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Positive and negative effects of language change
The Relationship Of Society And Language
Positive and negative effects of language change
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Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Purpose of the Study
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Importance of the Study
1.5 Limitations
1.6 Organization
Introduction
Language is a means of human communication whether verbally or nonverbally. In everyday life we use language to express our thoughts, feelings ,attitudes,etc.A great amount of social interactions takes place every day over the telephone ,by online chats, face –to face interaction or at workplaces .We use language of different forms for different functions as in to inform, question , and sometimes to strengthen social relationships or just to keep the social wheels turning smoothly. Moreover, understanding one's own language and even other cultures’ language is important to arrive at a successful and effective communication with others . The study of language can be undertaken in various ways .Semantics and pragmatics are two branches of linguistics which are concerned with the study of meaning.
Semantics and Pragmatics
Meaning can be studied in two ways: semantically and pragmatically. Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences of what the speaker says. The focus is on what the words and sentences conventionally mean. For example, semantic studies are concerned with topics such as metonymy, prototypes and synonyms. However, pragmatics deals with what the writer or speaker of certain words or sentences intends to convey. Leech (1983) defines pragmatics as the study of meanings according to speech situations. Yule (1996) states that pragmatics is the study of what a speaker means of uttering a sentence .In uttering...
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...ions and politeness strategies used by Jordanian speakers in daily communication and the social factors that affect on such choice of speech act.
Research Questions
This study attempts to address the following questions:
1- Are there variation in offering expressions used by Jordanian speakers in different situations?
2-What types of strategies are used for performing offers by Jordanian speakers?
3- What are the most frequently used strategies of offering utilized by Jordanian Speakers?
4-To what extent do social factors such as age and gender affect the type of strategy used?
Limitations
This study is limited to study only one kind of speech acts, namely, the speech act of offering. The researcher will examine the different types and strategies used by the Jordanian Arabic spoken language only. Other Arabic dialects and languages are not investigated.
First, a brief background in the three dimensions of language discussed throughout this paper. The functional, semantic, or thematic dimensions of language as previously mentioned are often used in parallel with each other. Due, to this fact it is important to be able to identify them as they take place and differentiate between these dimensions i...
“meanings lost in manners” (Kay 701). In other words, the polite way in which they communicate
26) ‘the dimension of language that involves its practical use by people in various social and cultural contexts’. In other words, it is the practical use of language. This is when Children learn that conversation customarily begins with the greeting and a response, and also understands that talking also includes precise meanings and concerns which they communicate to match the listener’s interests, knowledge and language ability (Fellowes, & Oakley, 2014,
People will try to accommodate or adjust their style of speaking to others. Is going on in two ways: divergence and convergence. The Groups/Individuals with high ethnic or racial pride often use change to highlight identity. Convergence occurs when there is a high need for social approval, frequently from vulnerable individuals. Allows me to adjust my communication to my client so the information I’m trying to send he/she will be able to comprehend and give feedback if necessary. Using Communication accommodation theory to support your client allows you to modify your communication style to address your customers’ needs and understanding. Therefore, when two people are speaking, they will alter their communication to accommodate or adjust in two ways divergence and
One important issue in studying communication is to learn how individuals manage open conversations or how people may address one another in a given language (Aliakbari & Toni, 2008). Oyetade (1995) defines address terms as words or expressions used in interactive and face-to-face situations to designate the person being talked to. Address terms in different speech communities are worthy of study, address terms seem to be influenced by culture (Fitch, 1991; Morford, 1997). Zhang (2011) maintains that “Culture and language are closely linked”. Language is the carrier of culture, culture is reflected through language.
As social beings, people are expected to be capable of managing their relationships with others. To maintain their relationships, people can use language as a means of communication
People use language as a material object. Language is social in nature and language helps people to convey a message. Language is how humans communicate with each other. Language empowers, language makes the person’s needs known and language expresses what the person wants people to do. Language is how people interact and language makes a person’s identity, emotions and opinions known. Language helps a child to make sense of their world. Language helps older children to interact and belong to a group, Language also helps a child to understand the field, tenor and mode in situations, so that the child can critically evaluate and organize the
Nonverbal communication is often expressed and perceived differently depending on the culture. Nonverbal communication is expressed differently according to each person. Sometimes nonverbal communication is not expressed in the proper manner in which we mean to express ourselves by. Each culture defines nonverbal communication in a different manner. For example, Mexicans are often loud and very friendly. In American culture, Mexicans being loud when communicating is often seen as rude and obnoxious. When Mexicans see that American culture refers to Mexicans by “you” they see that as disrespect towards them. Mexican culture taught them that when addressing elders or strangers you should call them by “usted” not “tu” or “you” in American culture. It is important to be aware of the culture differences to avoid conflict within intercultural communication. In Spanish culture, it is often more polite to interact with each other with little personal space. In other cultures, like American culture, personal space is often considered an influential factor when communicating (Martin &
The opportunity for universal application of the Communication Accommodation Theory gives the field of Communication Studies a method of objectively analyzing conversational strategies and motivations both of which are considered to be overwhelmingly subjective. The ways in which communicators of different cultures perceive one and other [as individuals or members of a group] varies greatly even in a two-person interaction. The number of cultural identifications one certain individual might possess may be numerous, and already makes structured analysis of their communication choices in an interaction difficult. By guiding the process of conducting research with CAT, researchers are able to analyze the communication behaviors of any set of cultural communicat...
Pragmatics Aspects: Deixis and Distance, reference and inference, conversational implicature, anaphoric and cataphoric reference, presupposition, entailment, direct and indirect speech acts and speech events, cultural context and cross cultural pragmatics, conversational analysis and background knowledge, denotation and connotation meaning, the four maxims and hedges.
Language is a part of our everyday lives, and we can describe the meaning of language in many ways. As suggested in Gee and Hayes (2011, p.6 ) people can view language as something in our minds or something existing in our world in the form of speech, audio recordings, and writings or we can view language as a way of communicating with a group of people. Language can be used to express our emotions, make sense of our mental and abstract thoughts and assists us in communicating with others around us. Language is of vital importance for children to enable them to succeed in school and everyday life. Everyone uses both oral and written language. Language developed as a common ability amongst human beings with the change
Pragmatics focuses on language use within a given social environment, analysing how people interpret the various meanings language conveys. Yet, miscommunication arises due to situational contexts and thus, pragmatists “focus on what is not explicitly stated”, instead emphasising “what is communicated by the manner and style of utterance” (Finch, 2000). Consider a sign saying “Garage sale.” Naturally, without further information, we understand that there is a sale within an individual’s garage, rather than actual garages being sold. The example highlights how pragmatics furthers the understanding of an interpretation that is found past the words. This deep-seated meaning is transparent not by the reason of the semantics of the words themselves, but due to the contextual knowledge that is widely known. Ultimately pragmatics is the study of the ambiguity of language, as it examines the multiple meanings each sentence may have, which may lead to confusion, conflict and ambiguity. Therefore a sound understanding of pragmatics, may lead to a reduction in conflicts betw...
Interaction is a significant part of our daily lives. Oral communication with others is inevitable, and therefore it is crucial for us to acquire the skills to do so correctly. Aside from simply stating words or expressing ideas, oral communication serves various purposes. Oral communication allows an individual to express emotions, ideas, and feelings; it gives people the ability to empower, inspire, and motivate those who listen; and it allows people to share knowledge and traditions, as well as build their self-esteem. Oral communication is also useful in leading us to new discoveries, ideas, cultures, and perspectives (O’Neill). Thus, oral communication serves several different purposes in daily life; yet each of these purposes are connected to an even larger purpose. According to the textbook Communication: Making Connections, “Effective communication is critical to living successfully in today’s soc...
Syntax is the study of how words are combined to create phrases and causes in the sentences of a specific language (Freeman and Freeman, 2014). Syntax helps us to make clear sentences that “sound right,” where words, phrases, and clauses each serve their function and are correctly ordered to form and communicate a complete sentence with meaning. The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences. Not only does it focus on the correct word order for a language, but it also helps show the relationship between the meaning of a group of words. Without proper syntax, a sentence can be meaningless. It is key to understand that while every language does have certain syntax, the syntax does vary from language to language. It