Language in conversation

 One Person Charades 

The first portion of this language assignment required that no written or spoken language would be used. When I was first reading the assignment I thought it was going to be a very challenging thing to keep a conversation going for 15 minutes, so I spoke in a group environment with my family instead. My sister likened the assignment to the game charades which I was basically doing for the entire duration. The main reason that this first part was difficult to me was because I did not know how to express my thoughts and would instead either dumb it down or just not respond because I physically could not get my point across. Also I found myself listening to the other people talk most of the time because I did not want to ruin the flow of conversation that they had going. I did notice myself trying to exaggerate my movements as much as possible and tapping the specific person on the shoulder if I had a question for them or reenacting what I was thinking like charades because I felt like I had to do that if I were going to draw the conversation away from the other people. The three other people in the conversation definitely tried to keep the topics as simple as possible for this portion so I would have ample opportunity to engage in the conversation. The main topics of conversation were basic like “How was your day?” or “Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” that sort of thing.

The other people were leading the conversation and were the ones asking questions. For this part I just mainly branched off of their conversation to make a quick little comment here or there. I didn’t have anything new to add to the table. The other people initiated the conversation just because I did not know where to start conversing without speech. It didn't feel excluded from the conversation because there were times that I did jump in and break the flow of the conversation so I could communicate, but more often than not I just found myself frustrated that I could not keep up with the conversation because I had to think how was I going to communicate something and then by the time I figured it out the conversation moved on to a different topic. Towards the end of the conversation I did not put forth as much effort in the beginning just because I knew it would be a waste since I missed the moment.

In this situation, the culture that has the easier time communicating complex ideas is the culture with spoken language. The first example that came to mind of this would be a writer trying to explain their script to a director who then has to explain their ideas to the cast. If the writer just wrote out the script of the movie and made copies it would be much easier for everybody to understand than if the writer had to act out the script. What I am getting at is that it is a lot harder to add nuance and minute details to when communicating in body language than in symbolic language. I do think that the culture of spoken language would think of themselves as more superior than the non speaking one. The most prominent example of this type of communication with one person using body language and the other speaking is a parent with their baby or a pet with their owner.


Robot Section 

The second part of the assignment was completely different from the first. Maybe because I couldn’t speak for the 15 minutes prior to this, but I was more talkative than the first and would say that I was the center of conversation in contrast to the first part. This assignment was fairly easy and I thought it would be the easier of the two, but a couple of times I noticed myself nodding my head or trying to move my hands so I decided to put my hands behind my back for the remainder of the conversation. My parents and sister definitely interacted with me differently during this part of the assignment. Since I did not try to put any emotion in my voice or change the cadence or inflection of my voice, they would just often joke about how robotic I was speaking. And since I could not react normally they kept bringing up topics that they knew would piss me off. I was glad it was over at the end because I felt myself being very impersonal and disingenuous with them even though afterwards they said that I was speaking fine.

The main signs that I tried controlling were my facial expressions and just movement in general. There were some things that I did not do so they would understand me. I did not joke around or used any type of sarcasm because they might interpret that in the wrong way. To make up for my lack of facial expression I would try to use words that would inherently carry emotion like “cool”, “aw”, “crazy”. I think that non verbal signs convey a person’s  general mood and help with the meaning behind the words that they are speaking.

 Some things are quickly and easily communicated with just body language, like a nod or shake of the head, a point, frown or smile. The main benefit of non verbal communication is that it does not require sound, so when hunting prey a group of humans can communicate to move effectively around the creature without that creature hearing them.

Yes there are some people who cannot read body language. People that cannot read body language are blind people and people who cannot read social cues very well. There are some situations where body language does not accurately portray what a person is trying to say. If someone is under the influence of a substance like alcohol, their body language does not convey what they are actually trying to communicate because of that substance.

Comments

  1. L RodriguezDecember 2, 2020 at 9:49 AM

    I love your titles for each section!

    Part A (Charades): Really good opening description. Enjoyable read.

    Missing the key question in the second section and it my have thrown you off for the third prompt. The second prompt asks you to discuss the issue of *power* in the conversation you had for this first part. Who was able to control the conversation? Who had the power? Did you? Or did it belong to the others in the group who could speak?

    I agree with your conclusions regarding the two cultures.

    The real life example needed to include that issue of *power* from the second prompt. To find a real life example of this experiment, we need to find a situation where you have a speaking population and another group that doesn't speak that language, and this results in a power differential, with the speaking culture having power over the non-speaking. We see that in the interaction between English speakers and non-English speaking immigrant populations. Think about how non-English speaking immigrants are treated in Southern California? Are they treated as equals?

    Part B (Robot): Good description here. In particular, you used the word "disingenuous", which is *perfect*, but what do you mean by this? Did you feel like you were lying to your family? Did they feel like you were lying to them? This is a key point and I would have liked you to expand on this. More below.

    I don't disagree with your conclusions regarding the information we receive from body language, but you are only considering the situation where body language matches and supports the information you receive from spoken language. What does it tell you when the body language doesn't match the spoken language? Humans tend to use body language as a type of lie detector. If spoken words don't match with the body language, we are more inclined to believe the body language and doubt the words. Think about how being able to detect liars might help an individual's ability to survive and reproduce (which applies to the next section).

    Okay on the benefits of body language, but what type of benefits do you get by being able to detect liars? And we don't do a lot of hunting in modern populations... does body language help in any other ways? How about attracting a mate? Establishing bonds with allies? Working together on projects? Negotiating? Raising kids? Ever get the silent treatment from a parent? ;-)

    Yes, those who are blind have difficulty reading body language, though they can still hear vocal intonation and sense spatial information. Another group would be those in the autism spectrum, a condition which is defined by an inability to easily read body language. That's one of the reasons they struggle with jokes and sarcasm.

    Actually, those under the influence of drugs or alcohol have little control over their body language and whatever comes out is probably what they are really thinking! To answer this question, think about a situation where body language might lie to you, not because the person is lying but because you don't understand the body language. When might body language of others mislead you and it would be better to ignore it? Do all cultures use the same system of body language? They all use different systems of spoken/written language, so why would we assume their body language isn't different? If you travel to another country, can you trust the information you get from their body language?

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  2. Melba MartinezDecember 2, 2020 at 9:38 PM

    I had not thought about the fact that nonverbal communication could be used during hunting, that was a very good point. You are right that it is very useful in that situation, and in other situations when the use of sound could be dangerous or harmful. It made me think of the scary movie, A Quiet Place, where the family must be quiet or they will be hunted. Nonverbal communication can be very helpful in surviving.

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  3. Kenneth HamDecember 2, 2020 at 10:57 PM

    Hello,
    Interesting how you chose to do a group for this experiment. In my personal opinion, I feel like it can somewhat be an advantage. With multiple minds cooperatively trying to figure out what you're exactly saying could be a possibility. I completely agree with your conclusion regarding the differences between two cultures. If it came to power, I believe the group you tried communicating would always have the upper hand since they have the ability to control the conversation as they please. Great observation on the main benefit, I also believe that having the ability to read social cues and what "hints" the other person is giving off physically is a major benefit as well. Great job!

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