CLEANING UP FLUFF





You can clean up your language and get over a lot of precision by using the
Meta-Model of Language and the Representational Model (#13).  These
precision models inform you how to become more precise and specific in the
way you think and then talk.  Now within the Meta-Model is a particular
distinction that's especially critical-nominalizations and the skill of
de-nominalizing.



This is actually a subject that I speak and write about a lot.  And even
though I do, I find that most of us, including myself, can so easily get
seduced by the hypnotic power of nominalizations.  And if you really don't
know how to recognize these great big fluffy words (a nominalization) and
deal with it, your language is going to be sloppy- very sloppy.  And that
means you will not be precise in communicating even though you probably will
think you are.  That's one of the seductions of nominalizations.  The
speaker has details in mind when speaking, but the language form does not
convey them.  So the speaker will feel as if he or she is being precise even
though what comes out of the mouth is vague, indefinite, and fluffy.



So, what is a nominalization?  A nominalization refers to an action or a
process which has been named, or nominalized.  The problem is that when we
give a name to an action, it tricks our mind.  The "name" (noun) makes the
action sound like and seem like as if it were a thing.

One person relating to another person is doing something: talking,
requesting, kissing, holding, hitting, smiling, laughing, crying, helping,
listening, etc.  By relating they now have a relationship.  Sounds like a
thing.  It is not.

When you think and value yourself as valuable as a person, you esteem
yourself as significant.  When you name this action, you create the
nominalization, self-esteem.  It sounds like a thing.  It is not.

When a person is leading a group with a vision, he or she is said to have
leadership qualities.



Prior to Transformational Grammar which came up with the term,
"nominalization," Abraham Maslow called this process- reification.  Others
have called it thingification.  Nominalizing is the concretizing of a
dynamic moving process (which is best described by verbs) as if it is a noun
("a person, place, or thing").  Yet it is not.



As a result of this, it makes the nominalization false-to-fact.  What the
nominalization presents is not just an over-generalization, not just a idea
that's very fluffy and vague.  The nominalization is actually a lie, a
deception.  The so-called thing is not a "thing" at all!

"My self-esteem these days is really because of the problems in my
relationship which makes me feel stressed-out and it's going to lead to a
depression."



All of the italicized words in the above sentence are nominalizations and
they are connected by fallacious cause-effect structures (indicated by the
words "because" and "going to lead").  Here is one single sentence and it is
full of fluff and vagueness.  The person's languaging here is really sloppy.
And the person probably doesn't have a clue as to how this single sentence
is semantically loaded with toxic ideas and how it works as a post-hypnotic
suggestion to make life more and more miserable in the future.



If you want to create imprecision, just take some action words, nominalize
them, connect them to some cause-effect statements and you can semantically
pack a sentence so that it is full of abstract concepts.  What you say will
seem meaningful to you.  And I'm sure you are trying to communicate
something.  But when you do that you will not be communicating with
precision and so those of us listening will typically experience confusion
... or we will hallucinate our own meanings onto the other's words.



Okay, now for cleaning up our language.  The solution is simple:
de-nominalize the nominalizations.  That is, turn the false-nouns back into
verbs and then specify the verbs.  If you hear "relationship," ask "Who's
relating to whom?"  "What is X doing in relating to Y?"  If you hear the
nominalization "self-esteem," ask "How are you esteeming yourself?  By what
criteria?  In what way?"



Now to turn a false noun back into a verb, you first have to be able to
recognize a false noun or nominalization.  When I first learned NLP, I was
introduced to two tests for a nominalization:

1) The Wheelbarrow Test.  Can you put the nominalization in a wheelbarrow?
Can you put "relationship" in a wheelbarrow?  No.  Can you put "self-esteem"
in a wheelbarrow?  No.

2) The Ongoing Test.  If you say, "it is an ongoing ..." and fill in the
blank with the word, does it make sense?  "An ongoing relationship..."  Yes,
makes sense.

3) Here's another test: See if you can make a picture of the word.  You can
make pictures of real nouns of "persons, places, and things."  It doesn't
work with a false noun.  Can see a "relationship" or "motivation."  So ask
some more questions until you can see what they are talking about.



Nominalizations have their place especially in doing trance inductions, but
not for communicating with clarity and precision.  Use them sparingly, if
you use them too much your language will be fluffy and sloppy.  That's why
we need to clean up our language of them.











Neuro-Semantic News

.        It  has been over 3 years since Meta-Coaching occurred in the
United States .  and it may be another 3 years.  So this year --- July 1-3
and July 4-11 for Modules II and III is a special event.   Register now and
get a big savings.  Write for a brochure: meta@acsol.net









L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

                Neuro-Semantics Executive Director

                Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                            

                1 970-523-7877

                Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta@acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta@acsol.net


    

   

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Self-Actualization: Neuro-Semantics launched the New Human Potential
Movement in 2007, for information about this, see
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org 



NSP --- Neuro-Semantic Publications: Order books from Neuro-Semantic
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