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Chapter 5: Language: Barrier and Bridge
PowerPoint Presentation to accompany Looking Out, Looking In, Tenth Edition
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Presentation prepared by Dr. Michael Pearson, Gretchen Gill, and Tim
Scanlon of West Chester University
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CHAPTER 5
Language: Barrier Language: Barrier and Bridgeand Bridge
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Language: Barrier and BridgeLanguage: Barrier and Bridge• Language is Symbolic
• The Impact of Language• The Language of Responsibility• Gender and Languages
• Language and Culture
• Understandings and Misunderstandings
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Language is Symbolic
• Words are arbitrary symbols that don’t have any meaning in themselves.
• Words can be interpreted in many different ways; this is the basis for many misunderstandings .
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Understandings and Misunderstandings
Understanding Words: Semantic Rules
• Semantic rules - govern the meaning of the symbols; they reflect the ways in which users of a language make sense of a particular linguistic symbol
• Semantic misunderstandings arise when people use words as if they had different meanings.
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Understandings and Misunderstandings
Understanding Words: Semantic Rules• Equivocal language – statements that have more than one commonly accepted definition
• Relative words - gain their meaning by comparison
• Static Evaluation - the tendency to view people or relationships as unchanging
• Abstract language – language that is vague in nature
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Understandings and Misunderstandings
Understanding Words: Semantic RulesAbstraction• Stereotyping – high level abstractions that lead to blanket statements; “Men are no good” “Skateboarders are delinquents”
• Abstraction ladder - shows how to describe the same phenomenon at various levels of abstraction
• Behavioral language – low-level abstractions; refers to specific things that you or the other person says or does
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Understandings and Misunderstandings
Understanding Words: Semantic Rules
Behavioral Description• Who is involved?• In what circumstances does the behavior occur?• What behaviors are involved?
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Understandings and Misunderstandings
Understanding Structure: Syntactic Rules
• Syntactic Rules - govern the grammar of language
Understanding Context: Pragmatic Rules
• Pragmatic rules - govern the interpretation of the symbols in a given context
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The Impact Of Language
Naming and Identity
Affiliation, Attraction, and Interest
• Different names are more than just identification; they shape the way others think of us, the way we view ourselves, and the way we act.
• Convergence - process of adapting one’s speech style to match that of others
• Divergence - process of emphasizing differences from others
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The Impact Of Language
Power• Powerless Speech Mannerisms - statements that can make a person appear less authoritative or socially attractive
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Disruptive Language• Fact-Opinion Confusion
• In everyday conversation, we often present our opinions as if they were facts, and in doing so we invite arguments
• Fact-Inference Confusion
• Confusion of factual and inferential statements – conclusions drawn from an interpretation of evidence; use perception checking instead
The Impact Of Language
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• Emotive Language - seems to describe something, but really announces the speaker’s attitude
• To avoid arguments involving emotive words, describe things or concepts using neutral terms
Disruptive Language
The Impact Of Language
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The Language of Responsibility
•“IT” statements - replace the personal pronoun “I” with the less immediate word “it.”
•“I” language - clearly identifies the speaker as the source of the message
• “BUT” language - strategy for wrapping the speaker’s real but unpleasant message between more palatable ideas
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• Questions
Some questions can be sincere requests for information; other times they are used to avoid declarations
“I” and “You” Language
• “You” language - expresses a judgment of another person
The Language of Responsibility
• “I” language – a way of accepting responsibility for a message
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• Advantages of “I” Language • Defense Reduction • Honesty• Completeness
• Problems with “I” Language • “I get too angry to use ‘I’ language.”
• “Even with ‘I’ language, the other person gets defensive.”• “ ‘I’ language sounds artificial.”
The Language of Responsibility
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“We” Language • “We” statements - imply that the issue is the concern and responsibility of both the speaker and receiver of a message
The Language of Responsibility
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Gender And Language
Content• On average, men and women discuss a surprisingly different range of topics.
• Men and women often use language in different ways for different purposes.
Reasons for Communicating
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Gender And Language
Conversational Style• Women and men behave differently in conversations.
• Sex Role - the social orientation that governs behavior, rather than the biological gender
Nongender Variables
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Language And Culture
Verbal Communication Styles• Low-context cultures – generally value using language primarily to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly and logically
• High-context cultures - value using language as a way to maintain social harmony
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Language And Culture
Language and Worldview• Linguistic Determinism - the worldview of a culture is unavoidably shaped and reflected by the language its members speak
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - theory in which language is determined by a culture’s perceived reality
• Linguistic Relativism - language exerts a strong influence on perceptions