SP 151 CH 3 Language and Meaning

Communication Accommodation Theory

a theory that explores why and how people modify their communication to fit situational, social, cultural, and relational contexts

Accents

are distinct styles of pronunciation can be multiple accents within one dialect.

commisives

they mean a speaker is committed to a certain course of action. Ex: "I promise," "I guarantee," or "I pledge,"

Directives

try to get another person to do something.

Expressing Needs

Stating wants or requesting help or support Ex: "I'm saving money for summer vacation. Is it OK if we skip our regular night out this week?"

social swearing

Swearing used conversationally to create social bonds or for impression management (to seem cool or attractive).

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

Language acquisition development

2-4 months. Babies can respond to different tones of voice (angry, soothing, or playful). 6 months. Babies can associate some words, like bye-bye, with a corresponding behavior, and they begin "babbling," which is actually practice for more intelligible speech to come. 8-10 months. Babies learn that pointing can attract or direct attention, and they begin to follow adult conversations, shifting eye contact from one speaker to the next. 1 year. Babies recognize some individual words (people's names, no) and basic rituals of verbal interaction such as question-pause-answer and various greetings. Shortly before or after this time, babies begin to use "melodic utterances" echoing the variety in pitch and tone in various verbal interactions such as questioning, greeting, or wanting.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using like or as

Esperanto

A constructed international auxiliary language incorporating aspects of numerous linguistic traditions to create a universal means of communication. Hopeful

unsupportive messages

At the interpersonal level, unsupportive messages can make others respond defensively, which can lead to feelings of separation and actual separation or dissolution of a relationship.

Figurative Language

Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling.

Common types of Unsupportive messages

Global labels. "You're a liar." Labeling someone irresponsible, untrustworthy, selfish, or lazy calls his or her whole identity as a person into question. Such sweeping judgments and generalizations are sure to only escalate a negative situation. Sarcasm. "No, you didn't miss anything in class on Wednesday. We just sat here and looked at each other." Even though sarcasm is often disguised as humor, it usually represents passive-aggressive behavior through which a person indirectly communicates negative feelings. Dragging up the past. "I should have known not to trust you when you never paid me back that $100 I let you borrow." Bringing up negative past experiences is a tactic used by people when they don't want to discuss a current situation. Sometimes people have built up negative feelings that are suddenly let out by a seemingly small thing in the moment. Negative comparisons. "Jade graduated from college without any credit card debt. I guess you're just not as responsible as her." Holding a person up to the supposed standards or characteristics of another person can lead to feelings of inferiority and resentment. Parents and teachers may unfairly compare children to their siblings. Judgmental "you" messages. "You're never going to be able to hold down a job." Accusatory messages are usually generalized overstatements about another person that go beyond labeling but still do not describe specific behavior in a productive way. Threats. "If you don't stop texting back and forth with your ex, both of you are going to regret it." Threatening someone with violence or some other negative consequence usually signals the end of productive communication. Aside from the potential legal consequences, threats usually overcompensate for a person's insecurity.

Contaminated messages

Messages that include mixed or misleading expressions.

Expressing feelings

When we express feelings, we communicate our emotions. Expressing feelings is a difficult part of verbal communication,

Expressing observations

When we express observations, we report on the sensory information we are taking or have taken in. Eyewitness testimony is a good example of communicating observations.

Expressing thoughts

When we express thoughts, we draw conclusions based on what we have experienced. In the perception process, this is similar to the interpretation step. We take various observations and evaluate and interpret them to assign them meaning (a conclusion).

Whole messages

Whole messages include all the relevant types of expressions needed to most effectively communicate in a given situation, including what you see, what you think, what you feel, and what you need

Divergence

a person uses communication to emphasize the differences between his or her conversational partner and his or herself.

Cultural Bias

a skewed way of viewing or talking about a group that is typically negative.

Code-switching

changes in accent, dialect, or language.

Personification

refers to the attribution of human qualities or characteristics of other living things to nonhuman objects or abstract concepts. Ex: "Crystal meth is a stalking your children whether you see it or not. You never know where it's hiding."

Facts

conclusions based on direct observation or group consensus.

Inferences

conclusions based on thoughts or speculation, but not direct observation.

Codes

culturally agreed on and ever-changing systems of symbols that help us organize, understand, and generate meaning The symbols we use combine to form language systems or codes

Connotation

definitions that are based on emotion- or experience-based associations people have with a word.

Judgements

expressions of approval or disapproval that are subjective and not verifiable.

Verbal Expressions

help us communicate our observations, thoughts, feelings, and needs

metaphor

implicit comparison of two things that are not alike and/or are not typically associated.

inference-observation confusion

jumping to conclusions

Grammar

refers to the rules that govern how words are used to make phrases and sentences.

Adjacency Pairs

related communication structures that come one after the other (adjacent to each other) in an interaction

Convergence

meaning a person makes his or her communication more like another person's.

supportive messages,

messages communicated in an open, honest, and nonconfrontational way, people are sure to come together.

Partial Messages

missing a relevant type of expression and can lead to misunderstanding and conflict.

Triangle of Meaning

model of communication that indicates the relationship among a thought, symbol, and referent and highlights the indirect relationship between the symbol and referent.

neologism

newly coined or used words.

Displacement

our ability to talk about events that are removed in space or time from a speaker and situation

annoyance swearing

provides a sense of relief, as people use it to manage stress and tension, which can be a preferred alternative to physical aggression.

Affective Language

refers to language used to express a person's feelings and create similar feelings in another person,

Slang

refers to new or adapted words that are specific to a group, context, and/or time period; regarded as less formal; and representative of people's creative play with language.

Symbol

something that stands in for or represents something else. the symbols we use stand in for something else, like a physical object or an idea; they do not actually correspond to the thing being referenced in any direct way. Can be communicated verbally or nonverbally.

Jargon

special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.

Language acquisition

the process by which we learn to understand, produce, and use words to communicate within a given language group.

Dialects

versions of languages that have distinct words, grammar, and pronunciation.