Chapter 4: The World of Words

(pgs. 100-125)

I. Language is Symbolic

A. Symbols are arbitrary—

 

B. Symbols are ambiguous—

 

C. Symbols are abstract—

 

II. Principles of Verbal Communication give us an understanding of how symbols work

A. Language and culture

 

B. Interpreting symbols

 

C. Communication rules

 

1. Regulative rules

2. Constitutive rules

D. Punctuation

1. Demand-withdraw cycle

2. Subjective perceptions

III. The ability to use and understand symbols has an impact on the lives we lead

A. Symbols define experiences, people, relationships, feelings, and thoughts

1. Names and labels

 

2. Totalize

 

3. Language affects how we act in relationships

 

B. Language is value laden, not neutral

1. Judgments and values

 

2. Loaded language

 

3. Language can degrade

 

C. Symbols help organization and perception

1. Allows for abstract thought

 

2. Language can stereotype

 

D. Allows us to cross time—past, current, future

 

E. Symbols allow us to analyze / monitor ourselves

 

IV. When a group of people share a set of norms about how to talk and the purposes talk serves, they form a speech community

A. SC’s use symbols in different ways

 

B. Defined by shared ideas of how to communicate, not by geographic locations

 

C. Individuals are socialized into gender speech communities early in life

 

V. Making our verbals more effective

A. Dual perspective

 

B. I language

 

C. Respect others

 

D. Work to make communication more accurate