Point of View

A point of view is the way you see the world. Look at the painting above, called "Two Women Chatting by the Sea, St. Thomas, 1856" by Camille Pissarro. From your perspective, you can see a lot of details. You maybe experience an emotion as you look at the art. You can see what the artist wanted you to see. However, you cannot see everything. You do not know the details of the face, and you cannot see the face of the other woman. If you stood in a different position, you would have a different point of view, and therefore, a different understanding of the painting.

Listening for a speaker's point of view is an important skill because it allows you to recognize the speaker's bias (preference) and understand the ideas more fully in a context. Our point of view is influenced by our life experiences and knowledge, including our native culture.  The ability to discern a speaker’s point of view and how it is influencing us is essential for full understanding.  

A speaker needs to be aware of and may have to set aside his or her own attitudes or biases in order to communicate most effectively.  Consider if the information you will share might not be relatable because of your unique knowledge or experiences and adapt your speaking.  

Information is always presented to us with a purpose. And the speaker's point of view is very directly connected to that purpose. The speaker's choice of words, grammatical structures, details, examples, and even intonation will all work together to help you see the intentional or subconscious angle the speaker is presenting the information from.

Sometimes two different people can interpret the same conversation of experience in different ways.  Making emotional room for how others’ view things is important for smooth communication. 

Some Clues for Point of View

Word Choice

Word choice is one simple way to notice someone's point of view. A speaker would choose the word that fits the context best, but the idea of the "best" word for the idea will often include that connotation. Connotations, or a secondary emotional meaning, are the clues in word choice for identifying someone's point of view.

Adjectives will clearly indicate a preference because they can often be categorized as positive (like interested) or negative (like nosy) descriptive words. The neutral synonym curious could be viewed as either positive or negative.

Adverbs are often adjectives with the -ly added to change the part of speech, so the same pattern can be seen with these. For example, uniquely implies a one of a kind positive difference, while peculiarly has a meaning of an undesirable or strange difference.

Verbs also often have connotations. For example, the word use is neutral in meaning, while the synonym employ has a positive connotation and exploit has a negative one. 

Even a noun can have a connotation. A comical example of this would be how a fairytale story could take place in a cottage in the forest, but a cabin the woods could be the setting of a horror movie. More subtle differences would be like the use of house instead of home because home has a secondary meaning of belonging and comfort. 

Grammatical Structures

Transition words and phrases are also signals for someone's point of view. If you hear the use of on the other hand or although, you might begin to notice that speaker disagrees with a certain position on the topic. Comparative structures like more than or less than can also indicate preference. 

Details & Examples

Listen for where the speaker spends the most effort supporting an idea with details and examples. As we practice in speaking, a well-organized speaker will support the main idea and purpose by using the details and examples. Since the purpose and point of view are directly connected, using your organizational understanding will also help you recognize what the speaker believes is most important.

Additionally, it is good to listen for signals of facts and opinions. Facts are typically stated in the simple present as something that is universally agreed upon. An opinion will have linguistic hedging like I believe that or many people think that distinguish them as a perspective on a topic. Notice what the speaker relies on most heavily: fact or opinion. Notice if the speaker is giving multiple perspectives on the topic, or if the topic is presented in a one-sided point of view. 

Intonation & Stress

The instruction in the Prosody: Stress & Intonation Review talks about a lot of the features of intonation. As stated in that lesson, a speaker doing the opposite pattern indicates different information. A person who states a wh information question with the rising intonation of a yes no question is signaling emotion. A question with statement intonation may be a sign of a rhetorical question meaning the speaker does not expect or want an answer. Rising intonation can express strong emotions, either positive or negative. All of this information in addition to the actual words said can help you recognize the speaker's bias. As far as stress goes, we emphasize the words we think are most important for the listener to focus on.

In addition to those general ideas of intonation and stress, you may hear examples of sarcasm. Sarcasm is when someone says one thing, but means the opposite. The speaker will use a different pattern of intonation and stress that you would expect based on the actual words. For example, a sincere "That was interesting!" would sound higher than a sarcastic "Well, that was interesting." If sarcasm is a difficult thing for you to notice when listening, American comedy tv shows are full of examples and would be a good place to practice listening for unexpected intonation and stress pattern clues.