chapter 6 verbal communication skills.docx - Chapter 6...

Chapter 6 verbal communication skills
Words have great power in private life
How Words Work
I. Humans are symbolic by nature and use words.
II. Words are symbolic, arbitrary, and context-bound.
III. They have both denotative and connotative meanings and can communicate about the
concrete or abstract.
Symbol: Word, sound or visual image that represent something else, such as thought, concept.
Referent: the thing that a symbol represents.
Thought: mental process of creating an image, sound, concept, or experience triggered by
referent or symbol.
Language creates meaning on two levels: the donatives and the connotative.
1. Donatives meaning : Restrictive or literal definition of a word.
2. Connotative meaning: Personal and subject association with word.
Concrete : experienced through senses.
Abstract : not through senses.
The power of words .
A. Words create perception.
B. Words influence thoughts.
C. Words influence actions.
D. Words reflect culture.