Journal of Language and Social Psychology

Formal truth-conditional semantics and a definite 'written language bias' within traditional linguistics have lent academic respectability to naive and pervasive pre-theoretical conceptions of language as some sort of a conduit transmitting meaning. The Cartesian variant of the myth of literal meaning reifies meaning in terms of linguistically mediated mental representations, and main stream multidisciplinary research on ordinary language is indeed dominated by models in which hypothetical constructs from idealisations of language as a super-individual system are assigned 'psychological reality' as intervening vari ables in theoretical accounts of real-life discourse. A constructive alternative to such a paradigm may be developed by careful philosophical and social psycho logical analyses of human options with respect to categorisation of states of affairs in a pluralistic social world, the subtle circularity inherent in acts of speech, and the orderly 'trade on one another's truths' entailed in our intuitive mastery of dialogue roles. Significant contributions to such a novel, social-psychologically oriented general paradigm can be found in the works of Volosinov, Wittgenstein, Goodman, Putnam, Mead, James, Heider, Wertheimer and Vygotsky. The most significant prospective contribution of social psychology to interdisciplinary studies of ordinary language, it is argued, is a radical re-conceptualisation of truly social and collective aspects of language by means of dynamic-interactional rather than static Cartesian concepts.

This paper examines three different ways in which language research can directly bear on the scholarship of people primarily interested in the processes of social influence. First, a discussion is offered on how the inclusion of language variables in established theories of social influence and argumentation can alter predictions about successful and unsuccessful attitude change and provide a richer logic of explanation for theoreticians. Moreover, it is suggested that such a language perspective can be useful in providing a new theoretical umbrella for many of the confusing and contradictory findings in the attitude change research literature. After making arguments about the interface between language and social influence processes, it is suggested that potential methodological contribu tions could accrue to attitude change researchers if they were to pay more attention to research on the quantification and measurement of specific langauge phenomena. Finally, it is suggested that there are several potential heuristic qualities of language research which could obtain if this body of knowledge were applied to some classic concerns about logic, argument and rationality as pre dictors of attitude change. An ordinary language approach to the study of argu mentation and information is called for in this final section of the paper.

This paper examines a number of recent communication studies deal ing with persuasive message strategies, both to identify some of the major findings to date and to underscore some of the important conceptual and procedural problems to be faced in future research. The paper centres on three major areas: (1) the development of a typology of persuasive message strategies; (2) the effects of situational factors on the choice of persuasive message strategies; and (3) the influence of individual differences in persuaders on the selection and use of persuasive message strategies.

In this paper language and social relationships are viewed as theoretical entities with mutual entailments. Several types of relationships are conceptualised and the various levels of language are related to these. Language is discussed as an independent variable which affects interpersonal bonding and as a dependent variable which is affected by relational processes. Several issues are raised, includ ing : Can persons talk about relationships with precision? Is language a funda mental constituent of most relationships? And, does communication play a primary role in relationship formation, maintenance, and decay? A general model is offered and theoretical implications are discussed.

The purpose of this overview is briefly to summarise the distinctive contributions of social psychology to the study of language, speech and communi cation. The breadth and depth of these contributions is indicated with the help of a two-dimensional taxonomy in which research is classified according to its emphasis on language production or language reception, and according to its focus on individual, interpersonal or group processes. The cells of this taxonomy are illustrated with reference to research on: attitudes and motivation in second language learning; the externalisation of personality and emotion in speech; the inference of personality and emotion from speech; lexical influences on message reception; interpersonal constructs and impression formation; interaction chrono graphy ; speech accommodation; speech style evaluation; language and social identity; language attitudes and intergroup relations. Two strong themes that cross-cut this taxonomy are research into the influence of social-developmental and situational factors on language production and reception, each of which is briefly considered. This is followed by a survey of interpretive frameworks that have been imported by social psychologists interested in language to aid their endeavours, and an introduction to the applications to which this work has been put. The final section includes a breakdown of the contributions into methodological types, and a brief discussion of theoretical matters in the investigation of language.

Intergroup communication is conceptualised as an interpersonal pro cess requiring linguistic competence, influenced by individual, interpersonal and group processes. Attention is focused mainly on group processes and the barriers they generate to effective intergroup communication. There is some consensus among theorists that clear social categories and threat to identity play an import ant role in deterring the effectiveness of intergroup communication. Little is known however about the factors influencing the operation of these two pro cesses. The present paper is concerned with recent data which bears on some of these factors. A third process, the perception of social injustice, has been rela tively neglected in the social psychology of language. It is introduced here as potentially important in the understanding of the breakdown of intergroup com munication.

The generativist conception of linguistic competence and its idealisa tion of a homogeneous speech community must be overcome if analyses of individual differences in language and communication are to receive the attention they merit. Development of a qualitative, multiple competencies conception of linguistic and communicative abilities offers promise of transcending the limita tions of the generativist approach while maintaining its concern with fundamental form-meaning covariations in language usage. Within such an expanded concep tion of competence, an interpretive-contextual social psychology can make im portant contributions to our understanding of individual differences in communi cative action.

In this article I have outlined some reasons why the investigation of second language acquisition is important, and I have presented a socio- educational model that I believe incorporates the major individual difference variables underlying the language learning process. Research relevant to this model is then presented, with particular attention devoted to a direct test of the underlying causal model. Three deductions deriving from the model are then examined. On the basis of the empirical evidence, it seems clear that attitudes and motivation are important because they promote active involvement in the learning process and that they influence active choice behaviour regarding participation in acquisition contexts. There was no evidence for the deduction that differential success in second language acquitision promotes differential attitude change.

Four directions for future research are then discussed. These include the suggestion that further attention should be directed toward using causal modelling procedures to enhance our understanding of the processes underlying second language acquisition, and the necessity for developing laboratory investigations to provide further 'causal' tests. A third direction which seems important is to extend the general correlational paradigm to other contexts. It is emphasised, however, that such extensions should use indices with known reliabiilty and validity, and should consider the ethnolinguistic vitality of the region. The fourth direction concerns the role of attitudes and motivation in the loss of second language skills following the termination of instruction. This is a previously unexplored area which could have important implications for language training.

Studies relating language and institutions have emerged independently in several disciplines, including social psychology, social anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and others, as researchers have questioned conventional boundaries of concern. Language and law is examined as an indicative case for language-institu tion studies. The field shows vitality in research relating language to education, medicine, commerce, etc., but very little agreement upon priorities in topic, method, or theory. Rather, research tends to be informed by questions and approaches that reflect disciplinary concerns. It is suggested that researchers investigating language-institution relations do share many issues arising out of the hybrid origins and the non-conventionality of issues considered. The particular experiences of the author are discussed to show how his own interests in language in institutional contexts developed and to provide a specific opportunity to analyse the general issues facing researchers in language-instruction contexts. In conclu sion, it is argued that language-institution studies must go beyond merely noticing language in institutional contexts by attempting to speak to important and signifi cant questions about language, institutions, or both.

The development of communicative competence cannot be investigated without a consideration of the development of the context in which communica tion takes place. Contexts are elaborated historically, and constituted by the interplay of language, self-concepts, and social structure. The motivation of elaboration is ecological. Communicative competence is characterised as the level of control an individual exercises over the implications embedded in language, self-concept and social structure. These points are illustrated by a consideration of (1) historical examples of human conduct, and (2) contemporary studies of communicative development.

The question addressed in this review paper is how our goals and the surrounding social situation influence what we say and how we say it in social interaction. It is proposed that definitional and methodological difficulties in studying social situations constitute the core problem in this domain. Various approaches to conceptualising social situations in linguistics, psychology and sociology are outlined, and recent empirical research on cognitive representations of social episodes is summarised. Selected theories linking goals and situations to language use are reviewed, and empirical research on situational variations in language behaviour is considered. It is concluded that the use of predominantly ad hoc, intuitive classifications of social situations, and the dominance of the ethno graphic method in empirical research have limited progress in this field. A social cognitive paradigm, linking cognitive representations of situations to information processing models predicting the selection of linguistic alternatives is proposed as a suitable future model for research.

This Discussant paper provides a personal and largely favourable assessment of the Second International Conference on Social Psychology and Language held in Bristol, July 1983. It compares, impressionistically, the papers presented in 1983 with those delivered at the First Bristol Conference in 1979 by means of 15 evaluatively-loaded dimensions and appraises the contents of the 10 symposia convened on particular themes according to six of these judgmental criteria. This critique suggests that while few advances have been made on some fronts, significant developments have emerged on important others, particularly with respect to functional and theoretical analyses. The paper concludes optimisti cally and locates much previous research in the social psychology of language in one small portion of a three-dimensional space whilst advocating that research priorities ought now to be directed (albeit in the short-term) towards a contrastive segment of this space.