Chapter 1: An Overview of Communication - Oral Communication (RHET 001) - Fall 25

The transactional use of symbols, influenced, guided, and understood in the context of relationships

Communication

Arbitrary representations of something else; no direct connection of what is represented

Symbols

Symbols are either (2)

Verbal or non-verbal

Symbols convey what?

Meaning

Consequences or indicators of something specific, which cannot be changed by arbitrary actions or labels; direct causational connection

Sign

What a symbol represents

Meaning

The way in which symbols take on meaning in a social context or society as they are used over time

Social Construction

2 Things That Produce Meaning

Social and relational use of symbols

When can a single symbol have multiple meanings?

When used in different contexts

3 Types of Context

Physical, relational, situational

Types of Context: the actual location a symbol is used

Physical

Types of Context: the relationship shared by people interacting

Relational

Types of Context: the situation in which something is said

Situational

The means through which a message is conveyed

Medium

Medium affects ___ of a message?

Meaning

How is communication cultural?

Culture influences communication and communication creates and reinforces those cultural influences

Communication and relationships are ___?

Intertwined

Communication contains both a ___ level (message) and a ___ level

Content, relational

Relationships create ___ for people through communication, and vice versa

Meaning

Basic forms of knowledge that provide a definition of a scenario, either because both people agree on the nature of the situation or because the cultural assumptions built into the interaction, and the previous relational context of talk, give them a clue

Frame

A boundary around a conversation that pulls one’s attention toward certain things and away from others

Communication frame

Communication frames are based partly on what 2 things?

Perspective and relationship

Describes facts or conveys information

Representation

A person’s particular version of facts or events

Presentation

Communication is never ___

Neutral

The act of a sender sending a message to a receiver, whether or not it is received

Communication as an action

An exchange of information between two or more individuals

Communication as an interaction

The construction of shared meanings or understandings between two or more individuals

Communication as transaction

Communication creates something that has not been there before

Constitutive approach to communication