Question

Identify three specific personal examples of times when choice of language led to positive or negative results in your own interpersonal relationships. For each situation, cite the person(s) involved, the place of the occurrence, the situation, and the language used. Then identify the type of language (sexist language, racism, power, ambiguous language, abstraction, relative words, euphemisms, static evaluation, etc.) and note the results of each incident. How did language play a pivotal role in these experiences

Answer 1

• Once, I needed to talk to a friend about the fact that she did not seem to have a healthy weight. I used an euphemism by saying that she was "curvy" as opposed to overweight or obese. This made my friend much more open to listening what I had to say. Therefore, it was a positive outcome.

• Once, I used sexist language by telling my brother that he kicked the ball like a little girl when we were playing soccer. This led to a negative reaction on the part of my brother, as well as my friends who were present.

• Once, I used ambiguous language when I was trying to ask for a raise at work. This was a consequence of the fact taht I was very nervous about asking. The outcome was negative as my boss was able to ignore my request. The outcome would have likely been different if my language had not been as ambiguous.