6 what is the relationship between language and culture

Understated spiral reasoning

subtle messages, implied hints, reserved talks, relational reasons, and tactful nonverbal gestures to convey an intended meaning and context

Social penetration theory

two dimensions of self-disclosure a.Breadth refers to the number of topics a person is willing to share. b. Depth refers to the level of intimacy or emotional vulnerability a person is willing to share.

Creativity

1. Displacement feature: using language to talk about things far away in space and time 2. Productivity feature: using language to say things never said before 3. Traditional transmission feature: using language to pass on heritage and wisdom Meta-communication: indivs can garner their creative potential to use lang mindfully for mutual collaboration and understanding

social reality function

1. Language acts as a gatekeeper in naming and selecting what is considered "news" or "real" in our social environment. 2. The vocabularies from different cultures direct members' attention to the things that are important in their social experiences.

Abstractness

1. Language allows humans to engage in abstract or hypothetical thinking. 2. Experiential context means the experiential field of the person to whom the message is directed. 3. Cultural context means the cultural field of the person to whom the message is intended.

Social change function

1. Language can imprison us because it influences our way of perceiving the world "out there." 2. Language can set us free, if we mindfully change our language habits and preconceived biased notions about different identity groups. 3. Two recent trends a. Language borrowing: can indicate a added status, a necessary convenience, or a signal of ingroup connection. b. Rap music: called "bilingual" English, results in the inclusion of rap music's slang and jargon into everyday vocabulary.

Group identity Membership function

1. Language evokes group sentiment and shared identity. 2. A common tongue signals ingroup linkage and outgroup differentiation. 3. CODE SWITCHING means switching to another language or dialect to increase or decrease intergroup distance. 4. Black English is a distinctive language and is governed by rules with specific historical derivations.

arbitrariness

1. Language is an arbitrary symbolic system because the words strung together have no innate meaning. 2. It is arbitrary in phonemic (sound unit) and graphic (alphabet or characters) representation.

B. Morphological rules (or morphology)

1. Refers to how combinations of different sounds make up a meaningful word or parts of a word. 2. Phonemes combine to form morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning.

Cognitive formation function

1. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (or linguistic relativity hypothesis) asserts that language is "the shaper of ideas." a. Weak form (supported by research): Language helps to shape our thinking patterns. b. Strong form (not fully supported): Language completely determines our thinking patterns. The grammatical structure of a language shapes and constitutes one's thought process.

Johari window: self-disclosure depicted as a window with four panels

1. The open panel contains information known to self and also information known to generalized others or a specific person. 2. The hidden panel contains information known to self but unknown to others. 3. The blind panel contains information not known to self but known to others. 4. The unknown panel contains information not known to self or others. 5. Paying attention to feedback may move information from the blind to the open or hidden panels, depending on whether or not you want to share it. 6. Panel sizes can change depending on life stage, topic, and relationship.

silence

How silence is interpreted and evaluated differs across cultures and between persons.

Indirect verbal style:

Verbal statements tend to camouflage the speaker's actual Intentions and are carried out with a softer tone. (e.g., There is no need to overtly state a request or use an overt "no" to hurt the feelings of the other person, in their view.)

Direct verbal style:

Verbal statements tend to reveal the speaker's intentions with clarity and are enunciated with a forthright tone of voice.

Spiral persuasion style ranges from the dramatic to the subtle.

a. Dramatic style, such as in Arab, Italian, and Jewish cultures, uses effusive metaphors, stories, and a wide range of flowery adjectives. b. Subtle style, such as in Asian and Native American cultures, may resort to hints, implicit analogies, Zen sayings, and subtle nonverbal gestures to convey an intended meaning.

Linear persuasion style has two forms:

a. Factual-inductive form emphasizes the importance of presenting facts, evidence, eyewitness accounts, testimonials, and proofs, and from these facts proceeding to draw conclusions or generalizations. (The U.S. follows this form.) b. Axiomatic-deductive form emphasizes the importance of starting from general principles or "axioms," and then moving forward to fill in specific details. (Russians follow this form.)

Language

an arbitrary symbolic system that names feelings, experiences, ideas, objects, events, groups, people, and other phenomena. It is governed by multilayered rules.

face

claimed sense of social self-worth that a person wants others to have of her or him. Two types of face concerns in conversations: a. Self-face concern means that we are much more interested in upholding our identities and favorable self-images in our interaction with others. b. Other-face concern means that we are much more interested in providing identity respect and support for the other person's interest or need in the face-negotiation process.

Semantic rules (semantics)

concern the features of meaning we attach to words. 1. Mastering vocabulary and also cultural meaning features needed for appropriateness. 2. Denotative meaning and connotative meaning are two levels of meaning. 3. Idiom is an informal expression that has a meaning quite different from the usual meaning.

Animated conversational style

conveys more emotional expressiveness and emotional vitality. African Americans and French display this style.

Self-disclosure

deliberate process of revealing significant information about oneself that would not normally be known.

Understated conversational style

displays more emotional RESTRAINT or stoicism. The British display this style.

dramatic spiral reasoning

effusive metaphors, stories, parables, and a wide range of flowery adjectives to reinforce a point

Linear worldview

emphasizes rational thinking that is based on an objective reality. Two reasoning patterns used: a. Inductive reasoning refers to the importance of facts and evidence to make a claim. (U.S. Americans use this pattern.) b. Deductive reasoning refers to the primacy of conceptual models and theories and then a move to specific points of implications. (Europeans use this pattern.)

Self-credentialing/ self enhancement style/verbal mode

emphasizes the importance of drawing attention to or boasting about one's credentials, outstanding accomplishments, and special abilities. (Used in U.S. culture.)

self-humbling style/verbal mode

emphasizes the importance of lowering oneself via modest talk, verbal restraints, hesitations, and use of self-deprecation concerning one's effort or performance. (Used in Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Cuban American cultures.)

Informal verbal style

emphasizes the importance of upholding informality, casualness, and role suspension in verbal communication ie english

Formal verbal style

emphasizes the importance of upholding status-based and role-based interactions that reflect formality and large power distance. ie japanese

Languaculture

emphasizes the necessary tie between language and culture; have a basic grasp of the other's languaculture.

Meaning-centeredness:

five levels of meaning

Syntactic rules (or syntactics)

refer to how words are sequenced together in accordance with the grammatical practices of the linguistic community. 1. Word order helps establish meaning. 2. It also reflects a culture's notions of causality and order. 3. It exerts power on people's thinking and reasoning patterns within a culture.

Worldviews

refer to our larger philosophical outlook or ways of perceiving the world and how this outlook affects our thinking and reasoning patterns.

Pragmatic rules (pragmatics)

refer to the contextual rules that govern language use in a particular culture. 1. "How to say what to whom and under what situational conditions." 2. A speech community is a group of individuals who share a common set of norms and rules regarding appropriate communication practices.

The Phonological rules (or phonology)

refer to the different accepted procedures for combining phonemes. 1. Phonemes are the basic sound units of a word. 2. An accent means the inflection or tone of voice that is taken to be characteristic of an individual.

Complementary style

refers to a matter-of-fact tone in delivering a verbal message. European Americans display this style.

Discourse meaning

refers to denotative and connotative meaning. a. Denotative: objective, dictionary meaning b. Connotative: subjective, informal meaning

Relational meaning

refers to relational distance and intimacy.

Communicative meaning

refers to the intention or goal behind the utterance.

Conventional meaning

refers to the needed coordination between verbal message use and the expectations or norms of the cultural context.

Situational meaning

refers to the physical and social context in which the utterance is made.

facework

refers to the specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors or actions that we engage in to maintain or restore face loss and to uphold and honor face gain. a. Face loss occurs when we are treated in a way that challenges or ignores our identity claims. b. Face issues: how to reject a request or get our own requests granted.

Relational worldview

reflects a holistic reasoning pattern, avoiding polarized ends and paying attention to the quality of the continuum. (Asian cultures use this reasoning pattern.)

low-context communication (LCC)

the emphasis is on how intention or meaning is best expressed through explicit verbal messages. a. Communication patterns of direct verbal mode b. The speaker is expected to be responsible for constructing a clear, persuasive message that the listener can decode easily. Males in the U.S. tend to be more low context (emphasizing clarity in conversations),

high-context communication (HCC)

the emphasis is on how intention or meaning can best be conveyed through the context and nonverbal channels. a. Communication patterns of indirect verbal mode. b. The receiver or interpreter of the message assumes responsibility to infer the hidden or contextual meanings of the message. females tend to be more high context (emphasizing not hurting others' feelings or imposing on others).