Transcript Lecture 6 - University of Alberta

Culture and Psychology
Language and
Communication
Language and Communication
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Introduction
Functions of Nonverbal Communication
Types of Nonverbal Communication
Language Attitudes
Communication Accommodation Theory
Linguistic Relativity
What is Communication?
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Communication is a process during which
source individuals initiate messages using
conventionalized symbols, nonverbal signs,
and contextual cues to express meanings
by transmitting information in such a way
that similar or parallel understandings are
constructed by the receiving pry or parties
toward whom the messages are directed.
(Defleur et al., 1992, p. 11)
What is Language?
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Language is a sign and symbol system.
It involves a set of rules regarding the
linking of symbols to referents and their
meanings and the linking of symbols to
each other.
What is Language?
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Language includes several subsystems:
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Phonological system
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Morphological system
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grammar
Semantic system
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meaning units (e.g. words)
Syntactic system
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sounds
meaning
Pragmatic system
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use
What is Nonverbal
Communication?
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Nonverbal communication is
defined as the way in which people
communicate, intentionally or
unintentionally, without words.
Nonverbal Communication
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Functions of Nonverbal Communication
(Ekman & Friesen, 1969)
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Repeat what is said verbally
Complement or clarify verbal meaning
Contradict verbal meaning
Regulate verbal interaction
Substitute for verbal meaning
Similarities and Differences in Verbal and
Nonverbal Codes (Burgoon, Buller, &
Woodall, 1996)
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Discreteness
Syntax rules
Polysemy
Arbitrariness
Displacement
Reflexivity
Transformation
Productivity
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Analogic coding
Iconicity
Universality vs.
culture/context
bound meaning
Simultaneity
Sensory directness
Spontaneity
Nonverbal Communication
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Types of Nonverbal Communication
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Facial Expression
Kinesics
- body movement and gesture
Proxemics
- use of interpersonal space
Oculesics
- eye gaze
Haptics
- touch
Chronemics - time
Paralinguistics - vocal cues and silence
Nonverbal Communication
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Kinesics is the study of body movement
and gestures
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Illustrators -- nonverbal gestures directly
linked to language
Emblems – nonberbal substitutes for
spoken language
Nonverbal Communication
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Proxemics
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Hall (1959, 1966) Zones of Spatial Distance
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Intimate (18 inches)
Personal (18 inches to 4 feet)
Social (4 to 12 feet)
Public (12 to 15 feet)
Nonverbal Communication
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Chronemics
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Monchronic perspective: time is a scarce
resource, which must be rationed and
controlled.
Polychronic perspective: time is flexible,
used for the maintenance of harmonious
relationships.
Language Attitudes:
Definition of Attitudes
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An attitude is a mental and neural state
of readiness, organized through
experience, exerting a directive or
dynamic influence upon the individual’s
response to all objects and situations
with which it is related. (G.W. Allport,
1935)
Attitudes and Language
Variation
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“Persons have attitudes toward language
which are especially salient and influential in
initial interactions. Various linguistic features
trigger in message recipients beliefs and
evaluations regarding message senders and
these beliefs and evaluations are most likely
to affect recipient’s behaviours toward
senders in contexts of low mutual familiarity”
(Bradac, 1990, p. 388)
Standard and Non-Standard
Speech Styles
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A standard speech style is the prestige
form of a language, associated with the
higher status group in a society.
A nonstandard form is any variant from
the standard form (e.g., another
language, dialect, accent), usually
associated with the lower status group.
Hypotheses about Standard and NonStandard Speech Styles
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Inherent value hypothesis
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The standard dialect became the prestige form of
the language because it evolved as the
aesthetically ideal form of that language.
Imposed norm hypothesis
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Standard and non-standard dialects are equally
aesthetically pleasing, but the non-standard form
is viewed negatively because of social norms
which are biased against it.
Research Approaches
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Content analyses
Survey research
Experimental research
Matched Guise Technique
(Lambert, Hodgson, Gardner, &
Fillenbaum 1960)
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Independent Variable
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4 bilingual speakers read passage once in
English and once in French = 8 passages
Dependent Variable
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Height, good looks, leadership, sense of
humour, intelligence, religiousness, selfconfidence, dependability, entertaining,
kindness, ambitious, sociable, character,
likeablity
Evaluative Dimensions
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Ryan et al. (1977)
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Status
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Solidarity
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Educated-uneducated, wealthy-poor, intelligentunintelligent
Trustworthy-untrustworthy, friendly-unfriendly, kind-cruel
Zahn & Hopper (1985)
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Superiority
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Attractiveness
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Literate-illiterate, educated-uneducated, upper class-lower
class
Nice-awful, kind-unkind, good natured-hostile
Dynamism
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Active-passive, talkative-shy, enthusiastic-weak
Evaluative Dimensions:
Status and Solidarity
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Status
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Solidarit
y
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1
Hi
Low
Status Status
Group Group
Respondents from
Higher Status Group
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2
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Hi Status Group
Low Status Group
Respondents from
Lower Status Group
Language Attitudes and
Discrimination
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Compliance
Workplace
Education
Law
Medicine
Language Attitudes and Discrimination in
the Workplace (de la Zerda & Hopper,
1979)
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Accented
Unaccented
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Supervisor
Skilled
Technician
Unskilled
Worker
Other Speech Characteristics
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Lexical Diversity
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Vocabulary range, assessed through a type-token
ratio (# of new words to total words)
Evaluative reactions: status, competence, control,
persuasiveness
Speech Rate
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The number of words or syllables that speakers
utter per unit of time (per minute is the standard
unit)
Evaluative reactions: competence, persuasiveness
Other Speech Characteristics,
continued
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Language Intensity
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The quality of language which indicates the
degree to which a speaker’s attitude
toward a concept deviates from neutrality
(Bowers, 1963, p. 345)
Evaluative reactions: complex, interacts
with other variables.
Communication
Accommodation Strategies
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Convergence
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Divergence
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Moderation of a speech style, whether in terms of
lexical diversity, rate, accent, language, and/or
some other linguistic feature, to become more
similar to the interactant
Accentuation of a difference between interlocutors
on one or a number of linguistic features.
Maintenance
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Refusal to alter communication style
Communication
Accommodation Theory
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Social Exchange Theory
Similarity-Attraction Hypothesis
Causal Attributions
Psychological Group Distinctiveness
Linguistic Relativity (SapirWhorf Hypothesis)
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Linguistic Determinism
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The structure of a language strongly
influences or fully determines the way its
native speakers perceive the world.
Linguistic Relativity
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Structural differences between languages
will generally be paralleled by non-linguistic
cognitive differences in the native speakers
of the two languages.
Linguistic Relativity, cont.
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“Languages differ not so much as to
what can be said in them, but rather as
to what is relatively easy to say”
(Hockett, 1954, p. 122, original
emphases)
Linguistic Relativity, cont.
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Language
Language
Language
Language
and
and
and
and
perception
memory
reasoning
social inference