symbols

Symbols are arbitrary, abstract, intentional, and uniquely human. Symbols are arbitrary because any symbol can represent a certain thing as long as there is agreement among users of the lan­guage. Symbols are abstract because there is no natural likeness between a symbol and what it represents. This is particularly useful in situations involving complex ideas, which would be very difficult to convey by likeness. Symbols are intentional because communicators must know each symbol and understand how it will be interpreted. Only humans use symbols to coordinate their activity.

linguistic relativity

phonemes; semantics

True

Denotative; Connotative

The levels of Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory are content (the actual informa­tion in a message), speech act (the specific action performed through the message), episode (the broader situation in which the speech act occurs), relationship (the relationship between conver­sational partners), self (the script for who you are), culture (the larger set of social expectations and guidelines or acting and speaking in that situation), coordination (making and managing meaning in the interaction by following constitutive and regulative rules), and mystery (unpre­dictability in the path and outcome of the interaction).

The four maxims in Grice’s cooperative principle are quality (be truthful), quantity (give the appropriate amount of information), relevance (be relevant), and manner (be clear).

Message design logic explains how individuals’ working models of communication guide their message production.

“I statements” include a description of how you feel (I feel scared), an indication of the conditions under which you feel that way (when you don’t return on time), and an explanation of why those conditions cause you to feel that way (because I worry something bad has happened to you).