question

Convergence:

answer

process of adapting one's speech style to match that of others with whom the communicator wants to identify -when two or more people feel equally positive about one another their *(*)(^^(&* will be mutual but when communicators want or need approval, they will adapt their speech to accommodate the other person's style as to "do the right thing" ex. immigrants when they come into the country and learn our native language

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Divergence:

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communicators who want to set themselves apart from others, speak in a way the emphasize their differences ex. members of an ethnic group may be fluent in english, but choose to speak in their native language as if to say "i am proud of where i am from" -can also accrue across age lines, like teens speaking in slang

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Pragmatic goal of Divergence:

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the creation of norms about who has the right to use certain words and who does not -when certain races use certain terms to describe themselves if someone that is not a member of that race uses that word it can be offensive

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Powerless speech mannerisms:

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-speakers whose talk is free of these mannerisms are rated as more competent, dynamic, and attractive than speakers who sound powerless -effects of powerful versus powerless speech styles results in more positive attributions of competence and employability than a powerless one -even a single type of powerless speech (hedges) appears to make a person appear less authoritative or socially attractive

question

A person who uses powerless speech that has _______ to start with it seems to have _____ of an effect on how he/she is perceived.

answer

high credibility, less

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Powerful speech that gets the desired results in mainstream North America:

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doesn't work everywhere with everyone -japan -Mexican -Korean

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Hedges:

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"im kinda disappointed" "i think we should" "I guess I'd like to"

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Hesitations:

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"uh, can i have a minute of your time" "well, we could try this idea...." "i wish you would-er-try to be on time

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Polite Forms:

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"excuse me, sir..."

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Tag Questions:

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"it's about time we got started, isn't it?" "don't you think we should give it another try"

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Disclaimers:

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"I probably should say this, but"

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Powerless Speech Mannerisms:

answer

Hedges Hesitations Polite Forms Tag Questions Disclaimers

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Powerful and polite speech:

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usually most effective type of speech

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Sexist Language:

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includes words, phrases and expressions that unnecessarily differentiate between females and males or exclude trivialize or diminish either sex -to say a woman mothered her children focuses on her nurturing behavior, but to say a father fathered his children talks only of biology ex. working mother vs working father? -can stereotype -can stigmatize women

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Abstraction:

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convenient ways of generalizing about similarities between several objects, people, ideas, or events. ex. "thanks for washing the dishes" vs. Thanks for cleaning up" *we say the former all the time -like ambiguity, these are useful verbal shorthands that can help find face-saving ways to avoid confrontation by making things deliberately unclear

question

Abstraction ladder:

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shows how to describe the same phenomenon at various levels of abstraction -bottom of ladder is specific, as you go up ladder becomes more abstract -(B to T): a boss gives feedback to an employee about career advancement at various levels of specificity (fig 5.2)

question

Phonological Rules:

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govern how sounds are combined to form words ex. words champagne, double, and occasion have the same meaning in French and English, but are pronounced differently because the languages have different

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Syntactic Rules:

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govern the way symbols can be arranged. ex. Whiskey makes you sick when you are well vs. Whiskey, when you're sick, makes you well. *the statements contain the same words, but the syntax is shifted so the meaning is different

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Ungrammatical speech is sometimes:

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different rather than deficient because those syntactical rules could be following a different sub-culture or regional dialect

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Semantic Rules:

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governs the meaning of statements -this is what makes it possible for us to agree that "bikes" are for riding and "books" are for reading -without these communication would be impossible because each individual would use symbols in their own unique way and they would be unintelligible to others -they help us understand the meaning of individual words but often don't help us understand how they are used in everyday life

question

Pragmatic Rules:

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help us distinguish accurate meanings of unclear speech acts by telling us what uses and interpretations of a message are appropriate in a given context -when understood by all, smooth communication is possible -people in individual relationships create their own sets of pragmatic rules -Coordinated management of meaning (CMM)

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Coordinated Management of Meaning:

answer

describes some types of pragmatic rules hat operate in everyday conversations -we use rules at several levels to create our own messages and interpret others statements

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Linguistic Relativism:

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the worldview of a culture is shaped and reflected by the language its members speak -ex. bilingual speakers seem to think differently when they change languages -this shows the power of language to shape cultural identity: somethings for better and sometimes for worse

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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis:

answer

the language spoken by Hopi Native Americans represented a view of reality that is dramatically different from most tongues -Hopi language makes no distinction between nouns and verbs so the people who speak it describe the entire world as being constantly in process -english language is more fixed or constant and the Hopi language is constantly changing (represented by verbs)

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Examples of Less Powerful Language:

answer

Hedges Hesitations Polite Forms Tag Questions Disclaimers

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Racist Language:

answer

reflects a worldview that classifies members of one racial group as superior and others as inferior -not all languages have deliberate racist overtones ex. black plague, black hat of a villain, angels are white

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Ambiguous Language:

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consists of words and phrases that have more than one commonly accepted definition -some may be amusing -some misunderstandings that arise from this are trivial ex. ordering at a mexican restaurant and say "I want a tostada with beans" and when they bring the meal to you it is a tostada filled with beans. not beans on the side. ex. love: passionate love and compassionate love

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Euphemism:

answer

innocuous terms substituted for blunt ones which avoids a direct, literal reference to an event -typically used to soften the impact of information that might be unpleasant ex. the relational breakup talk "I am not ready for commitment" vs. "I want to date other people" the first is easier to say/deal with than the latter

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Relative Language:

answer

gains meaning by comparisons -ex. do you attend a large or small school? well it depends on what you compare it to -words such as slow, smart, stupid, short, long are defined through comparison ex. in healthcare they ask to describe pain with a numerical value instead of some pain or a lot of pain

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Static Evaluation:

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usually mistaken assumption that people or things are consistent and unchanging -this linguistic labeling leads us to typecast others and in some cases forces them to perpetuate behaviors that could be changed -ex. instead of saying "I'm shy" you should say, "I haven't approached any new people since i moved here here"

question

"It" Statements:

answer

replace the personal pronoun I with less immediate construction it's ex. It bothers me when you're late vs. I'm worried when you're late -speakers who use this avoid responsibility of ownership of a message, instead

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Language of Responsibility:

answer

-language reflects the speakers willingness to take responsibility for her or his beliefs, feelings, and actions -this acceptance or rejection can say a lot about a speaker and can shape the tone of a relationship

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"I" Language:

answer

identifies the speaker as the source of a message -more direct form of language than It Language -in large doses can sound egotistical, it works best in moderation

question

"But" Statements:

answer

statements take the form of "X but Y" : can be quite confusing -it has the effect of canceling the thought that precedes it -can be face saving strategy worth using at times however, when the goal is to be clear the best choice will be to deliver the central idea without the distractions that come with "***" statements -ex. "You've done good work for us, but we're going to have to let you go"

question

"You" Language:

answer

expresses judgement of the other person -positive judgements rarely cause problems, but notice how each of the following critical "you" statements implied that the subject of the complaint is doing something wrong -implied that the speaker is qualified to judge the target (most listeners aren't willing to accept)

question

"I" Statement:

answer

has 3 parts -describes 1. the other person's behavior, 2. your feelings, 3. the consequences the others behavior has for you ex. "I get embarrassed [feeling] when you talk about my bad grades in front of our friends [behavior]. Im afraid they'll think I'm stupid [consequence]. -people who use this engage in assertiveness

question

Assertiveness:

answer

clearly expressing their thoughts, feelings, and wants

question

"We" Langauge:

answer

implies that the issue is the concern and responsibility of both the speaker and receiver of a message -can help build a constructive climate "we're in this together" climate -couples who use this are more satisfied and manage conflict better than those who rely on I and You pronouns -can be presumptuous since you are speaking for the other person as well as yourself -

question

I/We combinations:

answer

heavily endorsed by college students for confrontational conversations in romantic relationships -I and we pronouns demonstrate both autonomy and connection

question

Factual Statements:

answer

claims that can be verified as true or false

question

opinion statements:

answer

based on the speakers beliefs -they can never be proven or disproven -in everyday conversation we often present our opinions as fact so we invite unnecessary arguments

question

Fact-Inference Confusion:

answer

labeling your opinions can go a long way toward relational harmony but developing this habit wont solve all linguistic problems

question

inferential statements:

answer

conclusions arrived at from an interpretation of evidence -arguments often result when we label our inferences as facts

question

Evaluative Langauge:

answer

-aka emotive language -seems to describe something by really announces the speaker's attitude toward it -editorial statements -ex. if you approve you say: "she is tactful", if you disapprove you say: "she is beating around the bush"

question

Significan Gender Differences:

answer

women and men are so fundamentally different that they may as well be from different planets -"two-culture" theory: men and women grow up learning different rules about how to speak and act -men more likely to speak in sentence fragments, and with "I" references, and use judgmental language, and make directive statements -Women are more likely to: longer sentences, reference feelings, use intensive adverbs, less assertive, more statements of uncertainty, causes it to be less powerful than mens

question

Minor Gender Differences:

answer

the link between sex and language isn't clear cut -1 % of variance in communication is from gender -men and women speak the same number of words per day -"men are from north Dakota, Women are from South Dakota"

question

What trumps sex differences in speech:

answer

occupation and power

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