Chapter7

Symbolic Communication and Language

Chapter Outline

Language and Verbal Communication Nonverbal Communication Social Structure and Communications Conversational Analysis

Communication and Symbols

Communication is the process whereby people transmit information about their ideas, feelings, and intentions to one another.

Symbols are arbitrary forms used to refer to ideas, feelings, intentions, or any other object.

Language and Communication

Spoken language is a socially acquired system of sound patterns with meanings agreed on by the members of a group.

Words are the symbols around which languages are constructed.

Advantages of Language

1. Frees us from the constraints of the here and now.

2. Allows us to communicate with others about experiences we do not share directly.

3. Enables us to transmit, preserve, and create culture.

The Encoder-decoder Model

Views communication as a process:– An idea or feeling is encoded into symbols

by a source, transmitted to a receiver and decoded into the original idea or feeling.

The Encoder-Decoder Model

Communication Process

The basic unit of communication is the message, which has its origin in the desire of the speaker to communicate.

Communication Accuracy

Refers to the extent to which the message inferred by the listener matches the message intended by the speaker.

According to this model, the primary influence on accuracy is codability, which is the extent of interpersonal agreement about what something is called.

Intentionalist Model

Argues that communication involves the speaker’s desire to affect the listener, or the transmission of an intention.

“Get me a drink of lemonade.”

1. Get me a glass of lemonade.

2. Can you get me some lemonade?

3. Would you get me some lemonade?

4. Would you get me something to drink?

“Get me a drink of lemonade.”

5. Would you mind if I asked you to get me some lemonade?

6. I’m thirsty.

7. Did you buy some lemonade at the store?

8. How is that lemonade we bought?

Speech Act Theory

Utterances both state something and do something.

The Cooperative Principle

A speaker must cooperate with a listener by formulating the content of speech so it reflects the listener’s way of thinking about objects, events, and relationships.

The Perspective-taking Model

Communication involves the exchange of messages using symbols whose meaning grows out of the interaction itself.– Views the process of communication as

both creating and reflecting a shared context between speaker and listener.

Intersubjectivity

Successful communication depends on intersubjectivity.

Each participant needs information about the other’s status, view of the situation, and plans or intentions.

Linguistic Intergroup Bias

Members of a group share a linguistic intergroup bias.

There are subtle and systematic differences in the language we use to describe events as a function of our group membership and the group to which the actor or target belongs.

Types of Nonverbal Communication

Paralanguage – All the vocal aspects of speech other than

words. Body language

– The silent movement of body parts.

Types of Nonverbal Communication

Interpersonal spacing cues– Positioning ourselves at varying distances

and angles from others. Personal effects

– What a person wears that communicates information about that person.

Types of Nonverbal Communication

Type Example

Paralanguage Loudness, speed, pauses in speech

Body language (kinesics) Gestures, facial expressions, eye gaze

Interpersonal spacing (proxemics)

Intimate closeness, facing head-on, looking away, turning one’s back

Choice of personal effects Clothing, makeup, room decorations

Combining Nonverbal and Verbal Communication

Multiple cues convey added information, reduce ambiguity, and increase the accuracy of communication.

Multiple cues also resolve inconsistencies, so the messages can be evaluated separately and weighed (i.e. facial cues first, then paralanguage and verbal cues).

Social Structure and Communications

The ways we communicate with others reflect and influence our relationships. – The impact of gender depends on the

interpersonal, group, or organizational context.

– Speech that adheres to vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar rules is preferred.

Speech Styles

Standard speech is characterized by diverse vocabulary, proper pronunciation, correct grammar, and abstract content. – Speakers take the listener’s perspective

into account. Nonstandard speech is characterized by

limited vocabulary, improper pronunciation, incorrect grammar, and directness.– The speaker is egocentric.

Flirting

Flirting includes nonverbal facial expressions and behavior that serves to attract the attention and elicit an approach.

Flirting is an important component of the development of relationships.

Communicating Status and Intimacy

Status is concerned with the exercise of power and control.

Intimacy is concerned with the expression of affiliation and affection that creates social solidarity.

Verbal and nonverbal communication express and maintain particular levels of intimacy and relative status in relationships.

Theory of Speech Accommodation

Individuals who wish to express liking shift their own pronunciation, speech rate, vocal intensity, pause lengths, and utterance lengths to match those of their partner.

Individuals who wish to communicate disapproval modify these vocal behaviors in ways that make them diverge from their partner’s.

Normative Distances for Americans

Public distance (12–25 feet) is prescribed for interaction in formal encounters, lectures, trials, and other public events.

Social distance (4 –12 feet) is prescribed for many casual social and business transactions.

Normative Distances for Americans

Personal distance (1 1⁄ 2– 4 feet) is prescribed for interaction among friends and relatives.

Intimate distance (0 –18 inches) is prescribed for giving comfort, making love, and aggressing physically.

Reactions to Violations of Personal Space

Initiating Conversations

Conversations must be initiated with an attention-getting device.

A summons-answer sequence initiates the mutual obligation to speak and to listen that produces conversational turn taking.

Regulating Turn Taking

To regulate turn taking, people use verbal and nonverbal cues, singly and together, with varying degrees of success than in spontaneous conversations.

Feedback and Coordination

Through feedback, conversationalists coordinate what they are saying to each other from moment to moment.

Back channel feedback are small vocal and visual comments a listener makes while a speaker is talking, without taking over the speaking turn.