Chapter 4 Outline

  1. Chapter 04
  2. To understand what language is, it is useful to look at how it differs from nonverbal communication, as well as its unique characteristics.
    1. Verbal and nonverbal codes differ from one another
      1. Nonverbal codes are generally analogic.
        1. Signs are part of the concept they signify
        2. Example: the lines in a realistic drawing that trace the natural shape and form of an object.
        3. Nonverbal emblems are an exception; their meaning arbitrary and conventionalized rather than natural.
      2. Verbal codes are generally digital.
        1. Signs are arbitrary and conventional symbols.
        2. Example: words, numbers, Braille.
    1. The verbal code has several characteristics that make it unique.
      1. Verbal codes consist of discrete, separable units.
      2. Language encourages the creation of new realities.
      3. Language allows abstract and logical thinking.
  3. 4 Verbal codes can be used self-reflexively.
  4. Language functions in many ways.
  5. It can conquer the silent and the unknown.
  6. It allows us to express and control emotion.
  7. It can reveal or camouflage thoughts and motives.
  8. It permits us to make and avoid contact.
  9. It allows the assertion of individual and social identity.
  10. It can be used to give or seek information.
  11. It allows us to control the world, at the same time that it controls us.
  12. It can be used to monitor and comment on the process of communication.
  13. Language can be analyzed on a number of levels.
  14. At the semantic level, we can analyze how meaning is conveyed through words.
    1. One kind of meaning, denotative meaning, is public and conventional
    2. Another kind of meaning, connotation, is private and emotionally charged.
    3. To be competent senders and receivers of messages we must be sensitive to both kinds of meaning.
  15. At the syntactic level, we can analyze how words are ordered and combined to create well-formed utterances.
    1. The rules of grammar tell language users how to combine words.
    2. We often judge people negatively if their grammar is different from ours; in truth, all language communities work out grammars some of which may violate the rules of others.
  16. At the pragmatic level, we can analyze the rules that govern the appropriate social use of language.
    1. Knowing when and how to use language is an important part of language learning.
    1. Language competence involves knowing pragmatic rules.
  17. A theory called the coordinated management of meaning (CMM) investigates the process by which we make pragmatic choices.
    1. Whenever we communicate, we perform speech acts.
      1. Speech acts are the actions we accomplish by talking.
      2. To understand content, we must recognize the speech act it is meant to accomplish.
    1. We use pragmatic rules as we process and produce speech acts.
      1. Constitutive rules allow us to translate speech acts into content, and content in to speech acts.
      2. Regulative rules tell us what speech acts are appropriate or inappropriate.
      1. The pragmatic rules we follow are sensitive to context. Meanings differ depending on the episode, relationship, life script, and cultures of communicators.
        1. Episode refers to the situation in which an interaction occurs; example: hanging out or answering questions in class.
        2. Relationships refers to the way communicators define their connection; example: friends, colleagues, enemies.
        3. Life script refers to the self-image of the participants; example: a person may see him or herself as conservative and refined or as an unconventional iconoclast.
        4. Cultural pattern refers to the social/cultural norms that govern interaction: example, middle-class American culture, teen culture.
  18. There is a power dimension to language.
    1. According to the Sapir Whorf hypothesis, language controls perception and thought.
      1. Linguistic determinism is the idea that we see and experience the world through language.
      1. Linguistic relativity is a corollary that argues that people who speak different languages think differently.
    1. By assigning words to concepts, we can make them significant; by not naming them, we can cause them to be ignored.
    1. Language usage can indicate group membership and create social identity.
      1. According to Basil Bernstein, social class is reflected in code usage.
        1. Elaborated code users, who are middle class, use a more complex form of syntax and see the primary purpose of language as that of conveying information.
        2.  Restricted code users, who are lower class, use a more rigid grammar and rely on context rather than words to convey meaning.
      2. Gender differences in language use have been identified.
        1. Men and women have been found to differ in the values they place on talk, the way they manage conversations, their vocabularies, and their sentence construction.
        2.  Men and women also differ use of tag endings, qualifiers, and disclaimers is associated with the female register.
        3.  These differences, while real, are quite slight and are affected by context.
        4.  Gender differences should be interpreted carefully.
    1. It has been argued that whoever controls language controls thought.
      1. Critical theorists point out that:
        1. Words contain implicit points of view.
        2.  The experiences of people defined as outsiders may be ignored and devalued, while the experiences of dominant groups may be valorized.
      2. Muted group theorists argue that subordinate groups may be silenced when their ways of speaking are not acknowledged.
    1. It is important to avoid language that degrades or subtly devalues others.
  19. Initiating and regulating conversation is an important communication skill.
    1. To initiate conversations, it is necessary to find a suitable topic.
      1. Experts in the art of conversation suggest looking to the situation or to the other person.
      2. Asking interesting open-ended questions is a good way to start a conversation.
      3. To keep the conversation going, participants should offer each other free information.
    1. Good conversational closings do three things.
      1. They let the other know the conversation is nearing an end.
      2. They signal supportiveness.
      3. They summarize the main topics of the interaction.
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