Interpersonal Communications - Talking Styles

Talking Styles

Interpersonal Communications

Mrs. Nunya

January 6, 2010

As a young baby cries for the first time, begins the journey of developing communication. The development of communication is constant, profoundly changing and will not cease until we part this life. According to Sole (2011), communication is complicated, yet vital to the success of our personal lives and professional careers. As each person symbolizes the meaning of words, words themselves are not often understood. According to Sole (2011), French author, Anais Nin (1903 - 1977) once said "We don't see things as they are; We see them as we are". Ever met someone who made you feel like you were having a conversation with yourself; chances are you most likely share the same language-style.

After reading, 'Shared talking styles herald new and lasting romance', I really wanted to input conversational phrases between my wife and I into the 'Language style matching' website. As the main source for communication between us is visual and dyadic, I was not able to do that. I took communication between myself and a fellow student that was initiated during the introduction phase of this course. I felt it would perhaps link with the article concerning the utilization of function words. According to Sole (2011), interactional function of language allows us to communicate in relation to a group of which we belong to. The student and I share this function, both being Marines, where we are able to relate and understand each other.

Once I finished transcribing our somewhat brief communication into the website, I was taken back at how poorly my score was compared with the range between .75 and .95. With an average for online chats being .84, mine was far below average at .59 for two people who share similar functions and types of languages. There was a list of factors that could have led to our score being below average such as; not enough words, different genres of writing and an extreme amount of misspelled words. While this test is in the experimental phase and we did not have much interaction, I feel it was not enough communication and the difference in writing styles that impacted the score most. I do not feel it was accurate based again of the factors concerning the language function and types that I feel myself and the student shared. Not to say there was perfect communication, after learning all the small intricacies involved, I doubt a person perfects the art before they reach middle adulthood. Language-style matching suggests how much each is listening and understanding, rather than how much two people like each other.

I plan to transcribe written notes between me and my wife,