www.publicspeakingproject.org Public Speaking: The Virtual Text using language well chapter 10 By: E. Michele Ramsey, Ph.D. Penn State Berks, Reading, PA introduction the power of language Imagine for a moment that you were chapter objectives chapter outline asked to list everything that you know After studying this chapter, you should Introduction about the country of Italy in spite of the be able to: o The Power of Language fact that you have never actually visited o Communication vs. Language the country. What would you write? 1. Understand the power of o Language Creates Social You would have to think about all that language to define our Reality you were told about Italy throughout world and our relationship o The Differences Language to the world your life, and you would probably list Choices Can Make 2. Choose language that first the bits of information that have Constructing Clear and Vivid positively impacts the ability been repeated to you by various people Messages to inform and persuade and in a variety of contexts. So, for o Use Simple Language 3. Choose language to o Use Concrete and Precise example, you might recall that in create a clear and vivid Language geography class you learned particular message Using Stylized Language things about Italy. You might also 4. Use language that is ethical o Metaphors and Similes recall the various movies you’ve seen and accurate o Alliteration that were either supposedly set in Italy 5. Use language to enhance o Antithesis or dealt with some element of what has his or her speaker credibility o Parallel Structure and been deemed by the film as “Italian Language culture.” Those movies could include o Personalized Language The Godfather, The Italian Job, or The your interpretation of images in a book The Importance of Ethical and DaVinci Code. You might think about or on a screen. Now, consider for a Accurate Language stories your Italian grandmother told moment the possibility that everything o Language and Ethics you about her childhood spent in Rome you’ve heard about Italy has been o Sexist and Heterosexist or remember images you have seen in incorrect. Since you have not ever Language history books about World War II. In actually been to the country and had Avoiding Language Pitfalls other words, throughout your life you first-hand experience with its o Profanity have learned a lot of different things geography and culture, for example, o Exaggeration o Powerless Language that you now assume to be true about how would you know if what you’ve o Incorrect Grammar this country called “Italy” and you’ve been told is true or not? o Other Language Choices to learned all of these things about Italy Consider through language, whether it be - Clichés through verbal storytelling or through Your purpose is to make your - Language that is Central to audience see what you saw, hear Popular Culture Conclusion what you heard, feel what you felt. Review Questions and Activities Relevant detail, couched in Glossary concrete, colorful language, is the References best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience. Language is one of the most influential and powerful aspects of our ~ Dale Carnegie daily lives and yet very few people pay attention to it in their interpersonal and This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. PDF documents prepared by Lisa Schreiber and Donna Painter Graphics. Chapter 10 using language well www.publicspeakingproject.org public communication. The power of Consider the case of the Reverend Dr. more or for longer periods of time we’d language cannot be overemphasized— Martin Luther King, Jr. Indeed, many better understand each other.” What language constructs, reflects, and speakers before him made the very these types of statements reflect is our maintains our social realities, or what same persuasive arguments regarding lack of understanding of the differences we believe to be “true” with regard to the lack of civil rights for Black between communication and language. the world around us. The point of the Americans, yet we regularly point to Therefore, many of us believe that example above is that what we “know the Reverend Dr. King as a preeminent when problems arise we should strive is true” about a person, place, thing, speaker for the civil rights movement to have more communication between idea, or any other aspect of our daily because he was a master of language— the parties. But what we need is better lives very much depends on what he employed the power of language to communication by focusing on experiences we have had (or not), what move his audiences in ways they had language choice. information we have (or have not) not been moved before, and we come across, and what words people remember him for his eloquence. have used (or not used) when language creates social communicating about our world. reality Our social realities are constructed Language is a process of free through language; and therefore, people creation; its laws and principles with different experiences in, and are fixed, but the manner in which understandings of, the world can define the principles of generation are the same things in very different ways. used is free and infinitely varied. Language is culturally transmitted—we Even the interpretation and use of learn how to define our world first from our families and then our later words involves a process of free definitions of the world are influenced creation. by friends and institutions such as the ~ Noam Chomsky media, education, and religion. If we grow up in a sexist culture, we are communication vs. Language can also have an impact on likely to hold sexist attitudes. how we feel about this reality. How we language Similarly, if we grow up in a culture define words and how we feel about To understand the power of that defines the environment as our first those words is highly subjective. In language, we need to differentiate priority in making any decisions, we’re fact, cognitive psychologist Lera between communication and language. likely to grow with environmentally Boroditsky showed a key to a group of Communication occurs when we try to friendly attitudes. Language, then, is Spanish-speakers and to a group of transfer what is in our minds to the not neutral. As a culture, as groups of German-speakers. The researchers minds of our audience. Whether people, and as individuals, we decide then asked the participants to describe speaking to inform, persuade, or what words we’re going to use to the key they had been shown. Because entertain, the main goal of a speaker is define one thing or another. to effectively communicate her or his the Spanish word for “key” is gendered Culture is the collective as feminine, Spanish speakers defined thoughts to audience members. Most the key using words such as lovely, chapters in this text help you determine programming of the mind that tiny, and magic. The German word for how best to communicate information distinguishes the members of one “key” is gendered masculine, however, through considerations such as category of people from another. and German speakers defined the key organizational structure, audience ~ Geert Hofstede using adjectives like hard, jagged, and analysis, delivery, and the like. awkward (Boroditsky cited in Thomas Language, on the other hand, is the For public speakers, these facts are et al., 2003, pp. 26-27). This study means by which we communicate—a important for three primary reasons. suggests that the words we use to system of symbols we use to form First, the careful use of language can define something can have an impact messages. We learn language as a child make the difference between you on how we perceive what those words in order to read, write, and speak. giving a remarkable speech and one represent. Once we have mastered enough language we can communicate with that is utterly forgettable. Second, you Because language is such a powerful, relative ease, yet growing up we rarely must remember that audience members yet unexamined, part of our lives, this learn much about language choices and may not share the same language for chapter focuses on how language what they mean for our the definition of the very same ideas, functions and how competent speakers communication. We regularly hear realities, or even specific items. harness the power of language. people say, “If we just communicated Finally, the language that you use in 10-2 Chapter 10 using language well www.publicspeakingproject.org public (and even private) paragraph to Reverend Jackson’s actual First, audiences can sense a fake. communication says something about words: When you turn in your term paper with you—about how you define and Young America dream. Choose the words that aren’t typically used by therefore perceive the world. If you are human race over the nuclear race. people in everyday conversation and not careful with your language you may Bury the weapons and don’t burn those words are simply replacing the unintentionally communicate the people. Dream of a new value common words we all use, your something negative about yourself system. Dream of lawyers more instructor knows what you’ve done. simply because of a careless use of concerned about justice than a Part of having strong credibility as a language.