Chapter 5 Interplay Vocabulary

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Abstraction ladder

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Hierarchy of abstraction (shows how to describe the same phenomenon at various levels of abstraction)

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Ambiguous language

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Words and phrases that have more than one commonly accepted definition

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"But" statement

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Statements that take the form "X but Y"

-Has the effect of cancelling the thought before the word "but"

-Can be a face-saving strategy at times

-If goal is to be clear, breaking "but" statements into two sentences and explaining each one as necessary lets you acknowledge both parts of the statement without contradicting yourself

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Convergence

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The process of adapting one's speech style to match that of others with whom the speaker wants to identify

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Divergence

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The process of speaking in a way that emphasizes differences to set oneself apart from others

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Emotive language

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Seems to describe something but really announces the speaker's attitude toward it

-the relational climate suffers when one uses emotive language

-common with dissatisfied couples

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Euphemism

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Innocuous terms substituted for blunt ones (ex: my friend for my period)

-means "to use words of good omen" in Greek

-can soften the impact of unpleasant information (ex: "i'm not ready for commitment" instead of "i want to date other people"

-Tendency to use euphemisms more when talking with people of higher status, probably as a way to avoid offending them

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Factual statement

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Claims that can be verified as true or false

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"I" language

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-Identifies the speaker as the source of a message

-Way of accepting responsibility for a message by describing one's reaction to a behavior without making any judgments about its worth

-3 parts: 1) Describes the other person's behavior, 2) Describes your feelings, 3) Describes the consequences the behavior has for you

-Should use all 3 parts when the chances of being misunderstood or getting a defensive reaction are high, but in other cases, 1 or 2 of the parts are sufficient

-Should be used in moderation because large doses of "I" language can sound egotistical and is a marker of self-absorbed people or conversational narcissists



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Inferential statement

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Conclusions arived at from an interpretation of evidence

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"It" statement

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-Replace the personal pronoun "I" with the less immediate and direct construction, "it's"

-Avoids responsibility for ownership of a message by attributing it to some unidentified body

-Unconscious way to avoid taking a position

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Linguistic relativism

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Notion that the worldview of a culture is shaped and reflected by the language its members speak

Ex: bilingual speakers seem to think differently when they change language

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Opinion statement

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-Based on the speaker's beliefs

-Can never be proven or disproven

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Phonological rules

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Governs how sounds are combined to form words
-Ex: even though a word is spelled the same in both English and French, it sounds different because the languages have different phonological rules

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Powerless speech mannerisms

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Language patterns that detract from a speaker's power to influence others

-Ex: hedges ("kinda", "I think..." and "I guess...", hesitations ("uh," "well," and "er), intensifiers ("so..." and "very", polite forms ("excuse me, sir"), tag questions ("...isn't it?" and "don't you think..." and disclaimers ("I probably shouldn't say this, but..."

-Speakers whose talk is free of powerless speech mannerisms are rated as more competent, dynamic and attractive

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Pragmatic rules

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-Tell us what uses and interpretations of a message are appropriate in a given context

-Ex: the relationship between comunicators, the setting of the message, and the nonverbal behaviors that accompany a statement

-Coordinated management of meaning (CMM) theory

-smooth communication is possible when all players understand the rules in the language game

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Racist language

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Language that reflects a worldview that classifies members of one racial group as inferior and others are inferior

Ex: connotations of the color white vs. those of the color black

-Step toward eliminating racist language is to make sure your own communication is free of offensive labels and slurs, both obvious and subtle (ex: modifiers used to describe others that would not be used when describing the dominant group)

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Relative language

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Language that gains meaning by comparison
-Ex: cheap and expensive, fast and slow, smart and stupid, short and long

-Problem results from failing to link the word to a more measurable term

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Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

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-Best known declaration of linguistic relativism

-Formulated by Benjamin Whorf, an ammateur linguist, and Edward Sapir, an anthropologist

-Ex: Language spoken by Hopi Native Americans represents a view that is dramatically different from that represented by most languages because it makes no distinction between nouns and verbs and thus, depicts the entire world as being constantly changing or in process

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Semantic rules

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Governs the meaning of statements

-Reflect the ways that speakers of a language respond to a particular symbol

-How we distinguish that bikes are for riding, books are for reading and what we encounter when we use restrooms marked "man" or "woman"

-without semantic rules, communication would be impossible because each of us would use symbols in unique ways, unintelligible to others

-Often don't explain how language operates in everyday life

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Sexist language

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-Includes words, phrases, and expressions that unnecessarily differentiate between females and males or exclude, trivialize, or diminish either sex

-Can affect the self-concepts of both men and women, often in subtle ways

-Can stigmatize women

-2 ways to eliminate sexist language:
1) Eliminating sex-specific terms ("they" instead of "he, she," "he and she," or "she and he") or substituing neutral terms ("humankind" or "human race" instead of "mankind," "artificial" or "manufactured" instead of "manmade" and "police officers" instead of "police men" or "police women"

2) Marking sex clearly by heightening awareness of whether the reference is to a female or a male ("chairwoman" or "chairman" instead of "chairperson"

2) Marking sex

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Static evaluation

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-The usually mistaken assumption that people or things are consistent or unchanging

-Descriptions or evaluations that contain the word "is"

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Syntactic rules

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Govern the way symbols can be arranged

-Most of us aren't able to describe the syntactic rules that govern our language, but its easy to recognize their existence when they are violated (ex: Yoda's manner of speaking"

-Sometimes apparently ungrammatical speech is just following a different set of syntactical rules, reflecting regional or co-cultural dialects (ex: Ebonics)
-Crucial to view such dialects as different rather than deficient forms of English

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"We" language

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-Implies that the issue is the concern and responsibility of both the speaker and receiver of a message

-Can help build a constructive climate by suggesing a "we're in this together" orientation

-Is immediate

-Can be presumptuous because you are speaking for the other person as well as for yourself

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"You" language

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-Expresses a judgment of the other person

-Positive judgments rarely cause problems, but critical "you" statements implies that the subject of the complaint is doing something wrong

-doesn't have to contain the pronoun "you" (ex: "don't be so critical!" and "mind your own business")

-Can arouse defensiveness because it implies that the speaker is qualified to judge the target

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Abstraction

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Generalizing about similarities between several objects, people, ideas or events

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Language is symbolic

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Words are arbitrary symbols that have no meaning in themselves

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Language is rule-governed

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-Languages work because people agree on how to use them. These agreements are codified in rules.

1) Phonological rules
2) Syntactic rules
3) Semantic rules
4) Pragmatic rules

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Coordinated management of meaning (CMM) theory

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-Describes some types of pragmatic rules that operate in everyday conversations

-Suggests that we use rules at several levels to create our own messages and interpret others' statements

-Two people might wind up confused when they are using two different rules at several levels

-Should make sure that the other person's use of language matches yours before jumping to conclusions

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Language is subjective

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-Meaning is both in and among people

-Problems occur when people attach different meanings to the same message

-Ogden and Richard's Triangle of Meaning (there is only an indirect relationship between a word and the thing or idea that it represents

-Communicators must establish a common understanding of the words they use to exchange messages (communication requires us to negotiate the meaning of our language)

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The impact of language

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1) Naming and identity

2) Credibility and status

3) Affiliation, attraction and interest

4) Power

5) Sexism and racism

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Naming and identity

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-Names shape the way others view us, the way we view ourselves, and the way we act

-Different names have different connotations

-Names shape and reinforce personal identity (in terms of ethnicity, socioecon. status)

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Credibility and status

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-The words we use and the way we pronounce them can have a powerful influence on whether others accept or reject our ideas

-Accent-free speech is judged as more credible

-Scholarly vocabulary is judged as more credible

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Affiliation, attraction, and interest

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-Speech can build and demonstrate solidarity with others

-On an individual level, close friends or lovers often develop a set of special terms (including vocabulary)that serve as a way of setting them apart from others and signifying their relationship to the world and each other

-The same process works among larger groups (ex: military personnel, street gangs)

-When 2 or more people feel equally positive about one another, their linguistic convergence will be mutual, but when communicators want or need approval, they often adapt their speech to accodomodate the other person's style (ex: immigrants in a new country and subordinates in the workplace)

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Power

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-Language patterns add to or detract from a speaker's power to influence others

-Powerful speech is not as effective in Asian and Latin American cultures as it is in American and European culture

-Counting the number of powerful or powerless statements won't always reveal who has the most control in a relationship because social rules and the importance of achieving both content and relational goals mask the real distribution of power

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Precision and vagueness

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1) Ambiguous language

2) Abstraction

3) Euphemism

4) Relative language

5) Static evaluation

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Ambiguous language

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-Most misunderstandings that arise from ambiguity are trivial, but other misunderstandings can be more serious

Ex: the word "love" has 6 different meanings

-The responsibility for interpreting statements accurately lies with the receiver in large part because its difficult to catch and clarify every instance of ambiguous language (feedback i.e. questioning or paraphrasing, can help clear up misunderstandings)

-Ambiguous language has its uses (ex: avoids hurting someone's feelings when they ask your opinion)