Language Expectancy Theory - Expectations

Expectations

The theory views language expectancies as enduring patterns of anticipated communication behavior which are grounded in a society's psychological and cultural norms. Such societal forces influence language and enable the identification of non-normative use; violations of linguistic, syntactic and semantic expectations will either facilitate or inhibit an audience's receptivity to persuasion. Burgoon claims applications for his theory in management, media, politics and medicine, and declares that his empirical research has shown a greater effect than expectancy violations theory, the domain of which does not extend to the spoken word.

LET argues that typical language behaviors fall within a normative "bandwidth" of expectations determined by a source's perceived credibility, the individual listener's normative expectations and a group's normative social climate, and generally supports a gender-stereotypical reaction to the use of profanity, for example.

Communication expectancies are said to derive from three factors:

  1. The communicator – individual features, such as ethos or source credibility, personality, appearance, social status and gender.
  2. The relationship between a receiver and a communicator, including factors such as attraction, similarity and status equality.
  3. Context; i.e., privacy and formality constraints on interaction.

Read more about this topic:  Language Expectancy Theory

Famous quotes containing the word expectations:

    “Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality.”
    —Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)

    “Let us pray that the great historic tragedy of our time may not have been enacted without instructing our whole beloved country through terror and pity; and may fulfillment verify in the end those expectations which kindle the bards of Progress and Humanity.”
    —Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    “Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)