Language Verbal Communication The past the present and
Language (Verbal Communication) The past, the present, and the future all walk into a bar. It was tense.
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Overview • Analogical vs. Digital codes • Language vs. Language use • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • 4 characteristics of language • Understand the concepts in each • Be able to recognize examples from each • Levels of Meaning • Coordinated Management of Meaning • • What is the overall purpose of CMM? (hint: which “rule” does it apply to? ) Know the 6 aspects of CMM Be able to apply them to a situation Know the application of constitutive vs. regulative rules
Foundations of Language • Digital codes • • Meaning is conveyed symbolically Symbols are units of meaning that are arbitrary and conventional Verbal Best to convey: Abstract, logical meaning • Analogic codes • Indicate meaning by being similar to what they convey • Nonverbal • Best to convey: Relational, emotional meaning
Foundations of Language • Language is a structure • Words, grammatical rules, speech sounds • Language and reality are separate • Language as a structured system representing reality • Language use is not arbitrary • Meanings attached to structure = meaning
Foundations of Language • All people know is determined by language use • Saussure believes that signs/symbols are not referential, signs/symbols constitute objects • Language = formal system • Speech = actual use of language to accomplish a purpose • Communicators do not create rules of language • Communicators DO create forms of speech
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Linguistic Determination • Language Way we interpret world • Linguistic Relativity • Speakers of different languages experience world differently
1. Symbols and words are arbitrary • Denotative definition • Connotative definition • Example: • Jerk
1. Symbols and words are arbitrary • We decide what meanings are attributed to symbols • Cultural level • Generational level • Personal level • Your behaviors, actions , experience can define a word for someone else • *Think about a time when misunderstanding was due to a different definition of a word
2. Language allows us to create realities • We define world we live through language • Learning a new language • *Look for words that cause physiological and emotional reactions in others
3. Language gives us the ability to think in different ways • Abstract and complex • *Think about what you learn in class – how does that change how you think?
4. Language allows for self-reflexivity • We can talk about how we talk self-reflexivity • Without this, we wouldn’t have a communication discipline • *Think about how you influence other people by the way you talk to them. • What worlds will you create or change with your words today?
Levels of Meaning • Semantic Meaning • At level of word • Connotative and denotative • Syntactic Meaning • At level of utterance • Word order • Pragmatic Meaning • At level of speech act • Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) • *Which ones do we focus on in this class?
Coordinated Management of Meaning • How we create meaning in our mind for a specific situation • Coordinate 6 different variables • Do this instantly and pragmatically
Coordinated Management of Meaning • Cultural Pattern • What group do I identify with? • Life Script • Who am I? • Relationship • Who are we to one another? • Episode • What activity are we engaged in? Situation? • Speech Act • What is the sender trying to do? • Content • Actual words
Coordinated Management of Meaning • Constitutive Rules: tell us how to interpret or give meaning to behavior • Regulative Rules: guide speaker or actor’s behavior (what’s acceptable)
Take Away Points • Vocab: digital and analogic codes, language, speech • Know the difference between language as a structure and language (or speech) as the means through which to accomplish a goal • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Know the 4 points outlined about language • Understand the concepts in each • Be able to recognize examples from each • What is the overall purpose of the Coordinated Management of Meaning? (hint: which “rule” does it apply to? ) • Know the 6 aspects of Coordinated Management of Meaning • Be able to apply them to a situation • Know the application of constitutive vs. regulative rules
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