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