Chapter 4 Flashcards
Abstract Language
Langauge that lacks specificity or does not refer to observable behavior or other sensory data.
Abstraction Ladder
A range of more to less abstract terms describing an event or object.
Behavioral Description
An account that refers only to observable phenomena.
Convergence
Accommodating one’s speaking style to another person, who usually is desirable or has higher status.
Divergence
A linguistic strategy in which speakers emphasize differences between their communicative style and others’ in order to create distance.
Emotive Language
Language that conveys the sender’s attitude rather than simply offering an objective description.
Equivocal Language
Language with more than one likely interpretation.
Equivocal Words
Words that have more than one dictionary definition.
Equivocation
A vague statement that can be interpreted in more than one way.
Euphemism
A pleasant-sounding term used in place of a more direct but less pleasant one.
Factual Statement
A statement that can be verified as being true or false.
High-Context Culture
A culture that avoids direct use of language to express information, especially about relational matters.
Inferential Statement
Conclusion arrived at from an interpretation of evidence.
Jargon
The specialized vocabulary that is used as a kind of shorthand by people with common backgrounds and experience.
Language
A collection of symbols, governed by rules and used to convey messages between individuals.
Linguistic Intergroup Bias
The tendency to label people and behaviors in terms that reflect their in-group or out-group status.
Linguistic Relativism
A moderate form of linguistic determinism that argues that language exerts a strong influence on the perceptions of the people who speak it.
Low-Context Culture
A culture that relies heavily on language to make messages, especially of a relational nature, explicit.
Opinion Statement
A statement based on the speaker’s beliefs.
Phonological Rules
Linguistic rules governing how sounds are combined to form rules.
Pragmatic Rules
Rules that govern how people use language in everyday interaction.
Relative Words
Words that gain their meaning by comparison.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Theory that the structure of a language shapes the worldview of its users.
Semantic Rules
Rules that govern the meaning of language opposed to its structure.
Sex Role
The social orientation that governs behaviors, in contract to a person’s biological gender.
Slang
Language used by a group of people whose members belong to a similar coculture or other group.
Symbols
Arbitrary constructions that represent a communicator’s thoughts.
Syntactic Rules
Rules that govern the ways in which symbols can be arranged as opposed to the meanings of those symbols.
