Language and Communication Flashcards
Language evoltion and culture
Evolution of human cultures coincided with the evolution of abiltiy for verbal language
- facilitates creation of shared intentionality
- aids the communication of intentions and beliefs
- existence of human cutures is based on this ability
–> language differences help reinforce culture
Lexicon
Words contained in a language
Syntax and grammar
System of rules governing word forms and how words should be strung together to form meaningful utterances
Phonology
System of rules governing how words should sound in a language
Semantics
Meaning of words
Pragmatics
System of rules governing how langauge needs to be used and understood in social contexts
Culture and laguage acquisition
Humans have an ability to acquire language
- infants produce the same range of phonemes across cultures
–> culture provides the rules of phonology, syntax and grammar, semantics and pragmatics
Relation between culture and language
Culture influences thoughts, feelings and motives
Culture influences language
The use of language reinforces culture
Lexicon differences
Self-other referents:
- english: you
- dutch: u en je
- japanese: elaborate system depending on status and intimacy
Pragmatic differences
High context: most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicitly transmitted part of the message
Low-context: the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code
Pragmatic differences
Low context: direct message (what before how)
High context: read between the lines (how before what)
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Speakers of different languages think differently because of the differences in their languages –> linguistic relativity
Challanges to Sapir-Whorf
Berlin and Kay: suggested 11 basic color terms
Breugelmans and Poortinga: 1 word for guilt and shame in Mexico
Pinker: thoughts can be formed without words and language
Nonverbal communication
- facial expressions and vocal characteristics
- gestures and body postures
- interpersonal distance
- touching behaviors
- gaze and visual attention
Speech illustrators
Nonverbal behaviors that accompany speech
Emblems
Culture-specific gestures that convey meaning without words
Process of communication
Encoding a message
Channel the message to the other
Decoding the message from the other
Intracultural communication
Occurs among people of the same cultural background
Intercultural communication
Occurs between people of different cultural backgrounds
Obstacles in intercultural communcation
- assumption of similarities
- language differences
- nonveral misinterpretation
- stereotypes
- tendency to evaluate
- stress and anxiety
- uncertainty and ambiguity
Mindfulness
Allows people to be conscious of their own habits, mental scripts, and cultural expectations concerning communication
- components that affect intercultural effectiveness (motivational, knowledge and skill factors)
Uncertainty reduction
Efforts to reduce the level of uncertainty and anxiety that one feels when decoding intercultural messages
Face
Concerns with one’s appearance in public or reputation, and the potential embarrassment or shame associated with a threat to the apprearance
Emotion regulation
- involves the ability to control one’s negative emotional reactions
- enables one to engage in a more constructive intercultural process
Frame-switching
People maintain multiple self-concepts and switch between them depending on context
- such self-concepts are represented by a network of ideas in the mind
Personality and behavior in biliguals
Different responses on big five in Chinese/English
Bilingual advantage for cognitive performance
Studies demonstrate that bilinguals selectively attend to stimuli better than monolinguals
- early exposure promotes effective communication
