MediaSpace Wiki

Bus Prof Comm Spr2012 Sn05

More on listening

Language and Business

• Language is one of the 3 mediating elements of communication
  1. We build messages
  2. Using language
  3. Within media
• We use different languages in different media
  • Face-to-face interaction
  • Telephone
  • Intimacy
  • E-Mail
  • Instant Messaging
• There are essentially two kinds of language
  • Verbal
    • Digital
    • Defined
  • Non-verbal
    • Analogic
    • Interpretive
    • Some types
      • Gesture
      • Facial expression
      • Eye contact
      • Paralanguage
      • Chronemics
      • Proximics
      • Physical Environment
      • Clothing and Accessories
      • Fragrance
      • Presence
      • Silence
  • We use both in every medium of communication
• All language is
  • Ambiguous
    • Subject to interpretation and misunderstanding
  • Abstract
    • But we can make it more concrete
  • Overloaded
    • Subject to multiple interpretations
    • Puns are the fun side of that
  • Social "constructed"
    • Shared, but subject to change
    • Within cultures
  • Reconstructed within specialties and subcultures
    • Slangs
    • Jargons
  • In our heads
    • Meaning, for us, is whatever we think it is
• We use language to
  • Communicate meanings
  • Make connections (rapport versus report)
  • Reinforce and contradict meanings (esp. non-verbal)
  • Express attitudes
• But what is language
  • Language is fundamentally about representing meaning such that:
    • We can communicate our thoughts to others: vocabulary
    • Others to make sense of what we say: syntax
    • They want to make sense of our: presentation and language choice
  • Note the two very different problems here
    • What we say can't matter
    • If nobody listens to us or understands what we say
• So what about vocabulary

• The fundamental unit of language vocabulary is called a sign
  • Signs connect meaning (signifieds) with representation (signifiers)
  • Signifieds only exist inside our heads
    • We can find descriptions of signifieds in dictionaries: denotation
    • But every meaning starts with our experience: connotation
  • Signifiers only exist outside our heads
    • They take the form of signals: just meaningful differences
    • There is no necessary relationship between the signals we use and the meanings they represent
      • "Symbols" are abstract representations that we associate meanings with (the word "sheep")
      • They are arbitrary. Lots of signals might be used to represent the idea of a sheep
      • They are ambiguous.
        • Overloading: The same word can have many meanings
        • Inheritance: The meanings the signs represent are hierarchically related:
          • Life -> animal -> mammal -> feline -> cat -> Siamese -> Sadie
        • Multiply inherited: they exist in multiple hiearchies and relationships:
          • Possession -> pet -> cat -> Siamese -> Sadie
      • Context bound: "Cat" means something different
        • At the zoo (mammal)
        • At home (pet)
        • At a construction site
      • Culturally bound: culture provides context
    • But there can be necessary relationships
      • "Icons" are a visual representation of something real (picture of sheep)
      • "Indexes" are signals that correlate with real things ("baa")
• And what is syntax
  • Rules for how we put signs together
  • Exampled by, but not limited to, sentence rules:
    • In English: noun phrase - verb phrase
    • Infix: noun-verb-noun
    • Transformations
      • Prefix: verb noun noun
      • Postfix: noun noun verb
  • Other rules
    • Message structure (Narrative rules)
    • Culture and Context (Constituative rules)
    • Interaction (Regulative rules, including Pragmatic Rules)
    • Interpretation (Punctuation and Attribution)
    • What things mean (semantics)
    • How things sound (phonological)
• Problems:
  • Meaning is in people, not in words
    • People get meanings wrong: bypassing
    • They confuse one word for another: malapropisms
    • They make self-serving presumptions of responsibility (mispunctuation and misattribution)
  • People use language to organize things, sometimes with problematic results:
    • Stereotyping groups with allness
    • Ignoring the middle with polarization (there is always an middle ground alternative)
    • Shaping reality with biased language
  • Meaning is shared within groups
    • Groups have special needs that require expression: jargon
    • That won't be understood outside that group: bafflegab
  • People assume that meaning is static (static definition)
    • Imposing the past on the present static evaluation
    • Language changes. We invent language
• Recommendations
  • Monitor your language and nonverbal behavior
  • Avoid biased language and trigger words
  • Minimize misunderstandings with unequivocal language
    • Use ambiguous language in early stages of negotiations
  • Minimize abstraction with clarity is needed
  • Be cautions with your use of slangs and jargons
    • It is usually situational appropriate and inappropriate
  • Demonstrate interest in others
  • Be positive
  • Observe connections
  • Avoid offending others
    • at best, they'll stop hearing what you are saying