“ENGAGING IN VERBAL COMMUNICATION” (P.

65)

What Is Verbal Communication?

Verbal Communication is simply the sharing of information between individuals through words, spoken or written. Consider how different professions rely on effective verbal communication:ProfessorsDoctorsLaw EnforcementInsurance Sales Agent

Rules of Verbal Communication

RegulativeRegulate interaction by specifying when,

how, where, and with who to communicate about certain things.

ConstitutiveDefines what a particular communication

means or stands for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoPxRyigvqo

Features of Language

AmbiguityDoesn’t have clear-cut meanings.

○ Thanksgiving may mean different things to Native Americans and Europeans.

AbstractionWords aren’t the concrete or tangible

phenomena to which they refer. Arbitrariness

Verbal symbols are not connected to what they represent.

SYMBOLIC ABILITIES

Language Defines Phenomena

Totalizing - Responding to a person as if one label totally represents that person.“She’s just a nerd.” or “He’s just poor.”Stereotyping & Totalizing are two different

aspects. ○ https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUlGWHMJQIM

Language Evaluates Phenomena

Reappropriation – Happens when a group reclaims a term used by others to degrade its members, and treats that term as a positive self-description.

Loaded Language – Words that slant perceptions.

○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfh92hKLO6c

Language Organizes Experiences

Words organize our perceptions of events and experiences.

Stereotyping is thinking unreflectively in broad generalizations about a whole class of people or experiences. Stereotypes can be positive or negative.

○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_LpxldL8h4

Language Allows Hypothetical Thought

Hypothetical Thought – Thinking about experiences and ideas that are not part of your concrete, daily reality.

Hypothetical thought can enrich personal relationships.

Thinking hypothetically helps us improve who we are.

○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwWDprMFiI (1:04)

Language Allows Self-Reflection

We use language to reflect on ourselves.

Self-reflection is the foundation of human identity.

The self has 2 aspects: the “I” and the “me”.The “I” responds to the inner needs &

desires. The “me” is the socially conscious part of

self that monitors & moderates the I

Language Defines Relationships and Interaction

Verbal communication conveys 3 dimensions of relationship level meaning. Responsiveness

○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-ieEG06qg

Liking○ “I really like this restaurant.” or “I really enjoy

spending time with you.”Power

○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJs-kC6vWUs

Qualify Language

Static Evaluation – An assessment that suggests that something is unchanging. Static evaluations can be both inaccurate

and irritating. ○ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_UaCZxV2

eQ (1:50)

Indexing – A technique to remind us that our evaluations apply only to specific times and circumstances.

I-Language & You-Language

I-Language – Identifies the speaker’s or perceiver’s thoughts and feelings.

You-Language – Attributes intentions and motives onto another person. http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn3I6-DBLJM

Questions

What is verbal communication?

What are the 2 rules of verbal communication?

How many symbolic abilities are there?

PLEASE NOTE:

Chapter summarized from information found in:

Wood, Julia T. (2014). Communication Mosaics: An Introduction to the Field of Communication. 7th Edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

These student lecture notes provide a brief summary of Wood’s discussion on verbal communication (chapter 4) while providing additional commentary and examples. The information in this slideshow is based on the work (content and organization) of Wood (2014).