Chapter 3 Review
What is the difference between
acculturation and enculturation?
 What is ethnocentrism?
 What is a possible benefit of cultural
clash?

Chapter 4 Recap/Lecture
What is verbal communication?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hGDlifwhg
 Written
 Face-to-face
 Use of words to communicate message
 Part of communicating effectively
 Relationship to interpersonal
communication?

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….are powerful
Positively




Building relationships
Inclusion
Confirmation
Problem solving
Negatively
Static Evaluation
 Polarizaion
 Reification
 Muting
 Sexist language
 Racist language
 Homophobic language
 Ableist language

Power of Language
Reflect back on “Sister, Sistah”
 How was this an example of the power
of language?
 How did verbal communication impact
interpersonal communication?

 Did it help or hurt?
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?
Verbal symbols …

Have denotative and connotative meaning
 Difference?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-ayEU3DBU
Connotative vs. Denotative Meaning

What do these words mean?
 Hot
 Scrub
 Bad
 Jumping
 Thirsty
 Swag
 Other examples?
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
Culture and Ethnicity


Symbolic Interactionism
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
 Related to…
○ Linguistic determinism
○ Linguistic relativity




Phatic communication
Code switching
Codabiliy
Speech communities
 Words/phrases specific to Gordon?

Idioms
Generation

Differences based on
 Shared experiences
 New technologies (or lack thereof)
○ E.g. “tweeting”
 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!