Chapter 3 Review
What is the difference between
acculturation and enculturation?
 What is ethnocentrism?
 What is a possible benefit of cultural
clash?
 Improving cultural understanding—how?

 Chapter 3 - Communication, Culture, and
Identity
Chapter 4 Recap/Lecture
What is verbal communication?
Written
 Face-to-face
 Use of words to communicate message
 Part of communicating effectively
 Relationship to interpersonal
communication?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hGDlifwhg

Use of Symbols
Language = System of Symbols
 Words = Verbal Symbols
 Grammar = Rules for use of
words/symbols
 Encoding and Decoding – difference?

Verbal symbols….

Are symbolic
 Impacted by culture?

Evolve
 Over time
 Because of technology
 Examples?

Vary in level of abstraction
 Can be intentional (strategic ambiguity,
equivocation “You are always so kind to me! Thanks for the
gift!”, euphemisms “Pardon me while I run to the powder room.” )
Verbal symbols …

Have denotative and connotative meaning
 Difference?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-ayEU3DBU

What are the denotative meanings of these words?
What could be the connotative meanings?
 Hot
 Scrub
 Crazy
 Bad
 Jumping
 Thirsty
 Swag
Verbal symbols….are powerful
Positively




Building relationships
Inclusion
Confirmation
Problem solving
Negatively
Static Evaluation
 Polarizaion
 Reifiicaion
 Muting
 Sexist language
 Racist language
 Homophobic language
 Albeist language

Group Chat

The Power of Language. Complete the slip
of paper on the power of language. Have a
discussion with your group.
 Discuss how those words would negatively
impact interpersonal communication
○ (e.g. if used, would you continue to communicate?
Change the way you communicate? Change your
perceptions of that person?)

At end of discussion, on back of your slip—
what did you learn? Any word surprise
you? Altered any of your current views?
Improving Verbal Communication
Perspective taking
 I-Messages
 Understanding ladder of abstraction
 Indexing
 Probing middle ground

Sex and Gender
Two-culture theory
 Some argue:

 Women use: more rapport talk, modifiers,
polite talk
 Also align those traits with femininity

Debate over if difference exist
 Application Exercise
Application Exercise #3
(Worth 10 points):

There’s a current debate over if there is a difference
between the way men and women communicate verbally.
Observe a conversation between a male and female
(either out in public or on a television show). Focus on
their verbal communication. What differences do you
notice in terms of the way each sex communicated with
each other? How did these differences (or similarities)
appear to impact interpersonal communication? Also
discuss examples of how the two sexes communicated on
an interpersonal level by reflecting on some of the terms
you learned this chapter (e.g. connotative vs. denotative
meaning, other factors impacting their use of symbols,
their use of verbal symbols in positive or negative ways).
Did your findings align with how you feel about the current
debate? Must use terminology from the text. Can include
as paragraphs or as lists (of sentences and short
phrases—not 2 words). Must be typed.
Culture and Ethnicity

Theories to help understand
 Symbolic interactionism
 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
○ Linguistic determinism
○ Linguistic relativity





Phatic communication
Code switching
Codabiliy
Speech communities
Idioms
 How do we use idioms in the US?
Generation

Differences based on
 Shared experiences
 New technologies (or lack thereof)
 Co-culture
Context
Determines appropriateness
 e.g. “Shut up”
 Consider all elements in environment,
such as:





Situation
Time
Relationship
Nonverbal cues
○ Relationship between verbal and nonverbal
○ Will discuss with Chapter 5
Food for thought
Consider the role of verbal communication:
How difficult would it be to have
interpersonal communication without
using verbal communication?
Let’s play our version of CHARADES and
see!