Language Blog

Part 1:  You were asked to engage in a conversation for 15 minutes where you were not allowed to use any version of a symbolic language (no speaking, writing, or ASL).

Did you find this experiment difficult or easy?  The experiment was much more difficult than I expected it to be. Throughout the entire conversation, I had an urge to put in my input, but I had to suppress the urge and sit there diligently.

What were the impressions of partners in the conversation?  Did they alter their way of

communicating with you because of your absence of symbolic communication? I am somewhat of a social butterfly amongst my group of friends. I’m the loudest and the one that is always talking, so my friends definitely seized their opportunity of me being unable to talk for fifteen minutes. Just to spite me, they discussed topics that they know I am passionate about and purposefully said things that I don’t agree with. All I could do was shake my head.

Imagine that you and your partners in the conversation represent two different cultures meeting for the first time.  Which culture has the advantage in communicating complex ideas?  I think my friends had a slight advantage over me, because they had the ability to discuss ideas freely amongst each other. However, given the hypothetical question, I believe a communication barrier would prevent both sides from having a real advantage.

What attitudes might the speaking culture have toward the culture that does not use symbolic language?  They would probably be frustrated with the non-speaking culture and would believe themselves to be intellectually superior.

Identify individuals in our culture that have difficulty communicating with spoken language and explore how that affects how those who do speak interact with those individuals. As Americans, we are exposed to many different cultures and languages all the time. Because of this, it is very common for both English speakers and other language speakers to become frustrated with one another, due to the communication barrier. I have had several jobs where I dealt with customers, who did not speak English. It was nearly impossible for both sides to be satisfied without the help of a translator. Other members of our culture who experienced great difficulty communicating with others are those who are deaf or mute. Sometimes for the deaf and or mute, effective communication can be achieved by writing back and forth or through the use of hand gestures. However, this requires a great deal of patience, due to the time it takes to go back and forth writing and the time it takes to write out thoughts and ideas so that the communication is complete.

Part 2:  You were asked to spend 15 minutes communicating without any physical embellishments, i.e., no hand signals, not vocal intonation, not head, facial, or body movements.

 Were you able to last for the full 15 minutes of using only speech for communicating?  Yes, but it was extremely difficult, as I am somewhat of a dramatic speaker.

What made this experiment difficult for you? I feel that physical embellishments are an important aspect to all effective communication. It is what keeps our listeners attentive and interested in what we have to say. Without them, it is very easy for our words to become monotone and tiresome.  

 How were your partners in this part of the experiment affected by your communication?

limitations?  Without the use of physical embellishments, I was unable to capture the interest of my friends. They seized the opportunity to cut me off and talk over me.

What does this experiment say about our use of “signs” in our language, i.e., how important is non-speech language techniques in our ability to communicate effectively?  The use of signs in language is almost just as important as the words themselves. This is because; the signals bring life to the words. In some instances, body language can be even more effective, as people universally understand certain cues (such as happiness, sadness, excitement, sleepiness, etc.).

Are there people who have difficulty reading body language? I think a great deal of body language is universally understood. That being said, I think there are many different little quirks that vary from culture to culture that could be confusing or even offensive to members of other cultures. For example, in some cultures it is common for friends and family members to greet each other with a kiss, even those of the same sex. This could easily be misinterpreted in other cultures.  

Describe the adaptive benefit to possessing the ability to read body language. I believe the adaptive benefit to reading body language would be that there would be less miscommunication between individuals. And this could reduce the offense one might take from not knowing the body language of another culture.  

 Can you describe environmental conditions where there might be a benefit to not reading body language? The only environmental conditions where not reading body language might be an advantage is if we were placed in an environment where there is absolutely no foreseeable threat and we used our attention spans to listen what is on somebody’s mind rather than make our own assumptions.