Can One Not “Not Communicate? Proseminar in Communication—COM 422 John R. Baldwin—Illinois State University

Pragmatics of Communication Background (Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967) Gregory Bateson and the study of schizophrenic children Hmmm…The problem may not be in the child…it must be in the ____________. Communication double-binds Discrepancy in messages (especially verbal and nonverbal) What’s going on in this video? Lindenstrasse (German Soap Opera) Erich, Helga, Marion (22:00)

WB&J’s 5 Axioms One cannot not communicate All communication has content + relationship The nature of relationship depends upon how partners punctuate sequences Humans communicate digitally and analogically All interchanges are symmetrical or complementary

Some thought questions How do the axioms relate to family or relational “systems” (something we may talk about later in the course?) For WB&J, what defines Communication? Message? Interaction?

Compare and Contrast Relationship/ Analog Content / Digital “Defines relationship, “imposes behavior” “Describes things” (report)

One Cannot Not Communicate What do the authors mean? When would this axiom apply for WB&J? How do other axioms relate to this one, if at all? (some may relate more than others!)

Applying the axioms Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!

More on communication…

Language in a System: Communication Sending Meaning All of These Receiving Interpreting Conceptual Pragmatic

ALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS HAVE A MODE OF TRANSMISSION SIGNS SIGNALS

ALL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS HAVE PRAGMATIC FUNCTION

TRUE LANGUAGE-BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS HAVE CONCEPTUAL FUNCTION INTERCHANGEABILITY CULTURAL TRANSMISSION ARBITRARINESS DISCRETENESS DISPLACEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

Language productivity (continued) EMERGENT EVOLVES BUT ALWAYS RULE GUIDED (set by language and culture) Phonetic Semantic Syntactic Pragmatic

A thought question:

A first look at a class exercise