COMN 2111

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COMN 2111

• DEFINITION OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND
  CULTURE
• LECTURE 3c

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WORDS AND MEANING

• TWO FUNDAMENTAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN WORDS AND
  MEANING
• NAMES
• WORDS WITH SHARED MEANINGS
• SYNTAX
• WORDS IN AN ORDER WE RECOGNIZE

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NAMING WORDS -NOUNS

• EVERY SOCIETY HAS A LEXICON OR LIST OF
  AGREED-UPON NAMES FOR OBJECTS, IDEAS
• UNANALYZABLE, SIMPLE WORDS THAT NAME CATEGORIES
  OF THINGS WITH EASILY OBSERVED DIFFERENCES
• THE NAME IS A SYMBOL BECAUSE OF ARBITRARILY
  ATTACHED MEANING

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SYNTAX THE OTHER BASIS FOR MEANING
WORDS ALSO NEED TO SPOKEN IN AN ORDER WE ALL SHARE
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MAJOR TASK OF SYNTAX

• TO TAKE SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN NON-LINEAR
  ORDER
• ARRANGE IT IN LINEAR ORDER SO IT CAN BE TALKED
  ABOUT

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WORDS AND MEANING THE FIRST KIND

• DENOTATION
• THE CULTURAL LEXICON - THE BASIC, SHARED MEANINGS
  OR PRIMARY MEANING OF WORDS
• NAMING - FIRST FUNCTION OF SOCIALIZATION
  -SEPARATE THINGS BY NAME
• DEFINITION -CHILD LEARNS CATEGORIES AND
  CONNECTIONS. GROUP THINGS TOGETHER UNDER MORE
  ABSTRACT NAMES.
• WHAT GETS PUT WITH WHAT, INTO WHAT CATEGORY, IS
  CRITICAL TO COMMUNICATION

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WORDS AND MEANING THE OTHER KIND

• CONNOTATION
• PERSON OR GROUP-SPECIFIC MEANINGS FOR WORDS.
  EMOTIONAL, SUBJECTIVE, SECONDARY MEANINGS
• WORDS HAVE BOTH CULTURAL MEANINGS (DENOTATIVE)
  AND PERSONAL MEANINGS (CONNOTATIVE)

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CONNOTATION GONE NUTS!

• Video Example

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SYMBOLS AND MEANING

• SYMBOLS ARE
• ARBITRARY
• CAN BE ANY AGREED-UPON SOUND
• AMBIGUOUS
• GOOD FRIEND, NICE CLOTHES -MEANING?
• WHAT DOES MASCULINE-FEMININE MEAN?
• RANGE OF MEANINGS
• ABSTRACT
• CONTAIN NO CONCRETE ASPECTS OF THE THING THEY
  REPRESENT

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LANGUAGE AND HIGHLIGHTING

• EVERY CULTURE - SOME AREAS - A MORE DETAILED
  VOCABULARY THAN OTHERS
• HIGHLIGHT ONE AREA OVER ANOTHER
• EASIER TO SPEAK ABOUT THE AREA
• SOMETIMES A PROBLEM IN INTERCULTURAL
  COMMUNICATION - HARDER WORK

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LANGUAGE AND GENDER HIGHLIGHTING

• UP TO 70S - DENSE VOCABULARY USING THE WORD MAN
  TO STAND FOR PERSON/HUMAN
• RESEARCH FOUND WE THOUGHT ABOUT MALE NOT PERSON
  WHEN WORD MAN USED
• WHEN ASKED PEOPLE COULD THINK ABOUT/DESCRIBE
  FEMALES IN ROLE - JUST NOT AS EASILY

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HIGHLIGHTING AND STEREOTYPING

• In DEVITOS reading in the Selected Readings
  Text.
• Tries to provide up-to-date vocabulary around
  male-female gender talk, racist and heterosexist
  talk
• People seem to need to talk about others in terms
  of their gender identities and racial origins so
  he provides a vocabulary of inoffensive labels.

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WHY DO THIS?

• REMEMBER - SYMBOLS ARE ARBITRARY AND ABSTRACT
• TO REDUCE PSYCHOLOGICAL NOISE
• SO PEOPLE WILL LISTEN
• MEANINGS ARE IN PEOPLE
• IF WE USE WORDS AT A HIGH LEVEL OF GENERALITY
  WHICH OUR GROUP ACCEPTS BUT THAT CAN IRRITATE OR
  EVEN EMOTIONALLY INFLAME ANOTHER GROUP OF
  PEOPLE.
• CONFLICT NOT SHARED MEANING

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