Cover not available

Article published In: Moving towards Peace, Compassion and Empathy through Semiotic Enquiry: Special issue of the Journal Language, Context and Text 6:1 (2024)
Edited by Elizabeth A. Thomson, Awni Etaywe, Ingrid Wijeyewardene and Penny Wheeler
[Language, Context and Text 6:1] 2024
► pp. 146–175

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required
empathy

Empathic listening as a social semiotic practice within the tradition of Nonviolent Communication

A systemic functional analysis of choices in the systems of theme and information status

ORCiD logo with link | University of Wollongong, Australia
Published online: 20 August 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.00068.tho
Abstract
This article investigates empathic listening as practised in the tradition of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), noting that this tradition is understood as a designed register of interpersonal connection, “concerned with progress toward a better world” (Hughes, Jessica. 2018. Progressing Positive Discourse Analysis and /in Critical Discourse Studies: Reconstructing resistance through progressive discourse analysis. Review of Communication 18(3). 193–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In the tradition, empathy is considered “a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing, … we give to others the time and space they need to express themselves fully and to be understood” (Rosenberg, Marshall. 2015. Nonviolent communication: A language of life (3rd edition). Encinitas: Puddle Dancer Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar: 91–92). The analysis in this article applies the tools of systemic functional linguistics to demonstrate that this empathic understanding is achieved by the empathiser supporting the speaker’s exploration of their emotions via a linguistic pattern of co-created, continuous thematic progression of resonated new information. The article provides insights into the linguistic machinery powering NVC empathy practice.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Empathy
  • 3.Nonviolent Communication
  • 4.Theory
  • 5.The study
    • 5.1Research questions
    • 5.2Data
    • 5.3Methodology
    • 5.4Results
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (44)
References
Bandura, Albert. 2016. Moral disengagement: How people do harm and live with themselves. New York: Worth Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bartlett, Tom. 2017. Positive discourse analysis. In John Flowerdew & John E. Richardson (eds.), The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies, 133–147. London & New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bodie, Graham, Debra L. Worthington & Zenebe Beyene. 2023. Listening, community engagement, and peace building. In Graham Bodie, Debra L. Worthington & Zenebe Beyene (eds.), Listening, community engagement, and peacebuilding: international perspectives, 1–10. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curtin, Deane. 2022. Compassion and being human. In Carol J. Adams & Lori Gruen (eds.), Ecofeminism: Feminist intersections with other animals and the earth, 69–87. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dalai Lama [Tenzin Gyatso]. 2011. Beyond religion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Available at: [URL] (Accessed: 15 October 2022).
Daneš, Frantisek. 1974. Functional sentence perspective and the organization of the text. Prague: Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Educational Services Team. 2016. Certification Preparation Packet (CPP), New York: Center for Nonviolent Communication.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fries, Peter. 1983. On the status of Theme in English: Arguments from discourse. In Janos Petofi and Emel Soer (eds.), Micro and macro connexity of texts, 116–152. Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. Patterns of information in initial position in English. In Peter Fries & Michael Gregory (eds.), Discourse in society: Systemic functional perspectives, meaning and choice in language: Studies for Michael Halliday, 47–66. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuchs, Thomas & Sabine Koch. 2014. Embodied affectivity: On moving and being moved. Frontiers in Psychology 51. 1–12.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gendlin, Eugene. 2007. Focusing. New York: Bantam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. 1994. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2002. Linguistic studies of text and discourse. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. & Ruqaiya Hasan. 1985. Language, context and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Geelong: Deakin University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. & Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 1999. Construing experience through meaning: A language-based approach to cognition. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. with Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 2004. An introduction to functional grammar (3rd edition). London: Hodder Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hughes, Jessica. 2018. Progressing Positive Discourse Analysis and /in Critical Discourse Studies: Reconstructing resistance through progressive discourse analysis. Review of Communication 18(3). 193–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking, fast and slow. London: Penguin Random House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kann, Trevor. 2017. Measuring linguistic empathy: An experimental approach to connecting linguistic and social psychological notions of empathy. PhD dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles.
Knight, Naomi. 2010. Laughing our bonds off: Conversational humour in relation to affiliation. PhD dissertation. University of Sydney, Sydney.
Kress, Gunter. 2000. Design and transformation: New theories of meaning. In Bill Cope & Mary Kalantzis (eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures, 153–161. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macquarie Dictionary (2nd edition). 1996. Sydney: Macquarie UniversityGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. 2002. Blessed are the Peacemakers: Reconciliation and evaluation. In Christopher N. Candlin (ed.), Research and practice in professional discourse, 187–227. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. Positive Discourse Analysis: Solidarity and change. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 491. 179–200.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. & Peter White. 2005. The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moore, Alison Rotha. 2019. Language and medicine. In Geoff Thompson, Wendy Bowcher, Lise Fontaine & David Schönthal (eds.), Cambridge handbook of systemic functional linguistics, 651–688. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moulton, Liz. 2007. The naked consultation: A practical guide to primary care consultation skills. Abingdon: Radcliffe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peyton, Sarah. 2017. Your resonant self. New York: Norton & Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Piasecky, Melissa. 2003. Clinical communication handbook. Oxford: Blackwell Science.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pounds, Gabrina. 2011. Empathy as ‘appraisal’: A new language-based approach to the exploration of clinical empathy. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7(2). 139–162. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Enhancing empathic skills in clinical practice: A linguistic approach. Connections, emotions, empathy: How do we conceptualise and use affect and emotions in qualitative health research. Special Issue of International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion 5(2). 114–131. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rock, David. 2009. Your brain at work. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rogers, Carl R. 1951. Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. London: Robinson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1980/1995. A way of being. Boston: MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Marshall. 2015. Nonviolent communication: A language of life (3rd edition). Encinitas: Puddle Dancer Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidsberger, Florian & Henriette Löffler-Stastka. 2018. Empathy is proprioceptive: the bodily fundament of empathy – a philosophical contribution to medical education. BMC Medical Education 18(69). 69–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silverman, Jonathan, Suzanne Kurtz and Juliet Draper. 2005. Skills for Communicating with Patients (2nd edition). Abingdon: Radcliffe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stenglin, Marie. 2004. Packaging curiosities: Towards a grammar of three-dimensional space. PhD dissertation. University of Sydney, Sydney.
Stibbe, Arran. 2014. An ecolinguistic approach to critical discourse studies. Critical Discourse Studies 11(1). 117–128.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomson, Elizabeth A. 2001. Exploring the textual metafunction of Japanese: A case study of selected written texts. PhD dissertation. University of Wollongong, Australia.
van der Kolk, Bessel. 2014. The body keeps the score: Mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma, London: Penguin Random House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Velasco, Elena Rey, Hanne Sæderup Pedersen, & Timothy Charles Skinner. 2022. Empathy ‘appraisal’ and Systemic Functional Linguistics for patient cues’ analysis in asynchronous health interactions: A new coding tool development. (Preprint). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watson, Olivia. 2012. The language of clinical empathy: Modelling affiliation in doctor-patient communication. BA (Hons.) dissertation. The University of Sydney, Australia.
Witty, Marjorie C. 1990. Marshall Rosenberg. PhD dissertation. Northwestern University, Illinois.
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue