Language in Social Worlds

by Robinson, W. Peter

• ISBN13: 9780631193357
• ISBN10: 0631193359
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-27
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This is the first text on language in communication written from a social psychological perspective that sets issues in their broader biological, sociological and cultural contexts.

Author Biography

W. Peter Robinson is Professor Emeritus of social psychology and a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Bristol.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	x
List of Tables	xi
Preface	xii
Acknowledgments	xvi
The Contextual Framework for Social Psychology of Language in Communication: Aims and Issues	1	(13)
Introduction	1	(1)
The Nature of Verbal Communication	2	(4)
Semiotics	6	(4)
Terms of Reference in the Study of Language in Communication	10	(2)
Summary and Implications	12	(2)
Language in and out of Context: Structure and Substance	14	(27)
Language	14	(3)
Language as System and Language as Resource	17	(6)
How the English Language Works	23	(13)
Implications for the Study of Language in Communication	36	(5)
Functions of Language	41	(28)
Introduction	41	(5)
A Framework of Functions	46	(11)
A List of Functions - with Illustrative Introductory Comments	57	(7)
Commentary	64	(5)
Non-Verbal Communication (NVC) in Non-Human Creatures	69	(12)
Introduction	69	(1)
Avoiding Starvation and Predation	70	(2)
Achieving Reproduction	72	(1)
Criteria of Competitive Advantage	73	(1)
Animal NVC in Relation to Functions of Language	73	(4)
F1 to F9: Vocalization in the Eastern Phoebe: Ambiguities and their Resolution	77	(1)
Features Common to Animals and Human Beings	78	(2)
Discussion	80	(1)
Human Non-Verbal Communication	81	(19)
Introduction	81	(1)
Features of NVC	82	(9)
NVC in Relation to Functions of Language	91	(1)
Organizing NVC	92	(3)
NVC in the Wider Context of Communication	95	(3)
To Carry Forward	98	(2)
Encounter Regulation and Conversation	100	(33)
Preliminary	100	(1)
Introduction	101	(2)
Small Group Dynamics	103	(1)
Non-Verbal Communication (NVC)	104	(2)
Californian Linguistic Turns	106	(4)
First, Catch Your Interlocutor	110	(1)
Greetings are Special	111	(1)
Kinds of Encounters: Procedural Rules	112	(1)
Political Interviews	113	(1)
Legal Difficulties with DWI	114	(4)
New Modes of Encounter	118	(3)
Old Mode of Encounter: Conversation	121	(6)
Conceptual Frameworks	127	(4)
Commentary	131	(2)
Regulation of States and Behavior of Self and Others	133	(16)
F5a: Expression of States	133	(1)
F2: Regulation of Self	134	(2)
F3a and b: Regulation of States and Behavior of Others	136	(1)
Attitude Change	136	(3)
Compliance	139	(2)
Accounting	141	(8)
Regulation and Marking of Social Relationships: Shaking Hands, Terms of Address and Reference, and Being Polite	149	(26)
Introduction	149	(1)
The Act of Shaking Hands	150	(4)
Addresses L or Refers to O	154	(7)
Politeness	161	(5)
The Role of Politeness in Human Behavior	166	(3)
Grice and Politeness	169	(1)
Accounting in Social Relationships	170	(3)
Complications	173	(2)
Marking of States, Identities, and Settings: Issues	175	(14)
Conceptual Distinctions and Clarifications	175	(4)
Stability and Change	179	(2)
Circles of Realities and Linkages to Truth	181	(7)
Summary	188	(1)
Marking of States. Identities, and Settings: Data and their Interpretation	189	(26)
Marking Emotional/Motivational States	189	(4)
Impressions of Others	193	(4)
A Taxonomy for Personality	197	(6)
Marking of Social Identity	203	(4)
Marking of Setting	207	(2)
Inference Processes: A General Comment	209	(2)
Articulating the Comments	211	(4)
The Representational Function (F7)	215	(28)
Setting the Scene	215	(6)
Domains of Representation	221	(14)
Extended Representations: Arguments	235	(1)
Arguing Crookedly	236	(1)
Crooked Arguments in Different Domains	237	(4)
Pro tem Conclusions	241	(2)
Mass-Mediated Communication: Spirals of Spin and Broken Swords of Truth	243	(30)
The Truth-Value of Statements and the Validity of Arguments in the Public Domain	243	(10)
The Mass Media	253	(6)
Raising the Stakes	259	(5)
Tyranny and the Media	264	(2)
Differential Access to Wisdom and Knowledge	266	(6)
Endpiece	272	(1)
Representation and Regulation: Their Relevance to Social Class	273	(12)
Bernstein	274	(1)
Mother-Child Interactions and the Representational Function	275	(7)
Commentary	282	(3)
Five Theories and a Representation-as-Default Thesis	285	(23)
Introduction	285	(2)
Language Expectancy Theories	287	(4)
Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT)	291	(2)
Linguistic Category Model (LCM)	293	(2)
Linguistic Relativity and the Whorfian Hypothesis	295	(5)
The Representation-as-Default Hypothesis	300	(5)
Discussion	305	(3)
Retrospect and Prospect	308	(30)
Introduction	308	(3)
Cultural Contexts of Research	311	(1)
Conceptual Concerns	312	(2)
Approaches: Functional/Structural versus Structural/Functional Approaches	314	(1)
What is to Count as Evidence	315	(2)
Methodological Diversity: Advantages and Pitfalls	317	(10)
Participants, Materials, and Procedures	327	(2)
Data	329	(1)
The Changing Games in Changing Social Worlds	330	(2)
The Whorfian Challenge and Beyond	332	(6)
References	338	(19)
Name Index	357	(6)
Subject Index	363