Verbal Messages

KEY TERMS

SUMMARY

This unit focused on verbal messages, and specifically on the nature of language and the ways language works; the concept of disconfirmation and how it relates to sexism, heterosexism, and racist language; and the ways in which language can be used more effectively.

1. Meanings are in people, not in things.

2. Meanings are context based; the same message in a different

context will likely mean something different.

3. Meanings are culturally influenced; each culture has its own rules

identifying the ways in which language should be used.

4. Language is both denotative (objective and generally easily agreed

upon) and connotative (subjective and generally highly individual

in meaning).

5. Language varies in directness; through language you can state

exactly what you mean or you can hedge and state your meaning

very indirectly.

6. Disconfirmation is the process of ignoring the presence and the

communications of others. Confirmation is accepting, supporting,

and acknowledging the importance of the other person.

7. Sexist, heterosexist, racist, and ageist language puts down and

negatively evaluates various cultural groups.

8. Using language effectively involves eliminating conceptual

distortions and substituting more accurate assumptions about

language, the most important of which are:

• Language symbolizes reality; it's not the reality itself.

• Language can express both facts and inferences, and distinctions need to

be made between them.

• Language is relatively static; because reality changes so rapidly, you

need to constantly revise the way you talk about people and things.

• Language can obscure distinctions in its use of general terms and in its

emphasis on extreme rather than middle terms.

language bypassing netiquette connotation denotation confirmation

disconfirmation sexist language heterosexist language racist language intensional orientation extensional orientation

allness fact-inference confusion static evaluation indiscrimination polarization lying

питання для обговорення на практичних заняттях:

1. When researchers asked men and women what they would like to change about the communication style of the opposite sex, most men said they wanted women to be more direct and most women said they wanted men to stop interrupting and offering advice. What one change would you like to see in the communication style of the opposite sex? Of your own sex?

2. Visit any of the electronic dictionaries (use your favorite search engine and look for "dictionary") and browse through the terms and definitions. How is an online dictionary different from a print dictionary? What would a connotative dictionary look like?

3. One theory of politeness claims that you are most polite with friends and considerably less polite with both strangers and intimates. Do you find this theory a generally accurate representation of your own level of politeness in different types of relationships?

4. What cultural identifiers do you prefer to use to describe yourself? Have these preferences changed over time? How can you let other people know the designations that you prefer and those that you don't? An interesting exercise – especially in a large and multicultural classroom – is for each student to write anonymously his or her preferred cultural identification on an index card and have them all read aloud.

5. Do you find the ideas expressed in the discussion of sexist, heterosexist, racist, and ageist listening reasonable? If not, how would you define this type of "-ist" listening? Do you find this a useful concept in understanding effective communication? Do you find these types of listening operating in your classes? In your family? In your community? If you wanted to reduce this type of listening, how would you do it?

6. A widely held assumption in anthropology, linguistics, and communication is that the importance of a concept to a culture can be measured by the number of words the language has for talking about the concept. So, for example, in English there are lots of words for money or for transportation or communication. With this principle in mind, consider the findings of Julia Stanley, for example, who researched terms indicating sexual promiscuity. Stanley found 220 English-language terms referring to a sexually promiscuous woman but only 22 terms for a sexually promiscuous man. What does this suggest about cultural attitudes and beliefs about promiscuity in men and women?

7. Consider this situation: An instructor at your school persists in calling the female students girls, refers to gay men and lesbians as queers, and refers to various racial groups with terms that most people would consider inappropriate. To the objection that these terms are offensive, the instructor claims the right to free speech and argues that to prevent instructors from using such terms would be a restriction on free speech, which would be a far greater wrong than being culturally or politically incorrect. How would you comment on this argument?

In one research study only 45 percent of the women actually objected to sexist comments. And, of these, only 15 percent responded directly. Among the reasons for such lack of confrontation are the social norms that teach us that it's best not to say anything, the pressure to be polite, and the concern about a prolonged confrontation. Do you generally challenge sexist remarks? Are you equally likely to challenge racist and heterosexist remarks.

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