Verbal Communication- ch2

............. .................... is a resource for people to find out how words that have certain denotative meanings are used connotatively.

Urban Dictionary

Verbal communication helps us define reality

We use verbal communication to define everything from ideas, emotions, experiences, thoughts, objects, and people . ✔Verbal communication is how we label and define what we experience in our lives. These definitions are not only descriptive, but evaluative.

Spoken & Written Communication

While both spoken and written communication function as agreed-upon rule-governed systems of symbols used to convey meaning, there are enough differences in pragmatic rules between writing and speaking to justify discussing some of their differences.there are enough differences in pragmatic rules between writing and speaking to justify discussing some of their differences.

verbal communication helps us think

Without verbal communication, we would not function as thinking beings. The ability most often used to distinguish humans from other animals is our ability to reason and communicate. With language, we are able to reflect on the past, consider the present, and ponder the future. We develop our memories using language. Try recalling your first conscious memories. Chances are, your first conscious memories formed around the time you started using verbal communication.

................ is helpful when you want to communicate complex concepts in a simple way. However, the more abstract the language, the greater potential there is for confusion.

Abstraction

verbal communication helps us ?

-to define reality -to organize complex ideas and experiences into meaningful categorie -to think -to shape our attitudes about our world

verbal communication refers only to spoken communication.( )

fales

There are four general rules for verbal communication,

involving the sounds, meaning, arrangement, and use of symbols.

Pragmatics

is the study of how people actually use verbal communication. example: you speak more formally to professors than to friends.

Syntactics

is the study of language structure and symbolic arrangement. focuses on the rules we use to combine words into meaningful sentences and statements.

Both verbal and nonverbal communication can be spoken and written( )

true

Functions of Verbal Communication

verbal communication serves many functions in our daily lives ,We use verbal communication to define reality, organize, think, and shape attitudes. sharing meaning, shaping thought, naming, performing actions, crafting conversations, managing relationships

We generally consider communication successful when?

we reach agreement on the meanings of the symbols we use

Rule-Governed

•Verbal communication is rule-governed. •We must follow agreed-upon rules to make sense of the symbols we share. example: If placing these symbols in a proper order was not important, then cta, tac, tca, act, or atc could all mean cat.

verbal communication helps us organize complex ideas and experiences into meaningful categories

Consider the number of things you experience with your five primary senses every day. It is impossible to comprehend everything we encounter. We use verbal communication to organize seemingly random events into understandable categories to make sense of our experiences. For example, we all organize the people in our lives into categories. We label these people with terms like, friends, acquaintances, romantic partners, family, peers, colleagues, and strangers. We highlight certain qualities, traits, or scripts to organize outwardly haphazard events into meaningful categories to establish meaning for our world.

Verbal communication helps us shape our attitudes about our world.

The way you use language shapes your attitude about the world around you. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf developed the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis to explain that language determines thought. People who speak different languages, or use language differently, think differently . The argument suggests that if a native English speaker had the exact same experiences in their life, but grew up speaking Chinese instead of English, their worldview would be different because of the different symbols used to make sense of the world.

Verbal Communication

an agreed-upon and rule-governed system of symbols used to share meaning. (written or spoken words)

The symbols we use are ............ and have no direct relationship to the objects or ideas they represent

arbitrary

Symbols

are arbitrary representations of thoughts, ideas, emotions, objects, or actions used to encode and decode meaning .

ambiguity

have several possible meanings. example: "can you go to the last slide please?" can mean the previous slid or to jump to the last slide in the PowerPoint.

Semantic rules

rules that govern the meaning of language as opposed to its structure help us understand the difference in meaning between the word cat and the word dog.

Phonology

study of speech sounds

One way to understand and apply phonological rules is to use ................. and................ rules to clarify phonological rules.

syntactic and pragmatic

Symbols have three distinct qualities:

they are arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract. Symbols stand for, or represent, something else. For example, there is nothing inherent about calling a cat a cat.

arbitrary

they have no direct relationship to the objects or ideas they represent. example: the picture of the cat more closely represents a real cat than the word "cat."

abstract

they represent ideas and objects but with no material or physical attributes.