Culture & Communication Flashcards
Co-evolution of language and culture
Language is a universal psychological ability in humans.
Evolution of human cultures associated with evolution of ability for verbal language.
Language facilitates creation of shared intentionality.
Human cultures exist because of the ability to have language.
Each culture creates its own unique language.
Language reflects differences and reinforces cultures.
Human culture
a unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet the basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being and derive meaning from life.
7 structures of language
Lexicon
Syntax & Grammar
Phonology
Semantics
Pragmatics
Morphemes
Phonemes
Lexicon
Words contained in a language
Syntax & grammar
System of rules governing word forms and how words should be strung together to form meaningful utterances
phronology
system of rules governing how should sound
Semantics
what words mean
Pragmatics
system of rules governing how language is used and understood in social contexts
morphemes
most basic units of meaning
E.g.
1 morpheme – friend
2 morphemes – friends (friends + s)
2 morphemes – friendly (friend + ly)
3 morphemes: friendliness (friend + ly + ness)
Phonemes
basic units of sound
Culture and lexicons
Culture influences self-other referents (what we call ourselves and others).
American English: simple use of self-other referents.
Japanese: more complex self-other referents.
Culture and pragmatics
Culture influences pragmatics (rules for how language is used and understood in different social contexts).
High-context vs. Low-context cultures.
Honorific speech: denotes status difference
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
(linguistics relativity)
speakers of different languages think
Challenges to Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Berlin and Kay (1969): 11 basic colour terms form a universal hierarchy.
Pinker (1995): thought can be formed without words and language.
Fishman (1960): Sapir-Whorf hypothesis ordered by levels of complexity.
Non-verbal behaviour
Facial expressions, nonverbal vocal cues, gestures, body postures, interpersonal distance, touching behaviours, gaze and visual attention.
Bulk of messages conveyed nonverbally
Nonverbal channels more important in understanding meaning and emotion states.
Most people consciously attend to verbal language.
Gestures
hand movements used to illustrate speech and convey verbal meaning.
Speech illustrators
movements directly tied to speech; illustrate/highlight what is being said.
Cultures differ in both amount and type of various illustrative gestures.
Embelms
culture-specific gestures convey meaning without words.
Gaze
powerful nonverbal behaviour w/evolutionary roots in animal behaviour
Gaze associated w/dominance, power, aggression, affilitation and nurturance.
Cultures create rules concerning gazing and visual attention.
“Contact cultures” vs. “noncontact cultures”
Gaze often used as nonverbal sign of respect.
- e.g. direct eye contact:
- Sign of rudeness/disrespect to many Indigenous Australians.
- Sign of respect for Non-Indigenous Australians.
paralinguistic cues
Tone of voice, intonation, pitch speech rate, use of silence, and volume.
Cultures differ in facilitating voice and …
verbal style to illustrate and amplify speech.
- Expressive cultures vs. Less expressive cultures.
Proxemics
use of space in interpersonal interactions
- Cultures differ in interpersonal spaces they allot to intimate, personal, social, and public situations.
- Interpersonal distance helps to regulate intimacy by controlling sensory exposures.
Haptics
non-verbal behaviour involving touch.
- “Contact” culture vs “noncontact” culture.
Violations of space and touch produce aversive consequences.
Messages
information and meaning exchanged when people communicate.
Encoding
process by which people select, imbed messages, and send signals to others.
Signals
observable behaviours carrying messages encoded during communication.
Channels
specific sensory modalities by which signals are sent and messages retrieved.
Decoding
process of receiving signals and translating signals into meaningful messages.
Cultural decoding rules invovle:
Ethnocentrism, filters, emotions, value judgements, stereotypes/expectations, and social cognitions.
Cultures share encoding and decoding rules; thus
People of same culture develop set of expectations about communication.
Decoding rules, with emotions/value judgements, form basis of “filters” used in viewing world.
Intracultural communication
communication among people of same cultural background
Intercultural communication
communication between people of different cultural backgrounds
Improving intercultural communication
Mindfulness:
- Allows for ethnorelativism.
Uncertainty reduction:
- Allows for focus on content of signals and messages.
Face:
- Important to be mindful of appearances and potential shame associated with threat to those appearances.
Emotion regulation:
- Controlling negative emotions will allow for more constructive intercultural process.
Code frame switching
avigating back and forth from one cultural meaning system to the other when accessing one language or another.
Bilinguals have 2 mental representations of culture encoded in their minds.
Bilinguals show different personalities depending on if responses are in first language.
Perceptions of Bilinguals
Perception that bilinguals lack intelligence:
- Takes time to respond in second language and thus appearance of having cognitive difficulties.
Foreign language processing difficulties:
- Arise due to lack of fluency in speaking language, and because of uncertainty/ambiguity about intended meaning of messages.
Foreign language effect:
- Temporary decline in thinking ability of people who use second language.
Monolingualism
the state of understanding or having the knowledge to speak or write in only one language.
Americans are notoriously ignorant of lanuages others than English/
Ignorance of other cultures often accompanied by ethnocentric view rejecting need to learn, understand and appreciate other languages, customs, and cultures.
Americans are most monolingual of all peoples of the world
Thus, language is intimately tied to culture.
Ethnocentric
measuring or judging one’s own culture against another culture and can lead to judging someone else’s culture negatively. Ethnocentrism is also the belief that one’s own cultural rules are the best and often better than another culture’s rules.
