Examples Of Powerless Language

When a friend says hi to you and wave his hand, would you think that you are being welcomed? Or, when a friend say goodbye without looking at you, would you think you are being neglected? Everyday, we interact with different people to exchange our ideas, and we share our thoughts through communication. However, people do not recognize that our communication is divided into nonverbal language and verbal language, and I am going to demonstrate the concept of kinesics and haptics from the nonverbal communication and the concept of slang and powerful and powerless language from the verbal communication through a television show “The Real O 'Neal, The Real Heartbreak”, which is about O’Neal’s family story in Valentine Day, and some other examples.

Powerful language and powerless language emphasises our attitude and reflects our feeling during speaking. Using powerful language in speech creates the effect of strong, directness, and power, and using powerless language in speech creates the effect of hesitation and low in power status. First, when people want to make a strong statement, they tend to use powerful words in their sentence to express their opinions. One example from the television show, when Kenny visits his best girl friends in a bar, he is talking about his break - up story and eating all chocolates. Then Kenny’s girlfriend says to Kenny “Wow! You should probably get to your movie. I am sure it’s gonna be very crowded.” (TV show). This is a powerful language. The phrase “I am sure” is a powerful phrase that a person is very positive with a certain subject. The sentence also brings up the meaning that Kenny 's girlfriend thinks Kenny messes up her and her girlfriends’ Valentine’ date, and she is not happy. On another side, when people is unsure about certain things, they tend to use powerless language to make a statement. One example from the television program about using powerless language is when Kenny is eating chocolates and talking his plan with ex - boyfriend, a girl asks Kenny’s girlfriend “Did his brother dump him, or did he die?”, and Kenny’s girlfriend replies “I don’t know, but he’s eating all of our chocolate.” (TV show). In this example, the phrase “I don’t know” is a common phrase for powerless language, and it reflects Kenny’s girlfriend is unsure to the question that the girl asks. People uses powerful and powerless language in many situations, and they send different impressions to others based on how they construct their language. If powerful and powerless language is used appropriately, speakers can strengthen their arguments. For example, a goods lawyer always uses powerful language in front of the judge to prove their client is right in a court trial because speaking powerful