Chapter 7: Language
These students may also lack a common cultural frame of reference. If you think about it, in order for you to fully understand a play on words, a joke that’s being told, or even a story that’s being shared, you have to understand the references that the speaker uses. If you’ve always lived in a small town in a rural area, a visit to New York City might be exciting, but it could also be overwhelming. Asking directions from the New Yorkers that you encounter might seem logical, but if you don’t know the landmarks that are used to provide the directions, the references are useless to you.
When individuals do not share a similar culture or do not come from a common background, it can be difficult to communicate; their life experiences have been different, and they have little in common. These individuals may see the world in a different way than you. Your childhood may have little resemblance to the childhood of someone from a war-torn country. While you may recall trips to the fair and birthday parties, these pastimes may be foreign to them. Your childhood was, hopefully, safe and protected; theirs was full of danger and constant anxiety. Naturally, it would be difficult for either of you to completely understand the other’s view of life. It may be that your only chance to truly get to know that person is through conversation, sharing your experiences through language. The use of language to connect is a wonderful reminder of the power of language.
Appropriateness
Appropriateness relates to several categories involving how persons and groups should be referred to and addressed based on inclusiveness and context. The term “politically correct” has been overused to describe the growing sensitivity to how the power of language can marginalize or exclude individuals and groups. While there are silly extremes such as the term “vertically challenged” for “short,” these humorous examples overlook the need to be inclusive about language. Overall, people and groups should be respected and referred to in the way they choose to be. Using inclusive language in your speech will help ensure you aren’t alienating or diminishing any members of your audience.
Gender-Inclusive Language
The first common form of non-inclusive language is language that privileges one of the sexes over the other. There are three common problem areas that speakers run into while speaking: using “he” as generic, using “man” to mean all humans, and gender-typing jobs. Consider the statement, “Every morning when an officer of the law puts on his badge, he risks his life to serve and protect his fellow citizens.” Obviously, both male and female police officers risk their lives when they put on their badges.
A better way to word the sentence would be, “Every morning when officers of the law put on their badges, they risk their lives to serve and protect their fellow citizens.” Notice that in the better sentence, we made the subject plural (“officers”) and used neutral prono