Transcript SS 2311

COMN 2111
DEFINITION OF INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE
LECTURE 3c
WORDS AND MEANING
• TWO FUNDAMENTAL CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN WORDS AND MEANING
• NAMES
• WORDS WITH SHARED MEANINGS
• SYNTAX
• WORDS IN AN ORDER WE RECOGNIZE
NAMING WORDS -NOUNS
• EVERY SOCIETY HAS A LEXICON OR LIST OF
AGREED-UPON NAMES FOR OBJECTS, IDEAS
• UNANALYZABLE, SIMPLE WORDS THAT NAME
CATEGORIES OF THINGS WITH EASILY
OBSERVED DIFFERENCES
• THE NAME IS A SYMBOL BECAUSE OF
ARBITRARILY ATTACHED MEANING
SYNTAX: THE OTHER BASIS
FOR MEANING
WORDS ALSO NEED TO SPOKEN IN
AN ORDER WE ALL SHARE
MAJOR TASK OF SYNTAX
• TO TAKE SOMETHING THAT
HAS HAPPENED IN NONLINEAR ORDER
• ARRANGE IT IN LINEAR ORDER
SO IT CAN BE TALKED ABOUT
WORDS AND MEANING:
THE FIRST KIND
• DENOTATION
• THE CULTURAL LEXICON - THE BASIC, SHARED
MEANINGS OR PRIMARY MEANING OF WORDS
• NAMING - FIRST FUNCTION OF SOCIALIZATION SEPARATE THINGS BY NAME
• DEFINITION -CHILD LEARNS CATEGORIES AND
CONNECTIONS. GROUP THINGS TOGETHER UNDER
MORE ABSTRACT NAMES.
• WHAT GETS PUT WITH WHAT, INTO WHAT CATEGORY,
IS CRITICAL TO COMMUNICATION
WORDS AND MEANING:
THE OTHER KIND
• CONNOTATION
• PERSON OR GROUP-SPECIFIC MEANINGS FOR WORDS.
EMOTIONAL, SUBJECTIVE, SECONDARY MEANINGS
• WORDS HAVE BOTH CULTURAL
MEANINGS (DENOTATIVE) AND PERSONAL
MEANINGS (CONNOTATIVE)
CONNOTATION GONE NUTS!
Video Example
SYMBOLS AND MEANING
SYMBOLS ARE:
• ARBITRARY
• CAN BE ANY AGREED-UPON SOUND
• AMBIGUOUS
• GOOD FRIEND, NICE CLOTHES -MEANING?
• WHAT DOES MASCULINE-FEMININE MEAN?
• RANGE OF MEANINGS
• ABSTRACT
• CONTAIN NO CONCRETE ASPECTS OF THE
“THING” THEY REPRESENT
LANGUAGE AND
HIGHLIGHTING
• EVERY CULTURE - SOME AREAS - A MORE
DETAILED VOCABULARY THAN OTHERS
• HIGHLIGHT ONE AREA OVER ANOTHER
• EASIER TO SPEAK ABOUT THE AREA
• SOMETIMES A PROBLEM IN INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION - HARDER WORK
LANGUAGE AND GENDER:
HIGHLIGHTING
• UP TO 70’S - DENSE VOCABULARY USING THE
WORD MAN TO STAND FOR PERSON/HUMAN
• RESEARCH FOUND WE THOUGHT ABOUT MALE
NOT PERSON WHEN WORD “MAN” USED
• WHEN ASKED PEOPLE COULD THINK
ABOUT/DESCRIBE FEMALES IN ROLE - JUST
NOT AS EASILY
HIGHLIGHTING AND
STEREOTYPING
• In DEVITO’S reading in the Selected
Readings Text.
• Tries to provide up-to-date vocabulary
around male-female gender talk, racist and
heterosexist talk
• People seem to need to talk about others in
terms of their gender identities and racial
origins so he provides a vocabulary of
inoffensive labels.
WHY DO THIS?
• REMEMBER - SYMBOLS ARE ARBITRARY AND
ABSTRACT
• TO REDUCE PSYCHOLOGICAL NOISE
• SO PEOPLE WILL LISTEN
• MEANINGS ARE IN PEOPLE
• IF WE USE WORDS AT A HIGH LEVEL OF
GENERALITY WHICH OUR GROUP ACCEPTS BUT
THAT CAN IRRITATE OR EVEN EMOTIONALLY
INFLAME ANOTHER GROUP OF PEOPLE….
• CONFLICT NOT SHARED MEANING