Chapter 6 summary- Designing Messages with Words

Muzlifa Amani
Eng. 93 B-Comm

Summary of chapter 6- Designing Messages with Words


Words have power. Words should be chosen carefully to ensure message clarity and avoid misunderstandings. Verbal messages contain both oral and written communication. Designing messages requires intrapersonal communication skills. Verbal communication is defined as, “The use of any linguistic symbols-spoken, sign, or written language to accomplish message goals. The author states, “A communicator’s effectiveness depends on the appropriate choice of words and their arrangement in a message.” This statement is very true. I have been to seminars where the speakers were not effective communicators and had poor verbal styles of communication, and almost one hundred percent of the time I tuned them out after a while. When designing a message, the sender should choose language that will allow the receiver to interpret the meaning of the message as close as possible to what they intended it to be. The choice of words, phrases, sentence arrangements, and formalities of expressions a person chooses to use in their message is referred to as their verbal style. Verbal styles reflect aspects of people’s individual personalities. There are nine primary verbal communication styles, and each one serves a different purpose. A person’s choice of style depends on the relationship they share with the people they are communicating with, the attentiveness and experience of the audience, and the context and purpose of the message. There are four rules for speaking, : Grammatical rules which include sentence construction, word arrangements, syntax, and language fluidity, talking and interaction rules include topic relevance, length of talking time, clarity, and silence, social rules include greetings, correct word usage, expression styles, and ambiguity, and finally semantic rules include denotative and connotative meanings. Physicians, attorneys, and engineers sometimes use a specialized language known as jargon. Jargon is defined as,: a specialized language used by members of a specific profession or field that denotes technical knowledge. Working in a medical office I hear jargon every day being spoken by the doctors. Although I understand what they, people who don’t work in the field most likely don’t. The word slang means: an informal set of terms used within a social group or culture. In my opinion, these days it sound like kids and teenagers speak more in slang than in proper English. Recognizing language limitations is very important. Language limitations can obscure your message, make it less powerful, and vague. By recognizing limitations people can design better and clearer messages that can have a greater impact. Some of these limitations include: Abstraction-is the use of complicated rather that concrete language, bypassing-when different meanings are associated with the same word symbol, or when different symbols are used to identify the same idea or object, fact inference- jumping to conclusions, misused words-can make a message meaningless because words are misused, overgeneralization- is the use of sweeping statements that do not provide enough information, extremism-to see the world simply in shades of black and white, rather than in shades of gray, and inflexibility- results from rigidity in our awareness of the world around us. When a person becomes self-conscious, nervous, and unwilling to communicate with other people then they are probably experiencing communication apprehension or CA for short. Stage freight is one example. I sometimes experience CA before I make presentations due to the fact that I’m naturally a shy person. Other factors that can contribute to CA include: Introversion-when people prefer to listen rather than participate, they appear timid, and shy even if they really aren’t, alienation-when common speech rules of communication are unknown to the individual, low self-esteem- when sense of self-worth is low, cultural divergence- styles of communication appropriate for one culture are not appropriate for another, poor communication skills-when people lack necessary skills to make their meaning clear, and finally communication incompetence-people doubt their ability to communicate clearly and may deliver inappropriate messages. When a speaker is trying to be persuasive, they are attempting to influence people’s behavior, attitudes, and or beliefs. An argument is a verbal technique that can be utilized by a communicator. It is a statement or series of statements aimed at influencing behavior, attitudes, and beliefs through reasoning. Business arguments are built by using 1.) Grounds-evidence to support the argument, 2.) Warrants- the relationship of the evidence to the claim including common sense, common knowledge, and traditions 3.) Claim- a statement of fact or opinion. Reasons are defined as: statements of evidence, support, or proof used in an argument. Reasoning is the ability to see connections between ideas and evidence and to use reasons as building blocks to support your conclusion. Deductive reasoning is the move from general principles to specific instances. Inductive reasoning is the move from specific instances to general conclusions. Appealing to your audience is important. Greek terms such as ethos-(ethics), pathos-(proof), and logos-(logic) used to describe different types of appeals can be used by communicators to persuade their listeners to agree with them. A one-sided argument involves the presentation of only one point of view or one side of an issue. On the other hand a two-sided argument presents both sides of an issue. The speaker’s position and opposing views are both presented, such as in a debate. The author was very thorough in writing this chapter. There is a lot of terminology to be learned and remembered. Some terms and text from chapter five were carried over in this chapter, but of course that would make sense because in order to be able to design messages with words you have to first know how the meanings of words are created and how their meanings are used. The lesson I’ve learned from this chapter is that a communicator’s word selection is very important; your choice of words can make or break your case depending on how your message is received.