Core concepts in Communication Studies Midterm

Initiation

"We need to talk." "Can we work through this?" "Have you had THE TALK?"

Reaffirmation

"We're good, right?" or "I'm sorry, I really am, but this isn't working for me."

Acknowledgement

"Yes, we do." "OK, let's talk."

Speech community

(Professional, school, work) individuals acquire beliefs about appropriate ways to speak and interpret which are shared by members of the same community

Paralinguistic's/prosody

(the sight of sound and talk); controlled enunciation, upward intonation, dialects, accents, communication accommodation theory

Communication

A field of study that began in 400 BC by Aristotle The study of processes of constructing meaning A department in the college of liberal arts and science A symbolic term within a specific cultural group of people More than information transfer

Sign

A physical object connected closely with another physical object Ex: Smoke=fire

Symbol

A physical object connected to a thought, emotion, idea

Symbolic code

A system of symbols that together are meaningful

Face-threatening speech acts

Advice, reproach, commands and requests

Examples of speech acts

Advice, reproach, gossip, request, brown-nose

Rhetorical Perspective

All about choices between alternatives

Cultural Perspective

All about patterns and contrast

Accounts

An attempt to repair social trouble Ex: "I'm so sorry, I completely spaced out" vs. "I'm so sorry you misunderstood."

Ideology

An evaluation backed up by power

Stigmatized dialect

Associated with lack of education, sophistication, power

Prestige dialect

Associated with power, wealth, education

Directives

Attempt to get another person to do something "Hey I need a ride" or "Would you mind picking me up?" command vs. request

Facework

Attempts to protect a desired identity

Functions of speech acts

Build and change identities, build and change relationships, facework

Communication is

Close, supportive, flexible

Commissives

Commit a speaker to a future course of action with regard to another Threatening, promising, offering

Miller

Communication is the study of intentional construction of meaning Communication happens when a source transmits a message to a receiver Intention=meaning

Identity

Constructed in communication

Constitutive view of communication

Creating realities through symbolism, communication constitutes reality

Mere talk is

Distant, neutral, rigid

Fishing

Form of indirectness

Master identity

Gender, race, age, nationality

Relational language

How content should be understood

Steps in the communication ritual

Initiation, acknowledgement, negotiation, reaffirmation

Metacommunication

Lies in-between intentional and unintentional How we say a word determines how it makes sense to others

Content language

Literal meaning

Disclaimers

Metacommunication about intentions Ex: "This is just my opinion but..." (I'm right you're wrong)

WBJ

One cannot NOT communicate Communication occurs unconsciously and unintentionally Meaning=interpretation

Communication accommodation theory

People's talk converges toward those they like, admire People's talk diverges away from those they dislike, disdain, disagree with

Elite bilingualism

Prestige dialect

Representatives

Report a state of affairs in the world Informing, reporting, commenting, describing "It's raining outside." "Randy was 20 minutes late to the school board meeting

Indirectness

Risk of confusion about intention, benefit of face redress, sensitive info kept out of view

Directness

Risk of face threat, benefit of clarity, mutual knowledge

Face redress

Saving or creating a valued personal identity of self or other

Negotiation

Share feelings, perspectives; listen supportively; be flexible (open) to changing self, other, or the relationship

Dialects

Spoken form of a language EX: vocabulary, accents, grammar

Folk bilingualism

Stigmatized dialect

Naming practices

Symbolic communication in everyday life

Cultural code

System of evaluating behavior

Moral code

System of norms (behavioral rules) and their meanings

Speech code

System of symbolic terms that you can hear people using. Operate within a system

Culture

Systems of expectations and evaluations

Appropriation

Taking over a symbol and claiming a new, more positive meaning for it

Bilingualism

The brain and the cultural/rhetorical world

Expressives

The primary function is to display or reveal a speaker's feelings

Speech act

The social meaning of a short segment of talk Characteristics- multifunctional, longer than one utterance, situated within speech communities

Face threat

Threatening a valued personal identity of self or other

Declaratives

Transform people and situations from one type to another Single people "I know pronounce you husband and wife." Now are formed into a married couple

Interactional identity

Weird, funny, boss

SMCR model

a process of creating meaning and working within systems of meaning Sender-message-channel-reciever

Personal/relational identity

son, daughter