While normally not the biggest fan of slam poet-motivational speakers, the above piece by just such a character caught my attention this summer. Taylor Mali’s reminder to “speak with conviction” contains some painful observations about the way we speak, and as I begin my second year at the BLSCI, this brief video helps diagnose some of the unfortunate patterns that can infect our oral communication.
Mali’s main point is one I stress to the students who attend the debate workshops I organize to support Baruch management courses. That is, how you say something is often more important than what you say. And I have found that most students think much more about content than delivery, which means their oral presentations are often presented in stilted, too-quiet, monotonous speech patterns that prevent the speaker’s often solid facts and arguments from coming across. While not every student speaks in the specifically meek manner described by Mali, it’s clear that a lot of students, for a wide variety of reasons, have a difficult time “speaking with conviction,” whether they are talking about geometry or Lady Gaga, and I’m wondering what kinds of interventions we can make upon this widespread lack of confidence in oral communication.
In my debate workshops I forbid the use of notes or index cards, forcing students to internalize their main points rather than turning to the crumpled paper in their hands. I’ve found that the more they feel like they are speaking from a place of knowledge, their speech patterns become clearer, louder, stronger. The “no notes” rule is just one strategy, though, and I’m wondering if other have ideas about the admittedly difficult task of helping a young, diverse set of students to find the authority that often hides within them.
Great thoughts, David, and I love the poem. I worry that this, you know, speech pattern does not even sound moronic to those who, like, grew up with it. I always call attention to upward inflection at the ends of sentences when I’m videotaping students, and sentences padded with ‘like’ and ‘you know.’ But it is hard to undo such an ingrained speech pattern in one training session. (In retrospect, I am grateful to my mother for constantly correcting me [read: browbeating] when I used these patterns as a teenager.) If all your friends talk that way, however (especially the cool ones), then perhaps it doesn’t even sound wrong.
Caroline Kennedy seems to have gotten to middle-age and the brink of public office without any repercussions. I also have a friend who went to expensive universities and is a very successful business-woman but says ‘you know’ ten times in every sentence. I often wonder, does that mean you can be a success in business (the chief measure of interest to our students at Baruch) despite talking this way? I suspect that you can get pretty far even being unable to eliminate ‘like’ and ‘you know’ from your formal speech style, but the questioning inflection will really hurt your credibility in the long-run in a business setting. I noticed that the poet toggled between preachy voice and the questioning tone. I just want my students to come out in between, speaking with authority.
This poem/performance was entertaining and funny, so I take it in the light way that it seems to have been meant. Still, I resent Mali’s condescension toward asking “you know?” and ending literally declarative sentences with interrogative inflections. Spoken discourse is not simply declarative, it’s interactive, so in conversation, it’s perfectly natural and friendly to encourage your interlocutor’s responses with such cues. It’s important to speak with authority in some contexts, and important to allow authority to lapse in others.
Soon I’ll be posting a funny video of a guy who tried too hard to speak with conviction and authority; I’ll link my post to this one.
Talia, I hear you. I wonder if this is evidence for what I was saying, though, that there’s an age-based divide on how these styles sound. To you, the ‘you know?’ and questioning inflection sound friendly. To me, they sound girlish, insecure, or just inarticulate — even (especially?) when I’m the one doing it!
That “interrogative inflection”… Are we talking about “uptalk”?
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002967.html
Alessandro, yes, I meant uptalk. Thanks for the link. It’s interesting that the author thinks it comes from a place of confidence, but the article also suggests that the “are you with me?” ending loses power with over-use.