Exam 1 - Chapter 3

Question 0

Differentiate between connotative and denotative meanings and the relevance of that to our communication

Answer 0

Connotative - individualized or personalized meaning that may be emotionally laden
Denotative - agreed upon meaning or dictionary meaning

Question 1

Define language

Answer 1

Collection of symbols, letters, or words with arbitrary meaning that governed by rules and used to communicate

Question 2

How are semantics and syntax different?

Answer 2

Semantics - way humans use language to evoke meaning in others
Syntax- way in which words are arranged to form phrases and sentences

Question 3

How are language and culture connected?

Answer 3

(1) transmission of culture occurs through language (2) language develops in response to the needs of the culture

Question 4

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Answer 4

Our perception of reality is determined by our thought processes which are limited by our language and shape our reality

Question 5

Explain how language can be arbitrary or abstract

Answer 5

Words can convey a specific meaning or they can stand for ideas

Question 6

What can hinder our communication?

Answer 6

(1) grammatical errors (2) slang (3) clichés (4) euphemisms (5) profanity (6) jargon (7) regionalisms (8) sexist, racist, heterosexist, and ageist language

Question 7

What can aid our communication?

Answer 7

(1) descriptiveness (2) concreteness (3) differentiate between observations and inferences

Question 8

Differentiate between paraphrasing and perception checking

Answer 8

Paraphrasing - restating another’s message by rephrasing content
Perception checking - checking to ensure perception is the same

Question 9

Differentiate between dating and indexing

Answer 9

Dating - specifying when you made an observation

Indexing - identifying uniqueness of objects, events, and people