Study of Language and Communication Within the context of societal development, on

Within the context of societal development, one aspect of human behavior has often been seen as having primary importance for human development and growth. That aspect, communication, has propelled humans through both technological and philosophical evolution, and is the way that society organizes itself on both the macro and micro levels.

Metaphorically speaking, language is really little more than an organized pattern of agreed upon sounds and rules. In actuality, it is much more than that. Language supplies the basic tenet of communication, but within human speech a multitude of communicative behaviors are possible using tone, speech patterns, idiomatic expressions, and phrasing. What is it that turns language into communication or more precisely, what is it about human communication that makes the process of communication so complex? This paper will examine five research studies on communication and comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each. In the context of the larger questions regarding the effective nature of communication, it will assess each study and comment on directions for further research.

For language to be translated into societal communication, it must be either communicated orally or by the written word. Under the rubric of speech communication, authors Gundersen and Hopper believe that effective speech communication is poorly understood and defined, especially by educators (158). Their study draws upon the literature on the special re

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eakers of nonstandard language lower for supervisory or administrative positions (Hopper 1977 34950). The study was presented in an organized, methodological fashion and does support past research on language study. However, it was surprising that Hopper found that ethnicity was not a consistently significant factor in hiring decisions. Nevertheless, Hopper concluded that "the present research achieved little toward its major goal of distinguishing effects of a speaker's dialect from those of race" (1977 351). Turning to a more focused approach, Hopper, Knapp, and Scott looked at personalized communication as epitomized within the intimate conversations of couples. The type of behavior they were most interested in was the communicative style of expressing secrets, feelings, and personal observations. The assumption was made that these styles would not be revealed in standard modes of communication, but rather through a greater variety of channels (Hopper, et.al. 23). An additional observation was made showing that within intimate relationships, couples are more likely to use idiomatic expressions early in their bonding. Within this framework, couples often use idioms to standardize their own behaviors, for example, sexua

Category: Psychology - S