Question

--.Using the example of the deaf Nicaraguan children described in the textbook, explain the relationship between language and the ability to express emotions.

--.Explain how symbols are arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract. Use your own examples as part of your explanation.

--.Explain the four general rules for verbal communication. Make sure your answer includes the distinction between connotative and denotative meaning.

--.Explain four major differences between spoken and written communication.

--. Explain the four functions of verbal communication.

Answer 1

• 1. In Nicaragua in the 1980s, deaf children who were separately raised in various locations were brought together to schools for the first time. Teachers tried to teach them Spanish with little success. However, they began to notice that the children were using their hands and gestures, apparently to communicate with each other. Linguists found out that the children had developed their own sign language by themselves. They constructed their own sign language to express themselves and their emotions.Today, Nicaraguan sign language is the youngest known language in the world, and its sudden emergence speaks volumes about humans' built-in language capabilities.
• Sign languages provide a unique window into the relation between language and spatial cognition because they differ from spoken languages in how spatial relations are linguistically marked. Through facial expressions and hand gestures they were able to express their feelings effectively.
• 2.Symbols are arbitrary: They are not fundamentally connected to what they represent;Certain words seem right because as a society we agree to use them in particular ways.;Meanings change over time and Language changes as we invent new words.Random jokes with my friends mean so much to all of us and connects us with eachother,which only we can understand.My sister and I now send a police-car emoji or the words “woop woop” back and forth in place of “I love you.”
• Symbols are ambiguous:They don’t have clear cut, precise meanings.While words don’t mean exactly the same thing to everyone, there’s an agreed-upon range of meaning.I keept telling people that I was born in a “small town” and ask them to guess the population of the town.
• Symbols are abstract:They are not concrete or tangible and They stand for ideas, people, events, objects, feelings, etc. but they are not the things they represent.My idea of love is being practical with no place for fantasies,whereas my friend totally believes in romantic love,the abstract term of love holds different meaning for us.
• 3.There are four general rules for verbal communication, involving the sounds, meaning, arrangement, and use of symbols.
• Phonology is the study of speech sounds. The pronunciation of the word cat comes from the rules governing how letters sound, especially in relation to one another.
• Semantic rules help us understand the difference in meaning between the word cat and the word dog.Denotation is actually the word’s literal meaning. As such, it is regarded as a “dictionary definition.” Thus, when you look for the word “snake” in the dictionary, you’ll stumble upon its most denotative definition like any reptilian etc.Connotation is an association of a term. It can also be an emotional input attached to a word thus making it more figurative and suggestive.When you are asked about the connotative meaning of the word “snake,” one of your best answers could be “danger.”
• Syntactics is the study of language structure and symbolic arrangement. Syntactics focuses on the rules we use to combine words into meaningful sentences and statements. We speak and write according to agreed-upon syntactic rules to keep meaning coherent and understandable.
• Pragmatics is the study of how people actually use verbal communication. For example, as a student you probably speak more formally to your professors than to your peers. It’s likely that you make different word choices when you speak to your parents than you do when you speak to your friends.
• Due to time constraints,the remaing question from 4-6 can be asked as another question,it will be answered,thankyou