Ch 5 ...You don't say Flashcards
Language
A set of phonemes that convey meaning because they are organized according to rules
Utterances
Complete units of speech in spoken languages
Semantic rules
Rules that determine the meaning of sounds and words
Grammar
Collection of morphological, syntactic, and semantic rules that govern the production of language
Grammatical gender
Organization of nouns along masculine, feminine, and neutral dimensions
Morpheme
Meaningful component of structured language
Biological cost of language
Jaw and mouth shape: tooth crowding, wisdom teeth issues, higher risk of choking
Biological advantages of language
Strategics
Share and accumulate knowledge
Collective problem solving
Linguistic nativism
Chomsky’s theory that brain is hard-wired for innate language rules/ organization. Theory supported by children’s abilities to learn languages efficiently, especially during critical period in early childhood
Pidgin
Simplified mix of languages lacking rigorous grammar rules
Creole language
Mixture of words from multiple languages, but with struct grammatical system
Pragmatics
Distinction between what is said, and what speaker means (literal compared to intended meaning)
Speech act theory
Theory proposing that speakers use language to perform certain actions
Locution
Non-ambiguous meaning of an utterance (I had a good day)
Perlocution
Unintended effect of an utterance (ex. It’s fine…)
Illocution
Speech act performed by an utterance (ex. I am sorry)
Indirect language
Use of language in which the intended meaning is not stated explicitly, yet is commonly understood (ex. reserved)
Theory of conversational implicature
Grice’s theory that people are able to understand each other and communicate effectively because they follow rules of conversation
Cooperative principle
Principle that people follow a set of rules that enable communication to function effectively
Grice’s 4 Maxims of communication
4 rules:
- Quantity: communicators make their contributions to conversation as informative as required, and not more so
- Quality: Communicators generally attempt to make their contributions true, not false, not lacking evidence
- Relation: Communicators aim to be relevant
- Manner: Communicators aim to be clear, not ambiguous
In what context are Grice’s maxims broken during conversation
When conveying implicit meaning (ex. sarcasm)
Politeness
Process by which communicators frame their conversations in order to save the face of the their interlocutors
Face
People’s concern about their value/standing in the eyes of others
Positive face
A person’s wish to be well thought of, understood, liked and treated nicely.
Negative face
A person’s wish to go about their business unimpeded, to not be bothered
Universal norm
The culturally universal tendency to use more formal, polite language with people of higher status, or higher social distance
Whorf
Proposed theory that language entirely determines thoughts and perception
Cultural frame switching
Different knowledge structures are learned and influence thoughts based on cultural setting. Bilingual studies support this by displaying personality differences when given in different languages.
Masculine generic language
Use of masculine words to denote all people (ex. mankind)
Example of lens-like power of language: state, “Firemen responded”. meaning firefighters attended to the blaze. However attention, memory, and cognition denotes “male”, irrespective of linguistic intentions. Results of studies suggest that this contributes to gender biases. (p.221)
Saying is believing effect
Tendency for a person’s memory for events to be influenced by what they have said
Social markers
Features of language that convey information about speaker’s characteristics, ex personality, SES, power dynamic, cultural background
Matched guise technique
Technique used to measure attitudes about a speaker based on language.
High speech rate= high rating of competence, sociability, trustworthiness
Frequent pauses= low rating of competence
Utterance length= Dominance rating
Elevated pitch= deceit and instability
Varied pitch=dynamism and extraversion
Received pronunciation
Standard, high status spoke accent.
People who deviate from standard accent tend to be deemed less favourably
Speech accommodation theory
Theory asserting that people modify their speech style to suit context
Speech convergence
Speech style shift to that of the listener
Speech divergence
Speech style shift away from that of the listener
Communication accommodation theory
Theory asserting that people also modify non-verbal behaviours to suit context
Serial transmission
Language consistent with stereotypes is transmitted, inconsistent language is not
Common ground
Shared worldview
Linguistic intergroup bias (LIB)
Tendency for people to describe ingroup positive and outgroup negative behaviours abstractly, but ingroup negative and outgroup positive concretely
Linguistic expectancy bias
Interpersonal version of the LIB, people describe expected behaviours abstractly and unexpected concretely
Nonverbal communication
shrugs and raises eyebrow
Nonverbal communication includes:
Gestures Tone Expression Distance Dress Body art Lifestyle
Social intellect
Set of skills involving reciprocative ability to infer other’s emotions, motive, and intentions and personality. Many theorists argue nonverbal communication is core component
Nonverbal communication enables communication by:
Express intimacy Establish dominance Facilitate goals Regulate conversation Provide information about inner states
Paralanguage
Vocal pitch and speech rate
Co-verbal behaviours
Nonverbal behaviours that accompany speech and and convey information to a receiver
Interpersonal distance
Closeness between 2 people Intimate: 0-0.5m Personal: 0.5-1m Social: 1-4m Public: 4m+
Heslin & Patterson: 5 types of touch:
Professional/ functional Social/ polite Friendship/ warmth Love/ intimacy Sexual
Facial expressions
Voluntary or no changes in the face that convey information
Gestures
Movements that accompany verbal communications
Emblems/ quoatable gestures
Gestures that replace verbal communication
Nonverbal sensitivity
Ability to discern other people’s thoughts, feelings, an d intentions from their nonverbal behaviour
Motivational impairment effect
When people try and hide deceit, it is easier to notice deceit occurring
Conversation
Interactions with verbal and nonverball communication
Back channel communication
Cues that let speaker know person is listening
Conversation analysis
Study of talk in interactions, describes structure and pattern
Discourse analysis
Analysis of entire communicative event located in socio-historic context
Computer mediated conversation
Communication via computer network. Deindividution is often seen, where people are dis-inhibited as they feel anonymous and can thus break social taboos. Explains high levels of disclosure, hostility and hate group recruitment in CMC.
Positive of CMC
Social identity model of deindividuation: facilitates expression of identity, especially out of norm behavioural components, and positive ingroup experiences
Soft determinism
Language helps to make distinctions between concepts
How is language performative
Achieves actions:
Three characteristics that enable it to do this
(1) non-ambiguous (literal meaning) – locution
- e.g., in “I’m here” the locution is that the person is actually here
(2) the act performed by the utterance – illocution
- e.g., the apology
(3) the unintended effects the utterance might have – perlocution
- e.g., making the addressee angry
