Friday, December 30, 2011

Communication pragmatics

A recent book review on the pragmatics of communication highlighted three ideas I'd not thought a lot about, but perhaps I should:

In the presence of another person, it is impossible not to communicate: This point is so obvious as to often be overlooked: silence amounts to communicating that one does not want to communicate. [Think about this as you contemplate virtual situations ... communications may not survive all that well]

Every communication has two aspects to it: ..... what matters is not only what is said, but how it is said and the context in which it is said.

The relationship is defined by how participants perceive a sequence of exchanges: A dialogue consists of a sequence of exchanges between participants. However, the participants will punctuate the sequence differently [In other words, the value of communications is changeable by sequencing and cadence]

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