Looking Out/Looking In Fourteenth Edition 5 Language CHAPTER TOPICS Language Is Symbolic Understandings and Misunderstandings The Impact of Language Gender and Language Culture and Language

2 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Whip Around Think about a time when you misunderstood someone’s language. Be prepared to share aloud this experience. What caused the misunderstanding? How could you have improved your communication? 2

3 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Language Is Symbolic The Natural World Smoke means something is burning A fever means someone is ill Language Is Symbolic Connection between words and the ideas or things they represent is arbitrary

4 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Understanding and Misunderstanding Understanding Words Semantic rules=how we assign meanings to symbols “Bikes” are for riding and “books” are for reading Equivocation Statements that have more than one commonly accepted definition E.g. trees can break wind or 20-year friendships end at the altar

5 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Understanding and Misunderstanding Relative Language Words that gain their meaning by comparison Static Evaluation Statements that contain or imply the word is lead to mistaken assumptions about people E.g. Maggie is a nervous woman.

6 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Understandings and Misunderstandings Abstraction Is vague in nature Behavioral language is specific to things people do or say Abstraction Ladder Highly abstract language can lead to blanket judgments Figure 5.1

7 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Understandings and Misunderstandings Syntactic Rules Govern the grammar of language Pragmatic Rules Govern the way speech works in everyday interaction Communication as a cooperative game; all players in a game needed just like determining the rules of speech Coordination=the way conversation works when everyone plays by the same rules

8 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Understandings and Misunderstandings Pragmatic Rules Some rules shared by most people in a culture People in their own individual relationships create their own sets of rules

9 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE The Impact of Language Naming and Identity Names are more than just a simple means of identification They shape the way others think of us They shape the way we view ourselves They shape the way we act

10 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE The Impact of Language Affiliation Speech can build and demonstrate solidarity with others Convergence The process of adapting one’s speech style to match others Divergence Speaking in a way that emphasizes one’s differences from others

11 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE The Impact of Language Powerless Language Hedges Kinda, think, guess Hesitations Uh, well, er Intensifiers Really, very Polite forms Sir, madam Tag questions Isn’t it? Don’t you think..? Disclaimers I probably shouldn’t say this but Rising inflections=making a statement a question This is Dr. Brown? The test is tomorrow?

12 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE The Impact of Language Powerless Language Powerful speech is culturally based Language that is too powerful may intimidate In some situations, polite forms of speech can enhance effectiveness

13 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE The Impact of Language Disruptive language Three linguistic habits to avoid Fact-Opinion Confusion E.g. You forgot out anniversary; you don’t care about our marriage Fact-Inference Confusion E.g. Why are you mad? I’m not mad. Well, you look mad. Stop analyzing me. I'm not I just want to know why you are mad. Emotive Language Try to describe something but your emotion is displayed E.g. I think that is thrifty (you approve). It looks cheap (you disapprove)

14 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE The Impact of Language Language of Responsibility “It” Statements=replaces personal nouns “But” Statements=cancels the thought that precedes it “I” and “You” Language=take responsibility “We” Language=inclusive language Refer to page 171 of your textbook, “Table 5.4 Pronouns Use and Its Effects” (the help)

15 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Gender and Language Content Female friends spent more time discussing: Relationship problems, family, health Male friends spent more time discussing: Current events, music, sports, business These differences can lead to frustration when men and women try to converse with one another

16 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Gender and Language Reasons for Communicating Men and women use language to build and maintain social relationships How men and women accomplish these goals is different Men more likely to make conversation fun Women’s discussions tend to involve feelings, relationships, and personal problems

17 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Gender and Language Conversational Style The myth that women are more talkative than men does not hold up under scientific scrutiny Women ask more questions in same-sex conversations Men’s speech is more characteristically direct, succinct, task-oriented Women’s speech is more typically indirect, elaborate, focused on relationships

18 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Gender and Language Conversational Style Women typically use statements showing support for the other person The importance of nurturing a relationship explains why female speech is often tentative Accommodating style isn’t always a disadvantage

19 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Gender and Language Nongender Variables Ways women and men communicate much more similar than different Male and female supervisors behave the same way and are equally effective Other factors influence language use Social philosophy Gender role (the office)

20 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Culture and Language Verbal Communication Styles Low-context cultures Generally value language to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas as directly as possible. High-context cultures Generally value using language to maintain social harmony. Learn to discover meaning from the context in which a message is delivered: nonverbal behaviors, history of the relationship, etc.

21 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Culture and Language Verbal Communication Styles Language styles can vary across culture Elaborate – Succinct Americans use succinct language Arabic speakers are elaborate in language Formality – Informality Informal cultures include the US, Canada, and Australia Formal cultures include parts of Asia and Africa

22 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Culture and Language Verbal Communication Styles Language and Worldview Linguistic relativism The worldview of a culture is shaped and reflected by the language its members speak. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis=a hypothesis, first advanced by Edward Sapir in 1929 and subsequently developed by Benjamin Whorf, that the structure of a language determines a native speaker's perception and categorization of experience.

23 LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE Chapter Review Language Is Symbolic Understandings and Misunderstandings The Impact of Language Gender and Language Culture and Language