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Chapter 2
Verbal Communication
How You Know What Verbal
Messages Mean
 Langue
and parole, or formal
grammatical structured
language versus everyday talk
 Relationships and other frames
of familiarity also determine
our use of talk
Verbal Communication and
Multiple Meanings
– having multiple
meanings for the same word
(“Duck!”)
 This creates ambiguity
 Frames become important to
help reduce the ambiguity of
verbal communication
 Polysemy
How Language Establishes
Communicative ‘Frames’
 Naming
 Sapir/Whorf
hypothesis
 Classifying concepts into
thought units
Types of Verbal Meanings
– the use of talk to
identify or define objects
 Connotative – the use of talk to
establish and understand the
implications and deeper
meanings of words
 Denotative
Verbal Communication and
Intentionality
– the belief that
messages indicate a sender’s
intentions purposefully
 We need to build relationships to
help us understand the intentions
of others
 Relationships build connotative
understanding
 Intentionality
Verbal Communication and
Hidden Values
 The
words we use are valueladen and ‘encode’ our values
to the audience
 Examples of God and Devil
terms
 Effective speakers take care in
the words they choose
The Functions of ‘Talk’ in
Relationships
 Instrumental
(to make
something happen)
 Indexical (to indicate
something about the
relationship)
 Essential (to create the ‘reality’
of the relationship)
 Politeness,
‘face wants’
Ways of Speaking
 Low-code
and high-code
 Narrative
 Fisher’s
Narrative Paradigm
 Burke’s Dramatistic Pentad
 Giving
accounts
Breaking Down Burke’s
Pentad