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Chapter 4
Verbal Messages
What you’ll know:
• What is a language, a dialect, and an idiolect
• The characteristics of language
• How word choices and sentence structure shape meaning
• How conversational social and cultural contexts shape meaning
What you’ll be able to do:
• Form verbal messages using clear and precise language
• Form appropriate verbal messages for different social and cultural contexts
Chapter Outline
I. The Nature of Language
A. Language: a body of symbols (most commonly words) and the systems for their use in
messages that are common to the people of the same speech community.
II. The Relationship Between Language and Meaning
A. Semantics
1. Semantic meaning: derived from the words themselves and how they are arranged into
sentences
2. Denotation: is the direct, explicit meaning found in the dictionary of a language
community.
3. Connotation: feelings or evaluations associated with a word
B. Guidelines for Improving Semantics
1. Use specific language. Specific language refers to precise words that clarify semantic
meaning by narrowing what is understood from general category.
2. Use concrete language. Concrete language clarifies semantic meaning by appealing to the
senses.
3. Use familiar language.
4. Use descriptive details and examples.
5. Demonstrate linguistic sensitivity. Linguistic sensitivity is achieved by using language that
is inclusive and demonstrates respect for others.
a. Inclusive language: use of words that do not apply only to one sex, race, or other
group.
C. Pragmatics
1. Pragmatic meaning: understanding a message related to the conversational context of it.
2. Speech Act: an utterance of a verbal message by a speaker and what it implies about how
the listener should respond.
D. Guidelines for Improving Pragmatics
1. Tell the truth.
Discussion and Assignment Ideas
I. This exercise works best when you bring a few different dictionaries to class. Divide students into
small groups. Ask the students, working with others in their groups, to select a common noun
such as college, industry, pigeon, or fire. Each person should list at least five adjectives that he or
she associates with the word. When the groups have finished, compare the results. Ask them to
discuss in what ways their connotative meanings differ? Next pass out a dictionary, or a few
different editions of dictionaries, to each group and have a student read the dictionary definitions
of the words they chose out loud. Discuss how the connotative meanings for words differ from the
denotative meanings. How might the publishing date of the dictionary affect this exercise?
A variation on this exercise: Have students come up with adjectives for the words woman and
man. Use the ensuing discussion as an opportunity to speak about gendered associations and
underlying assumed meanings of these words. What affect does this have on the way that women
and men are seen? How would this exercise be different if this were a group of all men? Of all
women?
II. Quotes: These can be used to introduce topics, question perspectives, or gain individual opinion.
Providing students with a quote and prompting them to write or reflect on their personal feelings
about the quote can help to spark discussion and interest. Suggested prompts may include “Define this
concept in your own words”; “Do you agree with this statement? Explain”; “What text material can be
used to support or refute this idea?”
Kind words can warm for three winters, while harsh words can chill even in the heat of
summer.
—Chinese Proverb
Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in
which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and
use of words involves a process of free creation.
—Noam Chomsky
39
Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as
ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has
become the medium of expression for their society.
—Edward Sapir
I understand the fury in your words, but not the words.
—Shakespeare, Othello, 4.2
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another
voice.
—T.S. Eliot
III. Speaking appropriately is important and often depends upon the communication setting. What
guidelines would you suggest for a retail business setting? For a classroom setting? For a sporting
event, such as a little league game? For a conference religious retreat? For a hip hop concert?
IV. Research is now showing that gender language is not as diverse or problematic as we once
thought. In your opinion, which has a larger influence on speech: gender or situational context? Do
you agree with the assessment that feminine styles of language, or “women’s language,” appears
powerless? If so, will it help women’s social standing in society to speak in a more
masculine or forceful way?
Technology Resources
Through cengagebrain.com, visit the “Web Links” section and locate the Slang Dictionary. Can you
think of examples of where jargon and slang have gotten in the way of finding common meaning?
What are the advantages of slang? Is it still slang if you can find it in a dictionary?
Movies
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Rated: PG-13 (Some sensuality)
Synopsis: Andrea (Andy) Sachs moves to New York to be an assistant for Miranda Priestly, the editor of
a famous fashion magazine (modeled on Anna Wintour and Vogue). Andy struggles to please
Miranda while also manage her own identity in relation to her work.
Questions for discussion
1. In what ways are Andy and Miranda members of different speech communities? What are some
norms of each community?
2. How does Andy’s verbal communication change over the course of the film?
3. Note some of the examples of when the difference between denotative and connotative meaning
are important.
4. Do you think Andy is a fluent member of the fashion speech community by the end of the film?
Babel (2006)
Rated: R (Nudity, sex, profanity, violence)
Synopsis: This movie tells four different but connected stories that take place in Morocco, Mexico, the
United States, and Japan. These four stories weave together in a way that demonstrates the way the
world is growing closer while also demonstrating how poorly we communicate even as we become
more interconnected.
Questions for discussion
1. What gender, cultural, and generational roles and expectations are demonstrated in this movie?
2. What misunderstandings occur based on language? What consequences do these
misunderstandings have? Do you see any examples of where these misunderstandings could have
been avoided through the use of specific instead of generic language? What about through the use
of techniques such as dating, index generalizations, and using language appropriate to the
occasion?
Additional suggested movies: Lost in Translation (2003) (intercultural communication, verbal
barriers); Smoke Signals (1998) (relational stages, perception, intercultural communication,
communication competence); Hanging Up (2000) (intergenerational communication, family,
perception)
Other Media Resources
Skills and Competency
Please refer to the cengagebrain.com for prompts to Skill Learning Activities: Clarifying General
Statements and Test Your Competence: Dating and Indexing Messages. The following suggested
answers to this activity can also be found in the Communicate! online textbook resources.
Test Your Competence: Dating and Indexing Messages
1. “Most accounting majors keep their checkbooks balanced, so I assume that Jamie does also, but
she might be different.”
2. “When I took statistics last fall, I found the class to be very difficult and so did the other English
majors in the class. But even though you’re an English major, who knows, you might really do
well.”
3. “When I lived with Jim in college five years ago, I learned not to talk with him in the morning
because he usually woke up grouchy. But, hey, you’re going to be his wife, so maybe he’ll be
different with you.”
4. “When I took French 203 last summer, we didn’t use that book. You might want to check with
your instructor before you buy it.”
5. “I can’t believe you bought a dog. Some dogs shed twice a year. Will yours?”
Skill Building: Clarifying General Statements
9. “Nola was wearing a long aqua chiffon scarf tied in her hair and a short-sleeved cherry-red
cropped T-shirt that exposed her navel.”
10. “Senior biology majors should be able to choose courses without getting the signature of their
advisors.”
Chapter Activities
4.1: Change and Language
Purpose: To demonstrate the arbitrary and dynamic nature of language
Time: 40 minutes
Process: Put students into groups of five. Ask them to discuss the following questions:
Have a spokesperson from each group share the lists with the entire class. Discuss
according the following questions: Why do words change? How do these word changes
affect interpersonal communication?
4.2: Semantic and Syntactic Clarity
Purpose: To assist students in recognizing the impact of semantic and syntactic errors on
meaning clarity
Time: 20 minutes
Process: Copy the following sentences for each member of the class. (These sentences come
from actual student papers.) Distribute the copies and ask the students to work in
groups of three to identify whether the problem in each sentence is syntactic,
semantic, or both. Then have students rewrite the sentences for increased clarity. This
last requirement effectively demonstrates the degree of ambiguity produced by
my development.
4.3: Identifying Effective Practicing Metaphors and Vivid Language
Purpose: To enable students to evaluate and improve their use of metaphor and vivid language
Time: 20 minutes
4.4: Understanding the Interrelationship between Language and Culture
Purpose: To help students better understand how language choices reflect cultural values
Time: 30 minutes
Process: Divide students into small groups of four or five. Tell the students that each group is
now an independent speech community, with different cultural values and beliefs than
other groups in the class. Pass out the group’s cultural value, taking care that the
After the groups have received their norm, tell them that no other groups in the class will
know their culture: it is up to them to demonstrate their beliefs and values
through their language choices. For the next 10 minutes, their group must come to an
agreement on how to demonstrate their cultural values through their language
choices. Specifically, they must come up with the following:
• A popular saying or phrase that reinforces their value, such as “Time is money” for
the group that values hard work, or “Men are such boys” for the group that treats
men as children, or “They are out to sea” for the culture that lives off the sea. (Tell
students they cannot use the examples you have provided, but must come up with
their own examples.)
• An expression that is never used because of their value system. For example, the
culture living with no water may never use the expression “That’s just water under
the bridge.”
After each group of students has come up with a way to demonstrate their cultural
values through their choices in language, ask them to send a diplomatic representative
to visit another group. The job of the representatives is to find out as much as they
can about the speech community they visit in five minutes and report back to their
own group what they think about this group. During these conversations, every group
member must use the popular saying or phrase from their speech community at least
once during the conversation.
After the representatives have visited with the groups for five minutes, have them
report back to their own groups, then repeat the process at least once so that every
group gets to interact with at least two different speech communities.
Discussion: Our cultural values are often embedded in our language, and as a result it can be very
difficult to uncover our linguistic biases. That is what can make this a difficult exercise.
Here are some questions to help lead students toward this realization: Was it difficult to
come up with the sayings? Which was more difficult, coming up with the phrases to use,
or coming up with the expressions that would never be used by this speech
community? Why do you think this was the case? In what ways do our language
choices shape and reflect our biases and assumptions?
Journal Assignments
A. Analyzing Language Communities
Your textbook states that there are about 3,000 to 4,000 speech communities in the world. However,
over 60 percent of these communities are speaking what is considered a threatened or endangered
language, spoken by 10,000 or fewer people. What do you think are some of the consequences of so
many languages becoming extinct? What would you do if your language was about to die out?
B. Precision and Language
Write a one-page story about an event that occurred during your first week of college. When you’re
done, rewrite the story using more precise words. Tell the two versions of the story to a friend and ask for
feedback. Write about the feedback in your journal entry.
C. Connotation
List your connotation for each of the following words: assisted suicide, athlete, ballet dancer,
censorship, CEO, criminal, date rape, domestic abuse, family values, government, feminist, illegal
aliens, media, police officer, politically correct, soccer mom, and welfare. Now look up each of these
words in the dictionary. How do your connotative meanings differ from the denotative meanings of the
words? Can you determine the source of your connotations? In other words, where did you get the
connotations you have with these words?
D. Cultural and Gender Differences
Discuss an experience you’ve had that involved either cultural or gender differences in verbal
communication. Did these differences cause problems in the relationship(s) involved in this
experience? How can verbal communication be improved to avoid difficulties that gender and cultural
differences may bring?
