ING105 Effective Communication

1. ING105 EffectiveCommunication Asst. Prof. Dr. Emrah Görgülü Lecture 6: Language

2. Objectives • Explaintheconcept of symbols • Define denotativeandconnotativemeaning • Understandcontentandrelationshiplevels of meaning • Describe how languageinfluencesourthoughts • Explaintheconcept of rhetoricalsensitivity • Analyzeyourownuse of rhetoricalsensitivity

3. Language Lupita (Spanish) Anita (American) Overweightguy Anita: Wow! Look at thatcouchpotato! Lupita: What?! I can’tseeany sofa orpotato!

4. Language (cont’d) John: How wastheexam? Sarah: Itwasa piece of cake David: Sue has a leadfoot! Angela: Really, I didn’tknowthat.

5. Language (cont’d) Q: What is languageanyway? A: Language is thecommontooleveryoneusestocommunicate in theirdaily life. • In a basiccommunicationcourse it is importantforyoutounderstandthefundamentals of thelanguageprocess. • Thatwayyou can usethelanguageeffectively, maketheappropriateremarks in yourspeechandavoidmisunderstandings. • Communication is a dailyprocessandsolidlanguageskillsareessentialforeveryone.

6. Symbols • Weusesymbolstocommunicatewithothers. Allwordsaresymbols. Symbolsarearbitraryrepresentations. • Wechoose a wordtorepresent an objector a conceptandthensendthewordthrougha channeltosomeone else. horsefriendship at arkadaşlık equusamicitia

7. Symbols (cont’d) • Therearesomewordsthatmeanwhattheydescribe. Thesewordsarecalledonomatopoeicwords. • meow – Thecatmeowedallday. • honk– Do not honkthehorn • clink– Thecoinsclinkedtogether • murmur – He murmuredsomething

8. Symbols (cont’d) • Evenwhenwecarefullyselectsymbols, we can runintoproblemsconveyingmeaningbecausesymbolsarearbitraryandambiguous. • Symbolsarearbitrarybecausethere is no innateconnectionbetween an objectorthoughtandthewordusedtorepresent it. • Sometimessymbolusedto define objectsorthoughtsmayvaryfromregiontoregionorfromcountrytocountry. Thismightcause a problem in communication. • Whatdoespastamean in EnglishandTurkish? • Howaboutsympathetic? • Whataboutcamera?

9. Symbols (cont’d) (a) (b) (c) (d)

10. Symbols (cont’d) • Can youthink of a time whensomeoneused a symbolthatwasunfamiliartoyou? • Do youknowwhatthesewordsmean in Turkish? • Teyyare • İşkilli • Alengirli • Gafakoçanı • Martaval • Nüktedan • Nobran

11. Symbols (cont’d) • Another problem in tryingtocreatemeaningforanotherperson is thatsymbolsareambiguous. • Becausemeaningsare in peopleand not in words, thislanguagevaguenessmakeseffectiveommunication an excitingchallenge. • Eachcommunicatordecideswhatcertainphrasesmean. • Thinkaboutthephrasessuch as: • a lot of • expensive • Suchwordsareambiguousvaguewithout a context. (do TryIt p. 39)

12. Symbols (cont’d) • Emrah: That sure is a tallbuilding! • Speakersshoud be carefultochoosethemostconcretetermsthatareavailablewhencreatingtheirmessage.

13. Symbols (cont’d) Creativeambiguity • Therearetimeswhenspeakersspecificallychoosecreativeambiguityto mask a messagethatmight be hurtful. • Yourfriend: What do youthink of mynewshirt? You: Oh, it is reallyinteresting! • You do not wantto say theshirtdoes not lookgood, soyouaredeliberatelyambiguous. • Ifthereceiver is perceptive, themessageallowsbothpartiestogetout of theexchangewithoutany hurt feelings. (do CriticalTh. / handout on p. 38)

14. Symbols (cont’d) • Somespeakerschoosecreativelyambiguoustermstomisleadthereceiver. • Student A: I have a familyemergency. • What is familyemergency? • Nine timesout of 10, it meansthatthestudentwantstomissclass but does not wanttoadmitwhy. • Typicallyifthere is a trueemergency, youprovidedetailssuch as “Myverycloseuncle is in thehospitaland his condition is life threatening. I needto be there.”

15. DenotativeandConnotativeMeanings • Symbols (i.e. words) havedifferentmeanings. A word has a denotativemeaningandmayhave a connotativemeaning. • A denotativemeaningis thedictionarydefinition of a word. • Theprimarymeaning • Themostusualmeaning • Thewordswimmeanstomoveyour body throughthewaterbymovingparts of your body. • Thewordfamemeansthestate of beingwellknown. • A pianist of internationalfame

16. DenotativeandConnotativeMeanings (cont’d) • A connotativemeaningincludesthefeelingsandemotionspeopleattachto a word. Theconnotation of a wordpositiveornegativeassociations. • Moist / dump: (slightlywet) havethesamebasicmeaning • Moist has favorableconnotations: a moistchocolatecake • Dumphas unfavorableconnotations: a dumpcake • slender / skinny – energeticchildren / wildchildren • siyah / kara • family

17. ContentandRelatonshipLevels of Meaning Thereare at leasttwolevels of meaningforeverystatement. • Contentlevel: Itreferstothefactualinterpretation of words. Ifyou say toyourspouse: • “I seeyoudid not do thedishes.” • Thecontentlevel of themeaning is thattherearedirtydishes in thesink. • Relationshiplevel: On therelationshiplevelthestatementmeans “Youlazyperson, whathaveyoubeendoingallday?” • Therelationshiplevel of meaning is ambiguousand can leadtoseriousmisunderstandings. Evenwhenthemessage is clear, peoplemaylookfor ‘hidden’ meaning, not thecontentlevel of meaning.

18. ContentandRelatonshipLevels of Meaning (cont’d) Letsexaminethescenariobelow • LauraasksScottif he is mad at her. Laura: Areyou mad at me? Scott: No! • Instead of acceptingthecontentlevel of meaning, Laurabegins an analysis in her head. “Well, he said it in a funnyway, I wonderif he is really mad.” Laura: Areyou sure youare not mad at me? Scott: (raises his voice) No, I am not mad. • WhenLaurahearstheraisedvoice, sheinterpretstheirritatedtone as evidencethat her doubtswerecorrect.

19. ContentandRelatonshipLevels of Meaning (cont’d) Determine at leasttworelationalmessagesforeach of thecontentmessagesfrom an employerormanager. Explainyouranswerfortherelationalmessagesyouidentify: • Seeme in myoffice in a half-hour. • Howdidyoucomeupwiththatanswer? • Letmecheckthatout! • What time didyou say themeetingbegins?

20. TheInfluence of Language • Thelanguagewechooseinfluencesthewaywethinkaboutthings. • As wemakesymbolchoices, it is imperativetothinkabouthowweviewtheworldbased on thewordsweusetodescribe it. Example • Think of a personwho is on a diet. Thispersoneatssixchocolatechipcookies a day. There is a bigdifference in howthepersonwillviewthesituationiftheychoosethewords • I cheated • I made an unhealthyeatingchoice

21. TheInfluence of Language (cont’d) • I cheated • Thisone has moral connotations. Itmakesthepersonfeelunethical (i.e. immoral, wrong), weakandappalling(i.e. verybad). • I made an unhealthyeatingchoice. • Itfocuses on theeventitselfratherthanmaking a judgment. • An individual can peceivetheevent as evidence of personalityflawor an unfortunateincidentunder his control. Thechoice of languagewillinfluencehowthepersonthinksabouthimself.