This document discusses various aspects of verbal communication and language. It covers topics like language communities, the nature of language, how language reflects and shapes perception, the different domains of language including syntax, pragmatics and semantics. It also discusses the cultural and gender influences on language usage and provides ways to improve clarity in language through specificity, concreteness and precision. Dating information and indexing generalizations are also covered as ways to communicate information more accurately.

1. CHAPTER 3
VERBAL COMMUNICATION

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

16. CULTURAL INFLUENCE
ON LANGUAGE USAGE

17. CULTURAL INFLUENCE
ON LANGUAGE USAGE

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

20. LOW VS. HIGH

21. LOW VS. HIGH

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

27. Art
Painting
Oil Painting
Impressionist
Oil Painting
Renoir’s La Promenade
Abstract/general/
Concrete/specific
/precise

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