Acquisition of Communicative Competence

When children learn to speak they learn several things simultaneously

The sounds (phonemes) of their language and their meanings (morphemes) and the rules by which they are put together (syntax)They also learn the cultural model for correct communication. Eg. How to be politeThey learn about the sort of social person they are and will beThey learn the techniques of effective communication e.g. Turn taking.

The Functions of Communication

1. Instrumental function: Getting things done, satisfying needs2. Regulatory function: Controlling others. Giving instructions3. Interactional function: Establishing and maintaining social

relations4. Personal function: Expressing one’s individuality, emotions

and thoughts5. Heuristic function: Exploring one’s environment, learning

about the world, questions others, and gaining information6. Imaginative function: Creating and expressing one’s

fantasies about oneself, others and the world7. Representational function: Communicating about ideas,

conveying messages

M.A.K. Halliday

These functions are universal but the means of achieving them vary from language to language and culture to culture

What is the culturally and contextually appropriate ways to make a request, offer an apology, assert one’s rights, respond to the rights of others, tell a joke, engage in conversation, ask a question etc.

How do we do these things?

In other words these are the norms or models of speech – the socially accepted ways of speaking

These norms are culturally relative

To speak according to the norms of the society is to achieve one’s goals is to communicate competently

As are the strategies parents use to bring the speech of their children into line

People also have to be aware of the relationship they have with the people they are interacting with Are they the same age, same gender, or social status. What are the cultural values attached to these social distinctions? Awareness of these things is important in choosing the appropriate style of communication.

Politeness

Be gentle, not forceful or insistent. This doesn't mean you need to act like a meek, quiet pushover. It means that when you do something, offer something, or make a request, you do it without pressuring the people around you and making them feel like they're being pushed into a corner. When in doubt, observe others. How are they greeting and addressing each other? Start a conversation by asking questions about the other person. Try not to talk about yourself too much Do not yell, or laugh at jokes or remarks you made yourself. Have a laugh which shows you are having fun, without being loud. Loudness either indicates arrogance or insecurity. Remember to say please and thank you

Being polite in Yiddish Niles being polite being polite

“Each culture socializes its members to display behaviours that reflect values that it upholds”

In Japan it is important to have empathy with others – omoiyari

In Japan if you see an indecent flier you would pick it up and dispose of it in case it offended someone

indirect expression is favoured over explicit statements of opinions and wantsspeakers must learn to be sensitive to the feelings (or face) of addressees, to be aware of how their statements might affect othersif you say something that makes someone look bad, that is impoliteIt can end a business deal

It all has to do with confidence, being proud, and wanting to be respected and therefore being afraid to say something completely wrongIn mixed classes of Westerners and Asians, Asian are generally group very hesitant to speak out if they do not know, comprehend, or simply cannot do a certain exercise or question. Why? - Because they could lose face or perhaps make their trainer or teacher feel embarrassed.Westerners on the other hand have a much more direct way of communication - it is to the point In Japan and most other parts of Asia being polite to another person is more important than supplying objectively correct information.This in return could lead to never ever hearing a "no"..And you would never hear: "Oh, you look fabulous today,"

Expressing emotion in SamoanSamoan culture teaches children to openly display emotions, both positive and negativePeople talk openly about their own and another’s attitudes, reactions and sentimentsSamoan has two sets of personal pronouns, one that is semantically neutral for emotion or affect and the other that expresses sympathy for the speaker, hearer or referent e.g. “Dear me”For example they would refer to themselves as“poor me” initially in begging which they are encouraged to dochildren learn pronouns that express sympathy for oneself before those that indicate empathy for others

How to Insult Someone

Profanity is frequently used to strengthen an insult’s emotional impact.insulting language reveals the tensions between social classes and ethnic groups in modern society. insults are often an indicator of flawed reasoning about the character or motivation of others.. Perceptions of insulting language often vary, and often depend on the context and persons involved as much as the actual words. For example, African Americans hold mixed views of the term "nigger", sometimes using it as a rugged form of mutual affection in popular culture, but resenting the term when used in pejorative sense, especially when spoken by members of other ethnic groups.

Like all other interactions, disagreements, and event insulting someone, are rule-governed events

funny insults

Jackie chan insult

question the interlocutor’s competence , intelligence, appearance, behaviour etc.Ignore them

Power and Status: Family relations

1954 - 1960

FATHER KNOWS BEST

people’s rights and obligations differ depending on their status and the kinds of roles they perform

Some people, depending on status age and/or gender have more or less rights and powers

a reflection of inequality in the larger society

Language use is one means of transmitting this knowledge

Status and Role in American Englishtantrum

How is children’s lack of power revealed often unsuccessful in getting the attention of adult addresses adults often interrupt their speaking turns giving and receiving directives - Adults issue more directives to children than they receive Fathers in particular, are more likely to offer insultsChildren introduce topics the leastStories are usually about them – their behaviour is judged

Age confers abilities to demand and maintain the floor Gender differences

Fathers interrupt children more than mothers Both parents interrupt daughters more than sons Boys interrupt girls more than girls interrupt boys adult women tend to become silent when interrupted by men

In most Western societies, adults speak differently to boys from birth. Boys are also treated to more vigorous 'rough and tumble' play by males with different accompanying language ('fatherse'). This results in boys picking up and using male-type language.

Gender differences

gender stereotypes

Giving and Receiving Directives

Bald imperatives assert power overtly

mitigated expressions, questions, and statements soften the directive

Frequency and style of issuing directives imply differences in social rights to control others Hints are a linguistic style of directive that is chosen to issue commands are sensitive to the speaker’s rights and autonomy to refuseThey leave open the possibility of refusal

rationales soften the speaker’s control and acknowledge the addressee’s feelings

Bald imperatives assert the speaker’s power to control the actions of othersgirls more likely to use mitigated forms (polite indirect, explained

an outright refusal is an assertion of autonomy, implying rights to control oneself and challenging the authority of an issuer of commandsBoys more likely to refuse directives overtlyGirls more likely to ignore – a covert act of self assertion that is deferential to issuers authority

Leave it to Beaver 1957

In family narratives children are likely to be the protagonists – persons who the story is about more than ½ the time. mothers about ¼ of the time and fathers about 20% This means that the listeners (adults/fathers/mothers) are most frequently the judge and jury of the child’s actions Children’s actions are more open to scrutiny than parents They have to behave i.e. They have less autonomy

“tell your father what happened”

noble rich adult priest parent

peasant poor child penitent child

T V T V T V T V T V

Determines which pronoun will be used on the basis of the difference in social status (or power) between the speaker and addressee. wealth, age, sex, institutionalised role in the church, the state, the

army, the family ... The T of "intimacy" versus the V of "formality" (French tu or vous) Based on an asymmetrical relation and is non-reciprocal.

Terms of AddressTerms of address are sensitive indicators of social status and interpersonal relationshipsIn languages with complex pronoun systems based on participant’s identity, children need to learn the social meanings expressed by these linguistic forms

Discourse – Communication eventConversationsArgumentsNarrativesInterviewsSpeechesDebatesLecturesJokes

each has its own distinctive components, interactional contexts with particular participants

Learning to converse is a social activity that involves an understanding and awareness of other participants and their intentionsAlso requires knowledge of how utterances are connected to prior speechIt is a skill that is learnedThere are rules of interaction depending on the genre of discourseThese have to be learned as well as knowledge of the boundaries of each type of discourse

How to begin, maintain and end conversations Talk must be relevant to the context - topics, participants interest and ongoing activities Children have to learn to converse in a relevant coherent manner learn the complex rules that organize talk depends on cognitive, linguistic and social maturation

Conversation Structure

Roles of speaker and listener are continually exchanged How does one signal that you are finished speaking, or that you want your turn, or that you not finished speakingMaintain the floor with “um”

When a question is asked are you not obliged to respond? As speakers children ask questions to engage others in talk Guess What?

Give appropriate signals to speakers indicating active listening These signs or backchannel cues, include nods, and smiles and vocalizations such as um, yeah, right

Cohesion in ConversationHow do we keep the conversation going

Talk is linked to prior talk , to previous statements

e.g. question and answer, where it is obvious

Cohesion is achieved though content - topics

Topics normally shift during conversation encounters but the content of talk should be focussed or relevant to current issues

linguistic devices are also used to organize discourseChildren lack this skillIn English cohesion is achieved through various means, including use of pronouns (it) and demonstratives (this that) and processes of substitution, comparison, conjunction, and clausal dependencyPronouns and demonstratives relate or refer to previously mentioned entitiesThis car is a sports car. It’s also redComparatives (same, other, more) have similar functionsIt’s also bigger than yours Conjunctions (and) also eliminate redundancies and make language more efficientThis car is bigger than yours and it’s mine (and this car is mine)Children acquire these devices quite early

cohesion and minimization of repetitiveness is also achieved through substitutions of wordsUse of synonyms – thing, stuff, doellipsis - omissions of textual material that is assumed to be shared by co-participantswhat’s in there - ‘cookies’Are you ready yes (instead of yes I am ready) Connected discourse makes reference to activities or entities outside the conversation – see thatThey also make reference to previous utterances in discoursee.g. the pronoun “it” can refer to what has previously been describedthese are called deictic markersThe horse is running. The horse is getting ready to jump – repeats nominal labels instead of replacing second and subsequent mentions with anaphoric pronouns (pronouns that refer back to objects in the text or situation in which they are uttered``A woman walks. She smokes.''

communicative interaction is cooperative participants normally signal their attentiveness not only to each other’s talk but also to each other as people through marks of politeness greetings and partings and apologies many of these are overtly taught to children as part of their socialization – say thank you polite signals indicate one’s concern for participants and help minimize potential conflict because they recognize addressee’s rights to fair treatment Interactions in children often involve requests for permissions .e.g. permission to use a toy to obtain one’s goals speakers need to phrase their desire in n appropriate form a request that is too abrupt or demanding may be rejected, although one that is too unobtrusive risks being ignored children learn a multitude of strategies, adjusting their choice to perceived situations and speakers

Interactional Cooperation

When their desires are blocked by others, children try to achieve their goals by resorting to repetitions, rephrasing, explanations and additional claimschildren frequently seek permission to join play groupswhen already established they need to use various strategies in order to gain admittancee.g. non-verbal cues, personal appeals, indirection n verbal and nonverbal behaviour is considered a feature of politeness and thereby acknowledges people’s rights and claimspoliteness on the part of one actor tends to be answered by polite responses by others

Narratives

May involve reporting of previous experiencesevents usually have relevance to the speaker as part of her lifeNarrators are obliged to make their stories relevant to addresses as wellShould have a point or be entertaining or newsworthy Reporting one’s experiences is a learned skill. Kids narratives are often boring, undramatic, - except perhaps to other children

Abstract: summarizes the main point or result of the storyOrientation: identifies time, place and charactersComplicating Action: recounts events in chronological orderEvaluation: transmits attitudes or emotions of speaker and or other charactersResult or resolution: provides point of the storyCoda: terminates the story, so that listeners do not ask: and then what happened.Theme

Characteristics of Narratives

N. American narrative models emphasize plots that focus on a heroic character who overcomes great danger and difficulty the themes of risk, struggle and accomplishment are basic to such narratives British narrative models focus more on status and class and keeping up appearances