Chapter 2 Foundations of Verbal Language Origins of Human Language language system of arbitrary signals sounds gestures used to communicate thoughts and feelings when words appear on paper they are one dimensional words pick up more meaning when spoken Gesture Theory idea that human language evolved from gestures and facial expressions Selecting Processing Symbols Learning Symbols cybernetic process process by which the cortex center for memory and communicating processes stores computes and processes incoming sense information input storage stimulus search recall output language explosion theory we build communication skills from the core of language we develop early in life significant other theory our understanding of self is built by those who react to and comment on our language actions ideas beliefs and mannerisms The Concept of Meaning linguistics study of sounds structure and rules of human language Features Common to all Languages languages are based on set of symbols languages that are alphabetically based recognize vowels and consonants languages have ordered structural categories verbs nouns objects o o o o words in and of themselves are not inherently meaningful Denotative meanings words with direct explicit meaning Connotative meanings words with implied or suggested meaning Semantics relationship between language and meaning The Functions of Language Sapir Whorf Hypothesis linguistic relativity person s understanding of the world are based on language he speaks 1 emotive language employs emotional connotative words to express feelings and emotions 2 phatic language reinforces the relationship between the participants in a communicative exchange small talk 3 cognitive language conveys information 4 rhetorical language influences thoughts and behaviors 5 identifying language naming things includes hate speech Language Distortion language distortion unclear language caused by ambiguity vagueness inferences or message adjustment o ambiguity words with more than one meaning o vagueness when something isn t clear double speak or euphemisms o inferences when we interpret beyond available information jump to conclusions The Language We Use linguist social scientist who studies the structures of various languages dialect social or regional variation of a language non standard dialects low prestige dialects slang or accents accent pronunciation used by a person standard dialects high prestige dialects speak with proper grammar slang words that are related to a specific activity or incident and are immediately understood by members of a particular group inarticulates uttered sounds words or phrases that have no meaning or do not help the listener gain a clear understanding of the message ebonics characterized by a systematic grammar
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