MODULE I

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATIKON

Objectives:

At the end of the module, students are expected to:

1. Explain the nature and power of language;

2. Describe the different types of miscommunication;
3. Illustrate the importance of impression management in communication.

 How Does Communication Work?

The Nature of Language
Impression Management
The Language of Misunderstanding

How Does Communication Work?

Communication is like the human body.

The body has many systems: circulatory system, gastrointestinal

system, skeletal system, nervous, cardiovascular, etc.

Communication has verbal and non-verbal communication, intentional

and unintentional. Like the human body, you can break it down and study
certain parts, but what counts is that all are happening at once. A doctor who
couldn’t understand all the systems functioning together is not good at
diagnosing or healing. A communicator who can’t analyze the parts (verbal /
nonverbal, intentional / unintentional) and also look at all the parts together is
probably not competent either.

A competent communicator needs to see what elements of the

transactional process might be causing the problem, and give attention there,
while not neglecting other aspects. But unlike the human body that is physical;
communication is relational, intangible. Communication may end in a different
way than a physical body comes to an end.

The Nature of Language

1. Language is symbolic

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Symbols are the way we experience the world. Everywhere we go, we

can see symbols that give different meaning. Like the icons that we use in
the technology that we are using, the signages that we see on the road or
even the signs we make through gestures.

2. Meanings are in people, not in words

Meanings are in people, not in words. The meanings we attach to words

maybe personal. Ogden and Richards Triangle of Meaning, Meanings are in
People not in words. This is because meanings are social constructions -
how people make sense of symbols and words.

Problems arise when people mistakenly assume that others use words
in the same way they do. The broken line indicates that there is an indirect
relationship between a word and the thing it represents. A problem arises
when anyone assumes that the words mean the same thing. Thus, it is
important to clarify what words mean, to paraphrase and thereby
negotiating meanings.

3. Language is rule-governed

Language is rule-governed; understanding rules help us understand

each other.

a. phonological rules - how words sound

Examples: Champagne, double and occasion are spelled identically
in English and French but pronounced differently.
Weight and height having different sounds or beard and heard having
different sounds, wait and weight having different spellings but the
same sound.

b. syntactic rules - how words or symbols are arranged

Examples: Correct English syntax requires that every word contain at
least one vowel.
Unacceptable: "Have you cookies bought?"
Text/lM messages have destroyed rules that govern structure: r u at
home?, nid to study 4 finals, k bye

c. Semantic Rules - the specific meaning of words

Examples: Panda Mating fails, Veterinarian takes over
Police begin campaign to run down Jaywalkers

d. pragmatic rules - how people use language in everyday interpretation

based on context

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4. Language shapes attitudes towards things and one another. L

 Naming - The way we call (name) things or persons reflects our
attitude.
 Credibility - The language we speak, how we speak and what we
speak about shape or speak about our credibility, social status
including our
 Social and sexual preferences
 Status
 Sexism & racism

5. Language reflects attitude; the way we feel about things and

people.

a. Power and affiliation

 Convergence - Language convergence is a type of language

contact-induced change whereby languages with many bilingual
speakers mutually borrow morphological and syntactic features,
making their typology more similar. Convergence happens when
an individual adjusts his speech patterns to match those of people
belonging to another group or social identity. Example: Most
Filipino students and professionals speak Filipino and English and
often mix the two languages in speech.
 Divergence - Divergence happens when an individual adjusts his
speech patterns to be distinct from those of people belonging to
another Group or social identity. Example: Students from some
exclusive schools speak differently from activist students from
state-run universities.

b. Attraction & interest

 demonstrative pronouns are the same pronouns used for

demonstrative adjectives – this, that, these and those. The
difference is in the sentence structure.
examples: The food you’re cooking smells delicious. -->
That smells delicious.
The pretzel-like yoga move we’re doing really hurts. -->
This really hurts.

 negation - use a negative word such as no, not, never,

none, nobody, etc.
She’s never been abroad.
There were no newspapers left in the shop by one o’clock.
Nobody came to the house for several days.
 sequential placement – arrangement of words in a sentence.

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example: My father referred to my brother, Anthony, and me as

“Anthony and Paul” whilst my mother referred to the two of us as
“Paul and Anthony.” Favoritism?

c. Responsibility

1) “it” vs. “I” statements – It isn’t finish vs. I didn’t finish.

2) “you” vs. “I” statements – Sometimes you make me angry vs.
Sometimes I get angry.
3) “but” statements – It’s a good idea but it won’t work.
4) questions vs. statements – Do you think we ought to do that? vs. I
don’t think we should do that.

Impression Management

Impression management is managing others' views of oneself. It also

involves influencing how others think of something or someone else. How
successful one is in influencing others points back to the impression he makes
on others. Impression management involves issues of honesty, choices of faces
and impressions and choice of words & tone.

Impression management is useful to shape what people think and how

people would receive and respond to a particular message. We (may also need
to) manage impressions to fit to certain social rules and social roles. We may
also manage impressions based on our personal goals.

How do we manage impressions?

a. Manner
The way we talk (volume, pace, tomes, intonation, language used,
pitch and pronunciation) affect the way we impress others.

b. Content
This is what we talk about or what one is capable of talking or
discussing about.

c. Appearance
Our physical appearance, including our gestures, mannerisms and eye
contact, influences the impression we make on others.

d. Setting
Where we deliver our message also influences the impression we make
on others.

The Language of Misunderstandings

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1. equivocal words - the word "period" means punctuation or a point in

time or a woman's menstrual cycle

2. relative words - possible (0-99%) vs. good chance (35-90%) vs.

unlikely (0-40%)
3. slang and jargon
"bonking" - in cycling means running out of energy
"bling-bling" - rap language means jewelry
"whip" - rap language means nice looking car
“LOL” - chat language means Laughing out loud

4. overly abstract language

a) useful as shortcut
b) useful to avoid confrontations
c) problematic as stereotyping
d) problematic when confusing others

5. Behavioural descriptions avoid overly abstract language

a) identify specific, observable phenomenon
b) person(s) -who?
c) circumstances - when and where?
d) observable behaviors - what?

6. fact-opinion confusion
a) factual statements can be verified (objective)
b) opinion statements are beliefs (subjective)

7.) fact-inference confusion

a) fact - as things happened; the evidence (what one sees, hears,
smells, touches and tastes - the actual action NOT a judgment of it)
b) inferential statements are conclusions from interpretations of
evidence

8. emotive language - men are forceful vs. women are pushy; men are
assertive vs. women are aggressive; He’s committed vs. She’s obsessed

9. evasive language
a) Euphemism - substituting words to soften a possible negative
meaning: restroom vs. toilet, senior citizen or mature vs. old
b) Equivocation - deliberate vague statement to avoid embarrassment
or negative message:
c) Question: How do I look? Answer: lf you don’t like the look you could
answer "You look unique" or "lnteresting”

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THINK

1. Compare and contrast communication and

human body in a Venn diagram. (15 Pts)
2. Share an experience – time you were
DO misunderstood and time you misunderstood
someone because of word/s used. What effect
had this misunderstanding to your response?
How did you end up with mutual
understanding? 20 pts.
3. Name specific individuals (as enumerated) and
give your impressions about them. Support your
impressions with reasons. Complete the chart
below: 15 pts.

Impression Management

Individuals Specific Names Impressions Reasons

Politician
School Administrator
Professor
Movie Personality
Friend

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