[instrumental music]
[Lane Rogers]: Welcome back to the podcast.
[Lane]: My name is Lane Rogers.
[Cale Duffy] And my name is Cale.
[Cale]: Every episode, a couple of students from the University of Northern Iowa cover a chapter of Interpersonal Calm: A Mindful Approach to Relationships.
[Cale]: We each take our chapter and connect it to fun examples from pop culture.
[Lane]: Last episode was about applying aspects of interpersonal communication to the music of Billie Eilish and Tate McRae, with hosts Lizzie and Hope.
[Lane]: This episode, we'll be talking about the verbal elements of communication.
[Lane]: As we dive into the rules, function, impact, and types of language, we will use examples from Olivia Rodrigo and FKA Twigs to help create a better understanding of the topics.
[Lane]: There are three important rules to verbal language that help us to understand any message.
[Lane]: There's the semantic rule, syntactic rule, and pragmatic rule.
[Lane]: The semantic rule is based on the dictionary definition of the word, but can gain a new meaning based on context.
[Cale]: So like the word duck?
[Lane]: Yeah.
[Cale]: Hmm.
[Cale]: Because like in some contexts you might be talking about the animal, but in others you might be trying to get someone to bend down and avoid being hit.
[Lane]: Exactly.
[Lane]: In "Get Him Back" by Olivia Rodrigo, she plays with the term 'get him back', the title of the song.
[Lane]: Throughout the verse, she writes about wanting to get him back in the context of revenge, but also in the context of dating or being in a romantic relationship again.
[Lane]: The syntactic rule has to do with grammar and word order.
[Lane]: How we write a sentence, with the addition or removal of commas, can greatly impact the meaning of a sentence.
[Lane]: Same thing goes for the order in which we say words.
[Lane]: The pragmatic rule is about context.
[Lane]: The situation of a context can change how a message is received.
[Lane]: This includes the phrasing, who the messenger is, and cultural phrases.
[Lane]: Your friend telling you to 'beat it' might be taken in a more joking tone, versus your cranky neighbor telling you the same thing. It might be taken a bit more seriously.
[Lane]: In "Get Him Back", Olivia uses a phrase, 'missing a screw'.
[Lane]: While this doesn't mean that he is literally missing a screw,
[Lane]: someone who is not aware of the cultural phrase might think so.
[Lane]: There are two ways to use language: for instrumental functions and regulatory functions.
[Lane]: Instrumental functions include using language to communicate about a basic need such as food or water.
[Lane]: Regulatory functions are about using language to influence decisions or create rules and requests.
[Lane]: So asking someone if they could have a sandwich would be using what type of function?
[Cale]: Uh, instrumental.
[Lane]: Exactly.
[Lane]: And trying to convince your friend that pineapple does not belong on pizza would be?
[Cale]: Um, regulatory, even though it does.
[Cale]: Nope.
[Cale]: But that is correct.
[Lane]: Now, there are more than just two functions of language.
[Lane]: There are interactional, imaginative, personal, heuristic, representational, and cultural functions.
[Cale]: That's a lot of functions.
[Lane]: I agree, and not a lot of time to go through them all, but I'll try to get through them all quickly.
[Lane]: Interactional functions of language are meant to build and maintain relationships with another.
[Lane]: This would be like telling your partner that you love them.
[Lane]: Imaginative functions are about creating and telling stories.
[Lane]: Music is a great example of this.
[Lane]: Most songs are telling a story to the listener, whether made up or influenced by real life.
[Lane]: Personal functions of language are about creating your own identity.
[Lane]: The words you use to describe yourself or another, build identity.
[Lane]: "Teenage Dream" by Olivia Rodrigo uses a lot of the personal function, especially in the first verse.
[Cale]: She calls herself wise, pretty, young, or pretty young and misunderstood.
[Lane]: All great identity building descriptions.
[Lane]: The heuristic function of language is to learn or discover more.
[Lane]: It's all about asking questions.
[Lane]: Representational functions of language are straightforward.
[Lane]: They are most often used to share or ask about information.
[Lane]: This entire section of the podcast is a great example of the representational function.
[Lane]: Cultural functions of language can explain why some languages have multiple words for one thing.
[Lane]: For example, in Greek, they have eight different words for love, which means - while each word means love, they all describe different types of love.
[Lane]: Our language is also built on the culture we share.
[Cale]: I didn't realize that they had eight different, uh, words for love.
[Lane]: Yeah, it's a lot.
[Cale]: [laughing] Well, you did great on all the functions and the rules, so good job.
[Lane]: Thank you. Thank you.
[Lane]: So glad we were able to get through it all.
[Cale]: Right?
[Cale]: Now we are going to transition to talking about the impact of language.
[Cale]: Specifically, we're going to look at this through the lenses of sexist language and muted group theory.
[Lane]: Seeing as we chose two prominent female artists in the music industry, there's probably a lot we can pull from these topics.
[Cale]: There sure is, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing in this context.
[Cale]: Let's start by talking about sexist language.
[Cale]: So to understand sexist language, we first need to understand bias.
[Cale]: So in the chapter from the text, bias is defined as, "an attitude that is not objective or balanced, prejudiced,
[Cale]: or the use of words that intentionally or unintentionally offend people or express an unfair attitude concerning a person's race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or illness".
[Lane]: [whistles] That's a bit of a mouthful.
[Cale]: Yeah, it kind of is.
[Cale]: I've heard so many people over the years say that they aren't biased or don't have biased opinions, but I personally just don't find that very believable.
[Cale]: Um, I think we're all biased in some way or biased towards certain things.
[Cale]: For others, it's just how our brain operates.
[Cale]: And bias can be subconscious too.
[Cale]: You can be biased towards something without even realizing it.
[Cale]: So sexist language is language that stems from a bias against others based on their sex.
[Cale]: Um, it can be words, phrases, or expressions that work to differentiate between sexes or trivialize or diminish a specific sex.
[Cale]: Um, and it can manifest in many ways.
[Cale]: So I can tie this into FKA Twigs by talking about "Cellophane".
[Cale]: It's one of her most popular songs.
[Cale]: You've definitely heard the main chorus on TikTok.
[Cale]: If you think you haven't, you have.
[Cale]: For Twigs in this song, sexist language looks like her concerns with being enough.
[Cale]: The lyrics, "and didn't I do it for you?
[Cale]: Why don't I do it for you?"
[Cale]: Shine a light on the internalized sexist norms that have become commonplace in our society.
[Cale]: In this case, her self-worth is defined by how desirable she is to someone else.
[Cale]: Unfortunately, this mindset is not that rare in our society because women have been conditioned to think that their highest order is to appease their romantic partner and/or reproduce.
[Lane]: That's an interesting perspective.
[Cale]: Um hmm. The lyrics really drive home the fact that sexist language really can mold both one's way of thinking and their self-image.
[Cale]: So now let's pivot over to muted group theory, which kind of goes hand in hand with sexist language.
[Cale]: Again, pulling from the textbook, muted group theory argues that the dominant members of society, typically men, create a language and system of communication that subverts or reduces other groups, specifically women.
[Lane]: Could you go into that a little more?
[Lane]: I just want to make sure our listeners fully understand.
[Cale]: Yeah, of course.
[Cale]: So, muted group theory, at least in my interpretation, is the idea that the dominant group in our society, men in this case, largely control the language and systems of communication we use.
[Cale]: Basically, it's language that's created by men for men.
[Cale]: And so in turn, the non-dominant members of society, which can be just, I guess, any marginalized community, but in this specific instance, women, begin to become excluded or reduced by this language.
[Lane]: And could you give an example?
[Cale]: Mm-hmm, so think of the word like, manpower.
[Cale]: You don't hear people refer to it as womanpower, right?
[Lane]: Ah, I see where you are going with this.
[Cale]: Yep, it doesn't even have its own term. Like I said a system of communication by men for men.
[Lane]: So how does that relate to FKA twigs?
[Cale]: Um, I'm actually going to use the same lyrics from "Cellophane" that we talked about with sexist language, that being the line 'and didn't I do it for you?'.
[Cale]: So we touched on the fact that men have constructed a majority of the language and systems of communication we use in our society.
[Cale]: Because of this, marginalized groups often struggle to fully or accurately express themselves.
[Cale]: And this line from the song is a perfect example of that.
[Cale]: Because women's expression of language is unfairly limited compared to men's, they often use indirect communication as a form of translation.
[Lane]: And what do you mean by that?
[Cale]: So instead of saying, or instead of Twig saying, "You're devaluing me", just straight up point blank, period, she opts to soften the language.
[Cale]: She questions herself as opposed to directing her words toward the other person since being direct is traditionally seen as unacceptable for a woman.
[Lane]: Wow, that's very interesting.
[Cale]: I know, right?
[Cale]: Yeah, so now let's move on to types of language.
[Cale]: Often the type of language one uses is tied to their current environment or people around them.
[Lane]: Like, how we talk differently to our friends versus our boss.
[Cale]: Exactly.
[Cale]: The type of language you use plays a big role in others' perceptions of you.
[Cale]: So let's start with improper language.
[Cale]: So, improper language can be split into two categories, vulgarity and cursing.
[Cale]: Vulgarity refers to something lewd or obscene.
[Cale]: Think talking about something like sex in a professional setting.
[Cale]: Cursing can be language that includes a wish of doom, evil, or misfortune on a person or group, not just profane words.
[Cale]: So next is biased language.
[Cale]: And we got a good understanding of this earlier, so I'm just going to do a brief recap.
[Cale]: Biased language is language that shows preference in favor of or against a certain point of view, shows prejudice, or is demeaning to others.
[Cale]: So going back to our discussion of the word manpower, for example, is a good way to look at biased language.
[Lane]: Another good example from the textbook is the word 'mankind', as opposed to 'humanity'.
[Cale]: That's true.
[Cale]: It kind of gives me a weird feeling listening to the line, one small step for man, one large step for mankind though, knowing what we know about language.
[Lane]: Yeah.
[Cale]: Mmm-hmm. Oh, there's also relative language, which heavily depends on the person communicating.
[Cale]: The text gives a great example.
[Cale]: If I said, let's go to an expensive restaurant, that might be expensive for you, but not expensive for me, and vice versa.
[Cale]: Maybe $50 is expensive.
[Cale]: Maybe $10.
[Cale]: It's all relative.
[Lane]: So another example, then, would be me saying, the restaurant you chose is too far away.
[Lane]: Let's choose someplace closer.
[Lane]: That would be relative, because the drive may be long for me, but not quite so long for you.
[Cale]: Yes, that's a perfect example.
[Cale]: There's also euphemisms, which make language more unclear.
[Cale]: And these are primarily used to avoid rubbing salt on the wound, quote unquote, when talking to someone.
[Cale]: For instance, I was in a car accident a few years back.
[Cale]: And after making sure I was okay, my parents asked about the damage on the car.
[Cale]: And I texted them, 'not ideal'.
[Cale]: I didn't tell them that the car was totaled.
[Lane]: And how did they react when they saw how bad it was?
[Cale]: Well, not ideal could mean a lot of things.
[Cale]: So when I finally sent them the picture, they were pretty taken aback, safe to say.
[Cale]: And then finally, for types of language, I want to talk about static evaluation.
[Cale]: Basically, static evaluation acknowledges that people and things change over time.
[Cale]: And so the language we use should as well.
[Cale]: When we speak about someone, we need to do so in a way that suggests they can change.
[Cale]: Instead of saying, 'Cale is rude', you should say, 'Cale was rude today', or 'Cale was rude when this thing happened'.
[Lane]: That's actually a really good thing to be aware of when talking to or about someone.
[Cale]: For real.
[Cale]: I didn't even realize how important it is until reading this chapter in the textbook.
[Cale]: Um, so that about wraps it up for types of language.
[Lane]: Way to go.
[Lane]: Wow, that was a lot we covered today.
[Lane]: Yeah, it kind of was.
[Lane]: We talked about the three big rules of language, semantics, syntactics, and pragmatics, as well as the eight functions of language, the impact of language, and the types of language we use on a daily basis.
[Lane]: Was there anything else you wanted to add, Cale?
[Cale]: No, I can't think of anything.
[Cale]: I think we did a great job covering everything we wanted to talk about.
[Lane]: Ditto.
[Lane]: Thanks for listening, everyone.
[Lane]: Next, Colin and Alex will be discussing in-depth on the cultural and environmental aspects of interpersonal communication using X-Men 97 and One Piece as examples.
[Lane]: We hope you'll give it a listen as it continues to build on interpersonal communication.
[Both]: Bye.
[instrumental music]