Chap. 2: Language

Language Rules Include

1) Phonological Rule

2) Syntactic Rules

3) Semantic Rules

4) Pragmatic Rules

Phonological Rule

how words sound

Ex: wound up toy, wound on leg

Syntactic Rules

• One of lanuage rules

• How we put words together

• Order which we use symbols

• Subject, verb, object order

Semantic Rules

• One of language rules

• What the words mean

Pragmatic Rule

• One of the language rules

• What does it mean in this social/contextual situation

Attitude

Persons ’s feelings, beliefs, opinions about a person, situation, object, or idea that influence how they think and behave.

What shapes attitudes

• Naming

• Credibility

• Status

• Sexism and racism

Responding to excusionary language

• Unlearn

• Check each other

• Be an upstander

• Be an ally

• Adopting inclusive language

Person first language

Puts person before characteristic. Emphasizing more than diagnosis/disability, or condition

Identity first language

Puts the characteristic before the person. An important part of identity

• Ex: Deaf person, Autistic person

Powerless Types of lanuage

• Hedges

• Hesitation

• Intensifiers

• Polite forms

• tag questions

• Disclaimers

Powerful Language

• Content goals vs. Relational goals

Affiliation

Way of building/showing solidarity with others

Affiliation (types)

• Convergence

• Divergence

Convergence

• Type of affiliation

• Adapting vocabulary, rate of speech, politeness to match

Divergence

• Type of Affiliation

• Set yourself apart

• Empasize difference

Linguistic Cues

• Reveal our attitude

• Demonstrative pronoun choice

• Whether negation

• Sequential placement (Ex, Dick and Jane (where Dick is more important)

Language reflects attitudes

• Affiliation

• Linguistic cues reveal our attitude

• Willingness to accept responsibility

Hedges (example)

• “I’m kinda disappointed”

• “I think we should”

• “I guess I’d like to”

Hesitations (Examples)

• “Uh, can I have a minute of your time?”

• “Well, we could try this idea…”

• “I wish you would…er…try to be on time.”

Intensifiers (Example)

• “So that’s how I feel”

• “I’m not very hungry”

Polite forms (Example)

• “Excuse me, sir…”

Tag Questions (example)

• “It’s about time we got started, isn’t it?”

• “Don’t you think we should give it another try?”

Disclaimers (Example)

• “I probably shouldn’t say this, but…”

• “I’m not really sure, but…”