Features and Functions of Language

Features and Patterns of Language

• Language is rule-governed and possesses various features.
• Arbitrariness refers to how words are symbols with no direct innate meaning.
• Abstraction allows for hypothetical communication of thoughts and perspectives.
• Creativity involves assembling words in novel ways through poetry, prose, and lyrics.
• Denotative meaning is the literal definition of a word.
• Connotative meaning includes subjective and interpretive usage.
• Semantics refers to the meanings we attach to words when we communicate.
• Pragmatics is knowing when to say what to whom, which depends on context.

Functions of Languages Across Cultures

• Cognitive shaping is the process of language shaping our thoughts.
• Language is shared, learned, dynamic, and shifts with culture and technology..
• Language encodes and reflects our cultural worldview.
• A linear worldview prioritizes rational thinking, facts, and tangible outcomes.
• A relational worldview emphasizes long-term relationships and context.

Context of Communication Patterns and Styles

• Linear worldviews have low-context communication, with direct and explicit communication.
• Relational worldviews have high-context communication, conveyed through context and nonverbal cues.
• Collective values are emphasized by those who communicate with understated and animated tones.

Code Switching

• Code switching is shifting from one language register to another.
• Colonization, globalization, and pop culture impact language dominance.
• Code switching is used to convey different meanings, relationships, and understandings.

Introduction to Communication

• Language involves the written and the spoken, including oral and non-oral forms.
• Symbols are arbitrary representations used to encode and decode meaning.
• Symbols are arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract.
• Verbal communication is rule-governed through phonology, semantic rules, syntactics, and pragmatics
• Phonology is the study of speech sounds.
• Semantic rules help us understand the difference in meaning between words.
• Syntactics is the study of language structure and symbolic arrangements.
• Pragmatics is how people actually use verbal communication.

High Context vs Low Context

• High-context cultures are associated with collectivism, emphasizing unspoken messages and physical context.
• Low-context cultures are associated with individualism, emphasizing spoken expressions and speech.

Code Switching continued...

• Code switching is common in bilingual/multilingual communities, especially immigrant families.
• One language serves as the matrix language, and the other is the embedded language.
• Reasons for code-switching include directive, expressive, referential, phatic, metalinguistic, and poetic functions.

The Repertoire of Nonverbal Communication

• Nonverbal communication includes nonlinguistic communication, paralinguistic cues, and multiple channels.
• Nonlinguistic Communication: body movements, eye contact, smiling, touch, hand gestures, silence, etc.
• Paralinguistic Cues: verbal communication, accent, tone, pitch, volume, etc.
• Cultural norms shape nonverbal communication practices.

The Impact of Nonverbal Communication

• Mastering nonverbal communication is difficult due to multiple channels, intentional and unintentional cues, and multiple intentions for the same cue.

Forms of Nonverbal Communication

• Physical appearance follows cultural display rules and intersects with identities.
• Kinesics includes posture, body movements, and facial expressions.
• Proxemics involves the space between people.
• Chronemics involves how people structure and understand time.

Communication That Combines Verbal and Nonverbal Elements

• Nonverbal communication can repeat, complement, emphasize, contradict, or substitute for verbal messages.

Principles of Nonverbal Communication

• Nonverbal communication is conveying a message without words.
• It is always in motion, irreversible, and fluid.
• Emotional response is immediate, and nonverbal cues show it.
• Nonverbal communication includes emblems and affect displays.

Nonverbal Communication is Universal

• Nonverbal communication is universal, though it may not look the same, or be used in the same way all over the world.
• Contextual clues and prior knowledge are needed to help us understand certain movements or gestures.
• Communicates feelings and attitude nonverbally 93% of the time (55% is done with facial gestures).

Culture Shock

• Culture shock is a stressful transitional period when moving to an unfamiliar environment.
• It occurs because of socialization and enculturation.
• It shapes our cultural frame of reference.
• We wrestle with a differing cultural frame of reference, worldview, language, and complexity of culture.
• One may feel a sense of identity powerlessness and identity rejection.
• The ABCs of culture shock are affective (emotions), behavioral (confusion), and cognitive (lack of competence).

Managing Culture Shock

• Negative implications of culture shock include identity strain, loss, loneliness, depression, mood swings, and psychosomatic problems.
• Cognitive exhaustion can occur, where the brain no longer operates in its referential cultural frame because of sensory overload.
• Positive benefits include optimism and tolerance for ambiguity.
• How to manage involves cultural knowledge, communication, and attitudes.

Assessing Models of Culture Shock

• Two models of culture shock are the U curve and W curve.
• The U curve includes a honeymoon phase and a slump.
• W Curve:

Reverse Culture Shock

• Reverse culture shock affects sojourners returning home and experiencing shock to their home culture.
• Readjusting can be more problematic, as people may not expect it.
• Positives include maturity and independence.
• Negative aspects include frustration, disorientation, and strained relationships.

Cultural Worldviews and Reverse Cultural Shock

• Thailand is a collectivist culture with high power distance.
• Most Western countries are individualistic with low power distance.
• Thai youth may long for freedom when moving abroad.

Culture Shock (Japan & China)

• Squatting toilets, strange foods, lack of personal space, photos, spitting, and jaywalking are normalized. All facts contribute to culture shock.

RCS (Japan to Canada)

• Washrooms, English, signs, conversations, traffic laws, Canadian pennies, bags of chips, shop sizes, and friendliness are all related to reverse culture shock
• English doesn't have an eating greeting, like bon appetit (Japanese does).

What Happens When Thai Youths Return Home?

• Individuals feel independent, confident, and open-minded, but frustrated with Thai culture.
• Students are stifled by the social hierarchy and feel out of sync.
• There's an increased appreciation for family and a desire to contribute, but families may be a source of tension.
• Individuals keep comparing Thailand to their time abroad and have new eyes and values.
• Positive feelings may grow over time. The speed of adjustment and how well they adjusted varied between participants.
• The longer they were immersed, the stronger the RCS was. They become more assertive.