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Overview
Module 3 will examine how language is used and several factors that influence the way people speak. Communication through written, spoken, and signed language forms will be addressed as well as the use of digital communication. The structure of conversations, including social etiquette and speech acts within different speech communities, will be analyzed.
Course Objectives Addressed
Develop an understanding of verbal and non-verbal components that contribute to communication, including their cultural differences
Recognize and value the issues and complexities of language as a cultural practice
Module Learning Outcomes
Analyze communication in spoken, written and signed languages
Interpret conversational exchanges based on social parameters
Readings
Language, Culture, and Communication:
The Meaning of Messages
By Nancy Bonvillain
Introduction
Chapter 4 (Contextual Components)
Chapter 5 (Communicative Interactions),
Chapter 6 (Digital Communication and Signed Languages)
"The ability to speak and comprehend a particular language is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for mutual understanding. People also need to share the same set of norms, about the kinds of goals expressed in speaking, norms that are learned through socialization in one's culture. The required competence consists of presupposed models of behavior and beliefs and knowledge of the way these are interconnected and manifested verbally. " (Bonvillain, 2020, p.94-95)
"The ability to speak and comprehend a particular language is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for mutual understanding. People also need to share the same set of norms, about the kinds of goals expressed in speaking, norms that are learned through socialization in one's culture. The required competence consists of presupposed models of behavior and beliefs and knowledge of the way these are interconnected and manifested verbally. " (Bonvillain, 2020, p.94-95)
Speech Communities
Speech Communities
Teemant and Pinnegar define a speech community as "a group of people who share rules for conducting and interpreting at least one variety of a language or dialect. The term can be applied to a neighborhood, a city, a region, or a nation."
Everyone belongs to at least one speech community, and most belong to several. Communities can be created nearly anywhere. Some examples include speech communities formed within a social or religious group, among work colleagues, or classmates in school.
Ethnography of Communication
Dell Hymes studied speech behavior through the use of ethnographies of communication. "An ethnography of communication (Hymes 1974) includes descriptions of all explicit and implicit norms for communication, detailing aspects of verbal, nonverbal, and social parameters of interaction." (Bonvillain, 2020, p. 77)
Settings
"Settings of communicative events provide arenas for action, in both a physical and a social sense. They help define events as particular kinds of occasions invoking certain behaviors and restricting others. Settings for communication can be classified along a continuum of formality or informality." (Bonvillain, 2020, p. 80)
Participants
Participants can include the conversational partners (speaker/listener) as well as others who may just be listeners (audience).
Topics
What is this communicative event about? Topics can be predetermined or spontaneous depending on the setting, participants, and goals.
Goals
What are the desired outcomes of this communicative event?
"People have both individual and communal goals. They seek to express personal interests and engage co-participants in ego-centered topics, but, as social, beings, they want to minimize potential conflict with others and to appear agreeable, cooperative, and polite...The goals of speakers can be expressed by a variety of linguistic forms, sensitive to contextual evaluation." (Bonvillain, 2020, p. 91)
Speech Act Theory
John Langshaw Austin
Mar. 26, 1911 - Feb. 8, 1960
Austin's work categorized speech acts as locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary acts. (Bonvillain, 2020, p. 93)
John Rogers Searle
July 31, 1932 - Present
Searle's work further described illocutionary acts into five categories: representatives (assertives), directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations. (Bonvillain, 2020, p. 93)
Politeness
Politeness or etiquette in speech acts is strongly tied to culture. What is considered polite or even expected in one culture, speech community, or situation could be considered incredibly rude in another. Understanding cultural norms for politeness is an essential part of pragmatic competence. The video below helps to explain the communication strategies outlined by Brown and Levinson.
Digital Communication and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC)
Computer-Mediated Communication is a term that refers to human interaction which takes place through the use of two or more electronic devices. It allows for individuals to communicate with others in different geographic locations, of different cultures, and even in different languages through the use of translators. These can be synchronous or asynchronous interactions. The use of CMC has continued to expand as technology has advanced. The use of digital communication and CMC has great advantages as well as some disadvantages to personal communication.
Examples of CMC
Examples of CMC
Text messages
Faxes
E-mails
Online Chats
Social Media
Dating Apps
Video Calls
Blogs
Signed Languages
Although mostly thought of as a mode of communication for people who are Deaf or have a hearing impairment, signed languages can be used by hearing people as well. In fact, many of the non-verbal communication that takes place in signed languages is also used in spoken languages. American Sign Language (ASL) is most commonly used in the United States but there are many different signed languages used around the world.
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Introduction
Our individual speech communities create and shape our language culture and use. For this discussion, students will identify their own speech communities and analyze how theirs relate to the communities of others.
Instructions for Initial Post
For this discussion:
Identify, label, and discuss three speech communities to which you belong.
Who are the members within your communities?
What is your role in these communities?
How does your language use change between these groups?
Are you bilingual or multilingual? If so, how does that play a role in your language use?
Your answers will be graded based on your ability to identify your personal speech communities as well as analyze your role in them.
Instructions for Responses
Read about the speech communities of others. Compare and contrast their communities to those of your own.
Your answers will be graded based on your ability to compare and contrast speech communities in an appropriate, respectful, and professional manner. A minimum of two responses to classmates' postings is required.
Assignment
Assignment
Complete the Module 3 quiz on Canvas.
Required Tasks
Read through the content of this module
Watch the videos embedded in this module
Complete the required readings
Participate in the discussion of the topics in this module in Canvas
Complete the quiz for this module in Canvas
References
Bonvillain, N. (2020). Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of Messages. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Gharib, M. (2020, August 4). COVID-19 Etiquette: 6 Common Conundrums (And A Printable Pocket Guide). NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/28/896134292/covid-19-etiquette-6-common-conundrums-and-a-printable-pocket-guide
Lukas Schnabel. (2019, June 23). Politeness in Linguistics: An overview [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-B-kJi0Rek
The Millennial Teacher. (2020, November 18). Quarter 1 - Module 7 (Searle’s Classification of the Speech Acts) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM2nvmFUNDI
Randall Eggert. (2021, March 30). A Brief Introduction to Speech Acts: Locution Illocution Perlocution [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHGhp-u_J_k
Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2018, April 19). Olivia Papa: The Dark Side of Digital Communication [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHO35d4_Mag&t=1s
TEDx Talks. (2016, April 8). Our Human Capacity for Language: Insights from Signed Languages | Charlotte Enns | TEDxUManitoba [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9BzgnX3z6Q
TEDx Talks. (2018, October 17). “Eye” understand: The power of non-verbal communication | Carlos Budding | TEDxAkitaIntlU [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsSXHfZzVhY
Teemant, A. & Pinnegar, S.E. (2019). What Is a Speech Community? Principles of Language Acquisition. https://edtechbooks.org/language_acquisition/speech_communities
Wikipedia contributors. (2023, March 13). J. L. Austin. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._Austin
Wikipedia contributors. (2023, March 15). John Searle. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Searle
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