Your ability to use words depends on your native architecture, cognitive development, and environmental influences. It is a key component in strategic flexibility because, as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis emphasizes, it influences the way you view and think about the world around you.

A word is a symbol; it stands for the object or concept it names. For us to understand one another, we must agree on what the particular word symbol stands for—in both its denotative and its connotative meanings. S. I. Hayakawa's ladder of abstraction helps convey meaning accurately to listeners. It helps analyze communications, understandings, and misunderstandings. It helps immunize against political propaganda, advertising, and vacant rhetoric, and it also helps communicators make personal adjustments as they become aware of their own abstracting.

Language is directly linked to your perception of reality and to your thought processes, which begin in earliest childhood. You create meanings for words as ideas, feelings, and activities change. Because you determine meanings, it is important to present ideas as clearly as possible while your listener tries to understand.

For language to be successful, it must be appropriate to the language environment. The language you should use in a particular environment is determined by the role you are playing in that environment. Certain language rituals are predetermined for you by the values of your society (culture and co-cultures). You learn these and other forms of appropriate language during your childhood. When you become an adult and enter the work world, often you must learn a specialized language used by your occupational or professional group.

Style, the way you express yourself, is an important aspect of language. The style that is expected of you often is determined by the roles you play. If you do not modify your language to fit your role, you may speak in ways that are inappropriate for the occasion.

Your gender influences the language style you use. Men are more likely to use report-talk, a language that maintains their status, demonstrates their knowledge and skills, and keeps them at the center of attention. In contrast, women are more likely to use rapport-talk, a language that leads to intimacy with others, establishes relationships, and compares experiences. Powerful talk, too, will influence your effectiveness.

English is losing its place as a dominant world language. One in five Americans speak a language other than English at home. If you belong to an ethnic group, you may use a dialect—the habitual language of your community. The advantage of dialect is that it helps a person fit into an ethnic community; the disadvantage is that it might not have prestige in a community where standard American English is spoken.

There are many differences between writing and speaking. Writing is formal and structured; uses words alone; and is nonimmediate, with delayed feedback. Speaking is informal and less structured; uses words along with facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice; and is immediate with, for the most part, instant feedback. Knowing these and the other differences will help you increase both the clarity and accuracy of your messages.

When you work on your communication, you have to decide what you want to say and how you want to say it. In choosing how you wish to communicate, you should aim for clarity, vividness, and ethical choices. Then you should ask to whom you are speaking and what metamessages—the meaning apart from the actual words—you are sending.

There are four influences of the Internet on verbal communication. The first is the framing that occurs in e-mail messages. The second is the impermanence and animation of Web pages. The third is the unlimited number of people with whom you can communicate in chat rooms; and the fourth is the blurring of the division between speaking and writing.