2. 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
Speech community (language community): ): a group of
people who speak the same language;
List five largest speech communities
Speech communities vary
in the words they use
how words are put together to form messages.
NATURE OF LANGUAGE
3. Language reflects perception: it reflects how people think or
feel
Eg. We describe people we like with good words, and people
we don’t like with negative words
Language shapes perception: (SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS)
Language helps people imagine, builds feelings …
LANGUAGE AND PERCEPTION
4. Thoughts, feelings,
objects, people,
experiences (by words) =>
share with other people
USES OF LANGUAGE
1.To designate,
label and define
2.To evaluate
3.To discuss
things outside
immediate
experience
4.To talk about
language
5. Through language we convey
positive or negative attitudes
toward our subject
=> value-laden characteristics
of language
USES OF LANGUAGE
1.To designate,
label and define
2.To evaluate
3.To discuss
things outside
immediate
experience
4.To talk about
language
6. Language enables us to speak
hypothetically about past,
future events and experiences,
about people who are not
present
Language enables us to learn
from others’ experiences, to
share common heritage, to
develop shared vision for the
future
USES OF LANGUAGE
1.To designate,
label and define
2.To evaluate
3.To discuss
things outside
immediate
experience
4.To talk about
language
7. Language is self-reflexive.
USES OF LANGUAGE
1.To designate,
label and define
2.To evaluate
3.To discuss
things outside
immediate
experience
4.To talk about
language
8. The study of the architecture of
phrases, clauses and sentences, the
study of word order
Syntactic rules help anticipate and
process verbal utterances of others
LANGUAGE DOMAINS
1. SYNTAX
2. PRAGMATICS
3. SEMANTICS
9. studies how language is used to communicate
studies the ways in which context contributes
to meaning =>speech acts (intention of
speech)
Regulative rules: context, purpose of speaker,
relationship between participants,
Pragmatics involve three major
communication skills:
Using language for different purposes, such
as
greeting (e.g., hello, goodbye)
informing (e.g., I'm going to get a cookie)
Changing language according to the needs of
a listener or situation, such as
talking differently to a baby than to an adult
Following rules for conversations and
storytelling, such as
how to use verbal and nonverbal signals
how close to stand to someone when speaking
how to use facial expressions and eye contact
LANGUAGE DOMAINS
1. SYNTAX
2. PRAGMATICS
3. SEMANTICS
10. The study of linguistic meaning
Language is arbitrary
Meaning given to a word is a matter of
choice.
LANGUAGE DOMAINS
1. SYNTAX
2. PRAGMATICS
3. SEMANTICS
11. Meaning of words is in people, not
in the words themselves
Eg. Expensive means differently to
different people.
LANGUAGE AND MEANING
MEANING
DENOTATION
CONNOTATION
12. Direct, explicit meaning given to a word
Complexity of denotation:
Many words are defined differently in
dictionaries
Words have multiple meanings
LANGUAGE AND MEANING
DENOTATION
CONNOTATION
13. the ideas or feelings associated with that
word
A word’s connotation can be neutral, positive,
or negative.
Residence: neutral
Eg. Home = a place of warm and comfort =
positive connotation
Thin = neutral
Skinny = negative
Chicken = coward = negative connotation
Mom, Dad = positive connotation
Snake= negative connotation
LANGUAGE AND MEANING
DENOTATION
CONNOTATION
14. Language changes over time:
Creation of new words: to express new ideas
Abandonment of old words
Words added from other language communities.
Words change in meaning over time (semantic change)
Khốn nạn = khó khăn
Tự vẫn = cắt cổ
“gay” = joyous
Husband = houseowner
Nice = foolish
Hoạn Thư
bookmark
LANGUAGE AND MEANING
15. Chuột Sơ mi Ngân hàng ok
taxi Trảm
Tuần phủ
Cam pu chia
Cổ phiếu
Chém gió
Chủ thớt Phi công
Phượt
Thị Nở
Cao bồi Chém gió
Cà phê
Vitamin gato
Đèn hoa kì
CATEGORISE WORDS INTO GROUPS
new words, old words abandoned, words from other cultures,
words that change in meaning
18. Low-context cultures
High-context cultures
CULTURAL INFLUENCE
ON LANGUAGE USAGE
Messages: direct, specific and detailed
Meanings: not influenced by context
Australian, Dutch, Canadian, English,
Finnish, German, Israeli, New Zealand,
Scandinavian,
Swiss, American
19. Low-context cultures
High-context cultures
CULTURAL INFLUENCE
ON LANGUAGE USAGE
Messages: indirect, general, and ambiguous.
Meanings: influenced by context
Latin American, Asian, African
African, Arabic, Brazilian, Chinese
Filipinos, French, Greek, Hawaiian,
Hungarian, Indian, Indonesian, Italian, Irish
Japanese, Korean, Latin Americans
Nepali, Pakistani, Portuguese, Russian
Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese
22. A: Let’s get right down to it. We’re hoping that you can
provide 100,000 parts per month according to our six
manufacturing specifications spelled out in the engineering
contract I sent you. If quality control finds more than a 2-
percent error, we will have to terminate the contract. Can you
agree to these terms?
B: We are very pleased to be doing business with you. We
produce the highest quality products and will be honored to
meet your needs.
A: But can you supply that exact quantity? Can you meet all of
our engineering specifications? Will you consistently have less
than a 2-percent error?
B: We are an excellent, trustworthy company that will send
you the highest quality parts.
LOW OR HIGH?
23. GENDER INFLUENCE
ON LANGUAGE USAGE
Feminine styles Masculine style
Words of empathy and support Words of status and problem
solving
Concrete and personal language Abstract and general language
Politeness and tentativeness Assertiveness and control
24. words that clarify meaning by
narrowing what is understood from a
general category to a particular item
or group within that category.
“Some nut almost got me a while
ago”
“An hour ago, an older man in a
banged-up Honda Civic ran the light
at Calhoun and Clifton and almost hit
me broadside while I was in the
intersection waiting to turn left at the
cross street.”
CLARITY IN LANGUAGE USE
SPECIFICITY
CONCRETENESS
PRECISION
25. CLARITY IN LANGUAGE USE
SPECIFICITY
CONCRETENESS
PRECISION
words that appeal to the senses and
help us see, hear, smell, taste, or
touch.
Jill speaks in a peculiar way
Jill mumbles, or whispers
26. CLARITY IN LANGUAGE USE
SPECIFICITY
CONCRETENESS
PRECISION
words that narrow a larger category.
“blue-collar worker” => a construction
worker
28. 1. My neighbor has a lot of animals that she keeps in her
yard.
2. When I was a little girl, we lived in a big house in the
Midwest.
3. My husband works for a large newspaper.
4. She got up late and had to rush to get to school. But she
was late anyway.
5. Where did you find that thing?
6. She was wearing a very trendy outfit.
rewrite each of these statements to make it
more specific by making general and abstract
words more concrete and precise.
29. specifying the time or time period that a fact was
true or known to be true.
Parker says, “I’m going to be transferred to
Henderson City.” Laura replies, “Good luck—they’ve
had some real trouble with their schools.”
Dated: “Five years ago, I know they had some real
trouble with their schools. I’m not sure what the
situation is now, but you may want to check,”
DATING INFORMATION
30. To date information, before you make a statement,
(1) consider or find out when the information was
true
(2) verbally acknowledge the date or time period
when the information was true.
DATING INFORMATION
31. Undated: Professor Powell is really enthusiastic when she
lectures.
Dated: Professor Powell is really enthusiastic when she
lectures— at least she was last quarter in communication
theory.
Undated: You think Mary’s depressed? I’m surprised. She
seemed her regular, high-spirited self when I talked with her.
Dated: You think Mary’s depressed? I’m surprised. She
seemed her regular, high-spirited self when I talked with her
last month.
DATING INFORMATION
32. acknowledging the presence of individual differences when
voicing generalizations.
Brent bought a Mercedes; he must be rich.
Brent bought a Mercedes; he must be rich. of course not all
people who buy Mercedes are rich.”
Because men are stronger than women, Max is stronger than
Barbara.
In general, men are stronger than women, so Max is probably
stronger than Barbara.
State must a good economics department; the university is
ranked among the top twenty in the nation
Because State's among the top twenty schools in the nation,
the economics department should be a good one, even
though there’s the possibility that it may not be.
INDEXING GENERALISATIONS
Editor's Notes
How many speech communities are there? 3000-4000
What are the five largest speech communities? Mandarin Chinese (over a billion), English (400 million), Spanish (440 million in 21 countries mostly in South America) , Arabic (290 million in 27 countries in Middle East) and Hindi (260million India) (57 speech communities in India)
A speech community can have from several speakers to over a billion speakers
Example of “ao dai”: a foreigner cannot understand the concept until it is explained to him/her.
When someone gives direction, you can imagine about the route.
When you listen to a scary story, you feel scared.
Value-laden: influenced by personal opinions
Eg. When you hear someone say ‘If I were rich,” you know what that person is going to say next “I would…”
2. It’s 12 o’clock
Anh đi đâu đấy?
Meaning of statements is guided by regulative rules
3. Possible meaning of “Duoc day”
There is no relation between a word and its meaning. The meaning is decided by people. For example: Vietnamese people call ‘sach’ but English people call ‘book’
The relationship between language and meaning is complex because the meaning of words varies with people, people interpret words differently based on both denotative and connotative meanings, the context in which words are used affects meaning, and word meanings change over time.
If Juan describes to Julia that the restaurant is expensive, each of them probably has a different meaning of the word expensive in this con- text. Maybe Julia thinks one meal will cost $40, while, for Juan, expensive might mean a $20 meal. All words, especially abstract ones, have multiple meanings depending on who is using them and who is hearing them.
List words with positive and negative connotation.
In five minutes, list as many new words as possible in Vietnamese and English
In groups, list words that
Speakers say exactly what they mean and the verbal messages are very explicit, with lots of details provided.
Receivers in high-context cultures, then, rely on contextual cues to help them understand the speaker’s meaning
Feminine: I can understand how you feel; I’ve had a similar experience, so I can sense what you are going through.” I’m so sorry that you are having difficulty, please let me know if I can help you in any way
Masculine: know that . . . my experience tells me . . . “I would . . . you should . . . the way you should handle this is . . .”
eminine language often includes empathic phrases like, “I can un- derstand how you feel,” or “I’ve had a similar experience, so I can sense what you are going through.” Likewise, feminine language often includes language of support such as, “I’m so sorry that you are having difficulty,” or “please let me know if I can help you in any way.” Feminine language of- ten goes into detail by giving specific examples and personal disclosures. To appear feminine is to speak politely by focusing on others and by not being too forceful with language. Words and phrases like “I may be wrong but . . . it’s just my opinion . . . maybe . . . perhaps . . . I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here . . . ” are associated with feminine styles of speaking.
By contract, masculine styles of speaking often emphasize status through phrases like “I know that . . . my experience tells me . . . ” and communicates problem solving or advice giving through such language as “I would . . . you should . . . the way you should handle this is . . .” Mascu- line styles of communication may favor theoretical or general discussions and avoid giving personal information about oneself. To appear mascu- line, one’s language must be forceful, direct, and in control through such phrases as “definitely, I have no doubt, it is clear to me, I am sure that . . . ”
Each of these words creates a clearer sense of the sound of her voice.