Media Studies Chapter 4 Verbal Communication Outcomes Describe The Power Languagethe System Symbols Use

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Chapter 4

Verbal Communication

CHAPTER OUTCOMES

• Describe the power of language—the system of symbols we use to think about and

communicate our experiences and feelings

LECTURE NOTES

• Language is the system of symbols (words) we use to communicate and think about

experiences and feelings.

ƒ Language is governed by grammatical rules, is influenced by contexts, and always

includes a nonverbal component (pauses, tone, and body movement).

ƒ Chapter 4 explores language’s nature, function, context, and inherent problems.

• The Nature of Language examines the concept that language is symbolic, filled with

multiple meanings, informed by our thoughts, ruled by grammar, and bound by context.

ƒ Language Is Symbolic

Words are symbols that represent persons, ideas, and things that are agreed upon by a

language-using community.

Thinking affects the language we use, but language also influences our thoughts.

ƒ Language Is Ruled by Grammar

Grammar is a system of rules for a language that are used to create words, phrases,

and sentences.

Ɠ Grammar ensures communication clarity.

ƒ Language Is Bound by Context

• The Functions of Language explores the five functional competencies (controlling,

informing, feeling, imagining, ritualizing) of how language behaviors work or function for

people.

ƒ Communication acquisition requires that we not only learn individual words in a

language but also how to use that language appropriately and effectively in various

contexts.

ƒ Using Language as a Means of Control

Ɠ Withholding information

ƒ Using Language to Express Feelings

The expression of feelings is primarily relational as it allows us to let others know how

much we do or don’t value them through emotional expression.

Competence in expressing emotions requires doing so appropriately and effectively.

ƒ Using Language to Express Creativity

Imagining is the complex ability to think, play, and be creative in communication

throughout all areas of life.

ƒ Using Language as Ritual

Ritualizing involves learning the rules for managing conversations and relationships.

• Problems with Language explores the ways in which language may lead to confusion,

misunderstanding, anger, and other unintended consequences.

ƒ Abstraction and Meaning

Language works on various levels of abstraction that range from vague to specific.

Linguist S. I. Hayakawa’s abstraction ladder shows how a word can work from high-

level abstractions, which are general and vague, to more specific lower-level

abstractions.

group.

Ɠ Jargon (technical language specific to professions or interest groups) can be abstract

to those outside of the group but clear to group members.

ƒ Situation and Meaning

Semantics involves the relationship among symbols, objects, people, and concepts and

ƒ The Limits of Labeling

The labels we choose for ourselves affect how we communicate with others and how

ƒ The Dangers of Biased Language

Biased language carries subtle meanings that influence our perceptions about a

subject.

Politically correct language is an attempt to be more inclusive through the use of

neutral terms, such as police officer or chairperson.

Ɠ Critics argue that “PC” language replaces clear focus on real issues with euphemisms

and rhetoric.

ƒ Profanity, Rudeness, and Civility

Profanity refers to words or expressions that are considered insulting, rude, vulgar, or

disrespectful according to a culture’s language conventions.

Civility is the social norm for appropriate behavior within a culture.

Ɠ Offensive language can lead to unproductive or uncomfortable relationships and

work environments.

Ɠ Following are cultural guidelines for engaging in civil language:

Ƈ Use no words rather than offensive ones.

• Language in Context considers how language works within our relationships, situations,

and cultures and in mediated settings.

ƒ Language reflects the context a person is in.

ƒ The Relational Context

Language reflects and creates the relational context.

ƒ The Situational Context

Different situations call for different speech repertoires.

High language is a more formal mainstream language that would be used in business

contexts or in the classroom.

ƒ The Cultural Context

It is important to recognize the communication differences that exist between speakers

of different languages and between people of different cultures.

Culture, Words, and Thought

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis holds that the words a culture uses (or does not use)

influence the thinking of people from that culture.

Ɠ Linguistic determinism says language influences how we see the world.

Ɠ Linguistic relativity holds that speakers of different languages have different views

of the world.

Gender and Language

Ɠ Researcher and author Deborah Tannen found that women primarily saw

Ɠ Men use more direct language, or resistance messages, when resisting a situation,

while women use indirect language.

Ɠ While biological sex has some influence on communication style, gender, which is

the cultural meaning of sex, has far more influence.

Geography and language refer to the way in which the location of where people live

affects their language and understandings of the world.

Accommodation involves changing communication behavior to adapt to another

person.

ƒ Mediated Contexts

ƒ Written messages can be interpreted differently without the help of nonverbal cues.

Language that is more intense can be seen differently by different groups.

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Has your language changed throughout your life? Have you moved to another

geographical area? Changed jobs? Switched schools? Do you remember trying to learn

parts of that “new language”?

• Consider talking to students who have moved to different parts of the country (or even

2. How is your communication style different in the classroom than when you are with your

friends? What about with your romantic partner? Your parents? Why do we make

changes in our communication style depending on who we are with?

• It would be interesting to focus on profanity. Ask students if they use profanity in their

3. How does the way you use language shape how you see things? For example, if you are a

skier, do you talk about snow differently than a non-skier? If you sew, do you talk about

fabric differently?

4. What are some geographic terms that are common for your area but not for other areas?

For example, in Wisconsin, a drinking fountain is called a “bubbler.” In the southern

United States, people ask for “tea;” to get the same drink in the northern United States,

one must order “sweet tea.”

5. What are examples of “text language” that you use in your everyday life? Why are those

terms generally acceptable in texting but not in conventional written conversation?

• The Web site www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php has a phenomenal list of acronyms

PERSONAL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

1. Google the Label

Have students go to “Google Images” and “Google” each of the following terms:

feminist, teacher, ditzy, liberal, conservative, atheist, professor, and goth. Next, ask them

2. Don’t Call Me That!

Have students write journal entries on the following prompt: Is there a term, a label, or a

name that you dislike being called? For example, does the term “sweetie” set you on

3. Textionary

Have students identify ten terms (beyond LOL) that are used when texting and define

4. Gendered Communication

Have students keep a journal for a day, paying attention to the gendered aspects of their

own language as well as the gendered language of others. Have them write a one-page

description of what they notice. Ask them to address whether they had noticed this

previously. If not, why not? Do they see gendered communication differently after

seeing it in action?

5. Bad Translations!

Have students search online for examples of “bad translations” from organizations. For

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Jargon/Slang Challenge

Goal: To demonstrate the prevalence of jargon and slang as part of normal

communication; to understand how jargon and slang, when taken out of context, can lead

to miscommunication

Time Required: 10 minutes

Materials: Blank paper and writing implements for students

Directions:

1. Ask students to write down jargon or slang that they use regularly. (Consider

3. Have students pass their papers to another student, preferably someone they do not

4. Have students return the papers to their original owners.

2. Grammar Race

Goal: To demonstrate a cultural understanding of grammar

Time Required: 10 minutes

Materials:

1. Scissors

2. Enough copies of the handout “Grammar Race Sentences” (found at the end of this

3. An envelope for each sentence that contains the words. (Note: Each team requires

four envelopes.) Number the envelopes in the same order they are listed on the

“Grammar Race Sentences” sheet.

Directions:

2. Distribute one set of four envelopes to each team.

3. On your signal, have students open the first envelope and arrange the words into a

5. Repeat these steps for the remaining three envelopes. It is likely that as the sentences

get more complex, students will have a harder time explaining why each sentence is

3. Vocabulary Lessons

Goal: To understand the process of word acquisition

Time Required: 15 minutes

Materials:

1. One copy of the Vocabulary Handout (found at the end of this chapter) per student

3. Classroom reference resources such as dictionaries, thesauri, Internet access, and

other reference books

Directions:

1. Distribute the Vocabulary Handout.

3. Call time, and then have students work together in pairs to see if they can define any

of the terms they did not finish independently.

Debriefing: Talk to students about communication acquisition. How did they learn these

terms? If they didn’t know the terms, what tools did they use to define them? How did

they come to learn about these words and/or tools?

4. Writing a Dialogue

Goal: To understand how language changes based on a situation

Time Required: 20 minutes

Materials:

1. Blank paper and writing implements for students (if you choose to assign the writing

portion as an in-class exercise)

2. Whiteboard or projector for sharing the following scenarios:

• Grandchild talking to grandparent

• Two romantically involved people talking

• Boss talking to employee

• Student talking to professor

• Two siblings talking

Directions:

1. Ask each student to write a dialogue between the two fictitious people. The dialogue

3. Have students rewrite the other student’s dialogue (or make notes in the margins) to

4. Have students return the revised dialogues to their original owners. Have students

read both dialogues out loud.

Debriefing: How did the dialogues change? Why did the dialogues change?

5. Necklace Charades

Goal: To understand how labels that are placed on each other (in this case, career labels)

help us to interact with one another

Time Required: 20 minutes

Materials:

1. Black marker

3. Yarn or string

4. One index card per student. Using the marker, write the name of a different life

“role” on each card. Examples include teacher, priest, firefighter, diplomat,

president, CEO, mother. Punch a hole on both ends of each card and insert a piece of

string or yarn to make a “necklace.”

Directions:

1. Pass out one necklace to each student, keeping the words on the card hidden. Tell

2. Have students walk around and interact with each other. Have them talk to each

Debriefing: Lead class discussion about what cues the students took from others to

determine what their roles were. How do these roles affect our language choices in

everyday life?

6. Battle of the Sexes

Goal: To understand how gender affects language

Time Required: 15 minutes

Materials: Existing trivia questions from a “gendered” board game, such as “Battle of the

Sexes.” Divide the questions into those that are more stereotypically male and those that

are more stereotypically female.

Directions:

2. Have each group answer questions that are coded as being the opposite gender. For

example, males would be asked questions about soap operas, while females would be

asked questions about car repair.

Debriefing: Ask students what they thought about the “gendered” questions. For example,

how did it feel to answer a question that was intended for the opposite sex? Do students

think men and women speak different languages, or do they feel that we all speak

basically the same language?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What does it mean when we say that language is symbolic?

2. What is the difference between the denotative meaning and the connotative meaning of

a word?

3. How can language be used as a ritual? Provide examples.

HANDOUTS

Grammar Race Sentences

The following sentences should be used to complete the classroom activity Grammar Race.

• See the big fish.

• The dog ran into the yard.

• At what time will you come home tomorrow?

• For no continuity of social act is possible without a corresponding social status and the

many different kinds of acts required in an industrial state, with its high degree of

specialization, make for a corresponding classification of status.

Vocabulary Handout

The following words should be used to complete the classroom activity Vocabulary Lessons.

• Multifarious

• Enervate