Language in communication: How it works 2500-OG-EN-LCHW

1. Introduction to pragmatics. Conversational logic by Paul Grice: the principle of communication and communicative maxims. Interpreting implicit content in the Gricean model. The problem of irony and lie.
2. Relevance Theory by D. Sperber & D. Wilson. Interpreting implicit content in the Relevance model.
3. “Politeness” as a principle of conversational cooperation. “Politeness strategies” (G. N. Leech, P. Brown & S. Levinson, M. Marcjanik). Principles of politeness in the light of E. Goffmann’s idea of “social face”.
4. Explicit and implicit communication in a psychological model of communication – the “square” of Schulz von Thun. Four aspects of communication: matter of fact, appeal, relation, self-disclosure. Identifying and correcting communicative dysfunctions/misunderstandings.
5. “Giraffe language” and “jackal language” – R. M. Rosenberg’s idea of non-violent communication (NVC).
6. Persuasive speech acts: discussion, argument, debate. The art of persuading; persuasion <> manipulation. Arguments: logical, factual, ex concessis, ab exemplo. Deduction vs induction. Correct argumentation (following facts and logical rules) vs fallacious argumentation: overgeneralisation, fallacies in reasoning, reversed cause-effect relation, lack of clarity, vicious circle, etc.; domino effect. Supporting logical and matter-of-fact argumentation: parallel argumentation (vs sequential), exemplifying, arguments from authority, ad populum, appealing to emotions.
7. Dishonest argumentative techniques: arguments ad personam, ad baculum, false premises, distracting attention (red herring), biased interpretation (straw man fallacy), etc.
8. Psychological factors in persuasion: “psychologically naïve” persuasion methods –pressure, blackmailing, lying; how to defend against pressure and blackmail; “psychologically advanced” manipulative methods: mechanism of reciprocity and the rule of “big request”, mechanism of consistence and the rule of “small request”, mechanism of conformity, friendliness, reliability and authority, reduced availability, contrast, repetition, compromise, rationalisation, relax. Appealing to the addressee’s psychological “metaprogrammes”.
9. Linguistic means of manipulation: evaluative words, a specific use of the pronouns we, our and the style characteristic of the addressee’s social background vs they, those people (out there); presuppositions, implications, personal vs impersonal forms, euphemisms vs hyperboles, generalised sentences, the addressee-oriented imagery etc.
10. Recapitulation: communication as balancing between an effective expression of one’s views/feelings and effective appeal to the addressee. Final test.