6: Communications

Question 1

Haptic communication

Answer 1

Communication via touch

Question 2

Paralanguage etymology

Answer 2

“Beside” language

Question 3

What is paralanguage

Answer 3

Nonverbal form of communication, accompanying words. The meaning and emotional state of speaker, accompanying their words.

Question 4

Speech community

Answer 4

People who share a sense of norms about how to communicate

Question 5

High-context culture

Answer 5

Culture where communication is largely dependent on nonverbal cues and social context. Verbal communication tends to be ambiguous, implicit, and in exact.

Question 6

Language is learned. Meanings behind words and sounds are _______. Meaning is provided by _______ and ______.

Answer 6

Arbitrary. Tradition and consensus.

Question 7

Diglossia

Answer 7

2 languages used by 1 speech community

Question 8

To examine communication, we must know…

Answer 8

1. Knowledge about speakers: age, gender, class, etc.
2. Cultural rules about appropriateness and social situations
3. Explicit and implicit norms surrounding communication.

Question 9

Guarani vs. Spanish

Answer 9

Spanish seen as more formal, the language of prestige. Guarani used in informal situations and talking to people of lower class. Guarani seen as more emotional and actually provokes feeling of national pride

Question 10

Back-and-forth negotiation in conversation is more characteristic of ____-context culture. A conversation in which the speaker must be explicit and the listener interprets is characteristic of a _____-context culture.

Answer 10

Low, high

Question 11

Code-switching and diglossia: bilingual choices depend on

Answer 11

1. Location of interaction
2. Degree of intimacy
3. Degree of formality
4. Seriousness of discourse

Question 12

Lingua Franca

Answer 12

Common language that people use, when they don’t share the same native/first language

Question 13

Indexical

Answer 13

A speech feature that signals an aspect or aspects of social identity

Question 14

Examples of indexicals

Answer 14

Pronouns, kinship terms, forms of address

Question 15

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 15

Hypothesis that language influences our thoughts and thus our behaviour. Influences how we at ego rise certain concepts, eg. Time and space, directionality

Question 16

Examples of Sapir-Whorf

Answer 16

• Navajo vs English: categorizing by form vs colour
• gendered languages: some languages emphasize gender more (Finnish vs Hebrew)
• people assigning gendered traits to nouns whose genderedness is actually arbitrary (keys and bridges in German and Spanish)
• Kuuk Thaayorre: cardinal directions instead of left/right/up/down

Question 17

Slides discussed Sapir-Whorf and politeness pronouns. What example was used?

Answer 17

Thailand: pronouns reference a king
First-person pronoun meant “I, the slave of Buddha”
Second-person pronoun addressed the dirt-beneath your shoes, signalling humbleness to the person in reference

Question 18

Language and gender: who talks more?

Answer 18

Men

Question 19

Language and gender: describe interruption trends

Answer 19

M-M: some interruptions
F-F: some interruptions, more than M-M
M-F: predominantly interrupting women!
F-M: very rarely interrupting men

Question 20

Language and gender: In conversation, who takes more & longer turns

Answer 20

Men

Question 21

How do women play a supportive role in conversation?

Answer 21

“Back-channels”
Asking questions
Attentional beginnings
Longer silences

Question 22

Language and gender: who has an easier time bringing up topics, and what are the #s

Answer 22

Men: succeed 97% of the time
Women: succeed 37% of the time

Question 23

What are genderlects

Answer 23

• different expressions of speech that different gender use. Men use stronger language, women more gentle. Women use less vulgarities

Question 24

Language and nationalism

Answer 24

Quebec and french: French seen as the language of government, fo the workplace, of education, law, and business
Quebecer identity strongly tied to language