Yourself:
- When might it be appropriate and effective to use evasion or equivocation?
- When have you used jargon in communication? How can jargon be used to create exclusivity?
Language can lead to confusion, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and anger in communication and relationships.
1. Language that offends, threatens, or insults a person or group based upon race, religion, gender, or other identifiable characteristics is called hatespeech.
2. Hurtful language includes inappropriate, damaging, mean, sarcastic, or offensive statements that affect other(s) in negative ways.
3. The labels we choose for our beliefs affect how we communicate them to others and how others respond. When we place gender, ethnic, class, occupation, and role labels on others, we sometimes ignore individual differences.
4. Biased language is infused with subtle meanings that imply a person or subject should be perceived in a particular way.
  1. Politically correct language attempts to replace biased language with more neutral terms.
5. Language choice matters and can serve as a barrier or a bridge in communication.
  1. Profanity includes words or expressions considered insulting, rude, vulgar, or disrespectful according to a culture’s language conventions and can change into hostility based on how cultural norms shift over time.
  2. Civility refers to the social norm for appropriate behavior.
Ask Yourself:
- Think about a recent news report that you saw on television. How was biased language used? Did it influence your opinion formation on the subject?
- What is a negative communication effect of using politically correct language?
Language is bound by the context in which the communication occurs.
1. Communication accommodation theory (CAT) explains how language and identity shape communication in various contexts. CAT argues that competent communicators adjust their language and nonverbal behaviors.
2. Speech repertoires are sets of complex language behaviors or “files” of language possibilities. We call on different repertoires to find the most effective and appropriate language for a given relationship, situation, or cultural environment.
3. As we develop relationships, we learn how people prefer to be addressed and how we are comfortable addressing them, and we adjust our language accordingly.
  1. When code switching, communicators change their regular language and slang to fit into a particular group.
  2. High language is formal, polite, or “mainstream” and is used in more formal contexts.
  3. Low language is informal and easygoing, frequently involves slang, and is used in more comfortable environments.
4. Culture, gender, geography, and accommodation influence our words and thoughts.
  1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis claims that the words a culture does or doesn’t use influence its thinking. This is also called linguistic relativity theory.
  2. Slang is language that is informal, nonstandard, and usually particular to a group and can thus offer information about the speaker’s affiliations.
  3. Jargon is technical language that is specific to members of a particular profession, interest group, or hobby and may seem abstract and vague to outsiders.
  4. Cultural factors deeply affect our thinking and perception of gender roles, which are often inscribed with “different languages” for the masculine and the feminine.
    1. Interruptions are dependent on the situation and the status of the speakers. When these two factors are neutral, men tend to interrupt women considerably more often than women interrupt men.
    2. Women’s speech patterns contain more intensifiers, or words that heighten or intensify topics (i.e., “I’m really upset”).
    3. Qualifiers, hedges, and disclaimers make language sound hesitant or uncertain and are often associated with women’s speech.
    4. Tag questions are used to elicit agreement and establish a connection and are associated with feminine speech.
    5. Women’s resistance messages may use indirect language, which men may misinterpret.
  5. Speakers of the same language who hail from different geographical areas find that the culture of their environment affects their language and their understanding of the world.
5. Communicating in mediated contexts, via e-mail, text messages, tweets, and wall postings, lacks the nonverbal cues and hints (facial expression, tone of voice, etc.) that we provide in face-to-face conversation, so the language used must be very clear in order to be effective.
Ask Yourself:
- When might it be appropriate to use low language? How might using low language inappropriately affect communication competence?
- Give an example of how a resistance message might be misinterpreted or ignored.