Transcript speech community

Chapter 4
The World of Words
Topics
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The Symbolic Nature of Language
Principles of Verbal Communication
Symbolic Abilities
Speech Communities
Social Media and Verbal Communication
Guidelines for Improving Verbal
Communication
After studying
• Recognize the ambiguity and abstractness
of language in a particular interaction.
• Identify key principles of verbal
communication.
• Report on your own and others expectations
of gendered and other speech communities.
• Become aware of specialized language
used in social media.
• Improve your verbal communication.
German newspapers: «floated above the clouds»
with «elegance and lightness».
French newspapers: “immense concrete
giant”
• Germans saw the bridge in more feminine
ways because the German word for bridge,
brücke, is feminine.
• The French word for bridge, pont, is
masculine, which may explain why French
newspapers extolled the bridge’s size and
strength.
• Language or verbal communication shapes
how we perceive the world.
• Language is also a primary means by which
we present ourselves and build relationships
with others.
The Symbolic Nature of Language
• Words are symbols
 Symbols are arbitrary
 Symbols are ambiguous
 Symbols are abstract
• Your name is a symbol that represents you.
• The word house is a symbol that stands for
a particular kind of building.
• Love is a symbol that represents certain
intense feelings.
• All language is symbolic, but not all symbols
are language.
• Art, music, and much nonverbal behavior
are symbolic representations of feelings,
thoughts, and experiences.
3 A’s of Symbols
• Symbols are arbitrary, meaning that words
are not intrinsically connected to what they
represent.
For example, the word book, has no
necessary or natural connection to what you
are reading now. Particular words, seem right
because members of a particular society or
social group agree to use them in particular
ways, but they have no natural
correspondence with their referents.
• The arbitrary nature of language becomes
obvious—sometimes humorously so—when we
discover that our words don’t mean the same thing
in another culture.
• Because language is arbitrary, the meanings of
words can change over time. In the 1950s, gay
meant “lighthearted” and “merry”; today it is
generally understood to refer to people who prefer
same-sex partners.
• Calling someone a geek or nerd used to be
an insult, but today these terms often
convey admiration of someone’s
technological expertise.
• In the 1970s some people noticed that
women were referred to as Miss or Mrs.,
which indicate marital status, whereas men
were referred to as Mr., which does not
connote marital status.
3 A’s of Symbols
• Symbols are ambiguous because what
they mean isn’t clear-cut.
The term affordable clothes means different
things to people who earn the minimum wage
and to people who are affluent.
• In learning language, we learn not only
words but also the meanings and values
attributed to them by our society.
In the United States, most children learn that dogs
are four-footed creatures who are friends, members
of the family, or are useful in guarding, herding, and
so forth. In some other countries, children learn that
dogs are four-footed creatures that, like other
animals, are food for humans.
Because symbols are ambiguous,
there is no guarantee that people will
agree on what words mean.
3 A’s of Symbols
• Finally, symbols are abstract, which means
that they are not concrete or tangible.
Words stand for ideas, people, events,
objects, feelings, and so forth, but they are
not the things they represent.
• We can lessen the potential for
misunderstanding by using less abstract
language.
It’s clearer to say, “I wish you wouldn’t interrupt
when I’m talking” than to say, “Don’t be so
dominating.”
It’s clearer to say, “On Fridays, men don’t need to
wear ties, and women don’t need to wear heels”
than to say, “Casual dress is okay on Fridays.”
Principles of Verbal Communication
• Language and culture reflect each other
• The meanings of language are subjective
• Language use is rule-guided
 Communication rules
– Regulative rules
– Constitutive rules
• Punctuation shapes
meaning
The Demand-Withdrawal Pattern
Symbolic Abilities
• Language defines phenomena
 Language shapes perceptions
 Language can totalize
 Language shapes and
reflects relationships
Symbolic Abilities
• Language evaluates
 Language reflects and shapes perceptions
 Language can be loaded
 Language can degrade others
• Language organizes perceptions
 Language allows abstract thought
 Language can stereotype
Symbolic Abilities
• Language allows hypothetical thought
 We can think beyond immediate, concrete
situations
 We live in three
dimensions of time
 We can foster
personal growth
Symbolic Abilities
• Language allows self-reflection
 Self-reflection allows us to monitor
communication
 Self-reflection allows us to manage our image
Speech Communities
• A speech community exists when people
share norms about how to use talk and what
purposes it serves.
 Defined by shared understandings of how to
communicate rather than
countries or geographic
locations
Gender Speech Communities
• Gender speech communities
 Socialization into gender speech communities
 Gendered communication in practice
 Misunderstandings between gender speech
communities
Guidelines for Improving
Verbal Communication
• Engage in dual perspective
• Own your feelings and thoughts
 Rely on I language rather than you language
Guidelines for Improving
Verbal Communication
• Respect what others say about their feelings
and thoughts
• Strive for accuracy and clarity
 Be aware of levels of abstraction
 Qualify language
– Static evaluations
– Mental indexing