Transcript Engaging in Verbal Communication

What Is Verbal Communication?

Verbal Communication is simply the
sharing of information between
individuals through words, spoken or
written. Consider how different
professions rely on effective verbal
communication:




Professors
Doctors
Law Enforcement
Insurance Sales Agent
Rules of Verbal Communication

Regulative
 Regulate interaction by specifying when,
how, where, and with who to communicate
about certain things.

Constitutive
 Defines what a particular communication
means or stands for.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoPxRyig
vqo
Features of Language

Ambiguity
 Doesn’t have clear-cut meanings.
○ Thanksgiving may mean different things to
Native Americans and Europeans.

Abstraction
 Words aren’t the concrete or tangible
phenomena to which they refer.

Arbitrariness
 Verbal symbols are not connected to what they
represent.
Language Defines Phenomena

Totalizing - Responding to a person as if
one label totally represents that person.
 “She’s just a nerd.” or “He’s just poor.”
 Stereotyping & Totalizing are two different
aspects.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUlGWHM
JQIM
Language Evaluates Phenomena
Reappropriation – Happens when a
group reclaims a term used by others to
degrade its members, and treats that
term as a positive self-description.
 Loaded Language – Words that slant
perceptions.

○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfh92hKL
O6c
Language Organizes Experiences
Words organize our perceptions of
events and experiences.
 Stereotyping is thinking unreflectively in
broad generalizations about a whole
class of people or experiences.

 Stereotypes can be positive or negative.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_LpxldL8
h4
Language Allows Hypothetical Thought
Hypothetical Thought – Thinking about
experiences and ideas that are not part
of your concrete, daily reality.
 Hypothetical thought can enrich
personal relationships.
 Thinking hypothetically helps us improve
who we are.

○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwWDprM
FiI (1:04)
Language Allows Self-Reflection
We use language to reflect on
ourselves.
 Self-reflection is the foundation of
human identity.
 The self has 2 aspects: the “I” and the
“me”.

 The “I” responds to the inner needs &
desires.
 The “me” is the socially conscious part of
self that monitors & moderates the I
Language Defines Relationships
and Interaction

Verbal communication conveys 3
dimensions of relationship level
meaning.
 Responsiveness
○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-ieEG06qg
 Liking
○ “I really like this restaurant.” or “I really enjoy
spending time with you.”
 Power
○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJs-kC6vWUs
Qualify Language

Static Evaluation – An assessment that
suggests that something is unchanging.
 Static evaluations can be both inaccurate
and irritating.
○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_UaCZxV
2eQ (1:50)

Indexing – A technique to remind us that
our evaluations apply only to specific
times and circumstances.
I-Language & You-Language

I-Language – Identifies the speaker’s or
perceiver’s thoughts and feelings.

You-Language – Attributes intentions
and motives onto another person.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn3I6-
DBLJM
Questions

What is verbal communication?

What are the 2 rules of verbal
communication?

How many symbolic abilities are there?
PLEASE NOTE:
Chapter summarized from information found in:
Wood, Julia T. (2014). Communication Mosaics: An
Introduction to the Field of Communication. 7th Edition.
Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
These student lecture notes provide a brief summary of
Wood’s discussion on verbal communication (chapter 4)
while providing additional commentary and examples.
The information in this slideshow is based on the work
(content and organization) of Wood (2014).