Verbal and Nonverbal coding worksheet free essay sample

Is a smile a universal nonverbal form of communication? Why or why not? Provide specific examples in your answer. Yes a smile is a universal nonverbal form of communication. A smile is a facial expression that shows happiness. People can smile for several reasons such as happiness, excitement, if something is funny, or even out of embarrassment. For the most part across the globe, smiling is a natural reaction to a happy feeling. However, in some cultures babies are taught to smile at strangers, while other babies are taught to smile only in certain circumstances (Lustig Koester, 2010). Culture is taught at an early stage such as teaching babies of when to smile. Cultures should remember this when speaking to others from different cultures. Although, here in America we smile at everyone as a courtesy, it doesn’t mean a woman from another culture is being mean if she doesn’t smile back. It could be that in her culture woman do not smile to strangers. The answer to the question is yes it is universal and communicates a form of happiness, but we still need to be mindful of other cultures and their non-verbal communication. 2. What are some of the ways that you, as an American or an international student, have been taught, or unconsciously learned, to synchronize your nonverbal behaviors? If I am understanding the question the right way I think I learned nonverbal behaviors such as shaking my head no when I say no or nodding it yes when I say yes. You learn these things at a very young age of 2 or 3. I also learned to point at someone (although my mom always said don’t point at people) it was a natural thing that you learned as a kid. Another thing I know I do is I talk with my hands. My family is a big Italian family and with loud talking comes big hand motions. The louder the conversation the bigger the hand motions. In chapter eight of the text book, it describes the awkwardness between an American and Japanese as they bow. The Japanese bow is very synchronized and when and American bows it becomes awkward because we do not have the same synchronization they do circumstances (Lustig Koester, 2010). Part B: Verbal Instructions: There are five interrelated sets of rules that combine to create a verbal code or language. In the middle column, define the five verbal rules that create the verbal code in a minimum of two sentences for each rule. In the last column, provide an example from both American culture and an international culture for each of the five rules of verbal codes. Then answer the questions on the following page. Rule set Definition (2 or more sentences) Examples (1 American culture example and 1 international culture example) (1) Phonology (rules for word sounds) Phonology is the rules for combining phonemes in a language. Phonemes are the basic sounds units of the language. An American example would be â€Å"K† it makes a hard K sound. An international example would be the Spanish â€Å"LL†. Take my last name is Castillo. Because I am American I would pronounce the two L’s together as L, but it is a Spanish word so my name pronounced phonetically would be: Ka-Stee-YO†¦. The two L’s sound like YO. (2) Morphology (units of meaning in a word) Morphemes refer only to meaning units. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. All words have a least one morpheme (meaning) while others can have three. The Chinese use the word â€Å"ma† which can mean four different things depending on how you pronounce it. It can mean mother, toad, horse, or scold. In America, the word SWEET can be used in the context of taste, or meaning â€Å"kind†. Such as Miranda is such a sweet girl. Or the candy is very sweet. (3) Semantics (distinct meaning of words) The study of the meaning of words. It is the study of the relationship between words and what they stand for or represent. In America, the word Boot refers to a shoe, however in Britain, Boot refers to the trunk of a vehicle. (4) Syntax (relationship of words to each other) This is the study of the relationship of words to one another. This is learning to combine words together to create phrases or eventually sentences. The order of the words help build the accuracy meaning of the phrase or sentence. In English we would say â€Å"The red rose†. In Spanish, its â€Å"La rosa rojo† – which translated just like that would be: â€Å"The rose red. † Different cultures have different placement of their words to create a phrase. For us Americans, the phrase seems reversed, but for people who speak Spanish this is the right way. (5) Pragmatics (effect on human perception) Pragmatics is the effect language on human perceptions and behaviors. This can include how language effects taking turns in conversations, organizational communication, or casual language. In America, we use phrases like how are you? , or what are you doing? In almost the beginning of every conversation, whether we really want to know or not. This is the culture of our communication and may be rude if you didn’t ask how someone was doing. In other cultures, saying no can be considered rude – especially when it comes to food. In the Hispanic culture they are always serving you and always want you to eat more. Even if you say you just ate or your not hungry – it is in the culture to serve you a plate of food. No is almost unacceptable when it comes to food. 1. What is one possible drawback of phonology if a nonnative speaker has poor accuracy? What might be done to master a new phonology? The drawback of phonology for a nonnative speaker who has poor accuracy would be they might be using the wrong pronunciation of words. When you are learning a new language you are reading the new language but thinking of how you would pronounce in your culture. It is a hard transition to remember to consciously think about how this new language pronounces the letters. The best way to master this new phonology is to recognize and differentiate between the different sounds. Once you can recognize the different sounds you can begin to picture them as you learn to pronounce the new words. I think also learning how to pronounce every letter in the alphabet is a must and will help with understanding the language phonology. 2. What happens in the course of conversation when semantics causes confusion between you and the receiver? Provide a recent example. A conversation can take a turn for the worse and end up going out into left field. If worse came to worse one of the parties would end up offended. A recent example was with my husband and he didn’t understand the meaning of human trafficking. I was trying to tell him that I had a training at work coming up next month and it should be interesting because it was about human trafficking. We started talking about it and then he made a comment and I realized we were not on the same page because he wasn’t properly informed on what human trafficking was. It was actually very funny. My husband was thinking that human trafficking was transporting people back and forth illegally from Mexico to here. After we discussed it, he said he did know but in his had he had things mixed up. For us, this was a casual conversation where no one was offended. I do wonder if it could have been a cultural mix up as well. My husband is Mexican so maybe he was thinking of the term in Spanish and was confusing it in our conversation. 3. Based on the examples in your text, what do you think Ludwig Wittgenstein meant when he said that â€Å"the limits of my language are the limits of my world†? I think by this he means that the ability and limit in his language will limit what can happen in his life. We think in language and therefore our thoughts are constrained by the frame of the language of what we think of. His phrase reminds of another one which is: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Just like that phrase language can be seen in the same fence. If we don’t know something then we don’t know. If we don’t know language, how can we go further through life? The only good thing about language is we usually associate with people from all cultures whether its at work, the bank, or the Dr’s office. We are constantly picking up language whether we are trying to learn or not.