Topic 3: Verbal Communication Flashcards
A collection of symbols, letters, or words with arbitrary meanings that are governed by rules and used to communicate.
Language
The process of assigning meaning to others’ words in order to translate them into thoughts of your own.
Decode
The study of the way humans use language to evoke meaning in others. Focuses on individual words and their meaning.
Semantics
The way in which words are arranged to form phrases and sentences.
Syntax
The process of translating your thoughts into words.
Encode
The study of language as it is used in a social context, including its effect on the communicators.
Pragmatics
Communication that is used to establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas.
Phatic Communication
The socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, attitudes, and values of a particular period, class, community, or population.
Culture
A theory that our perception of reality is determined by our thought processes and our thought processes are limited by our language and, therefore, that language shapes our reality.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
The agreed-upon meaning or dictionary meaning of a word.
Denotative Meaning
An individualized or personalized meaning of a word, which may be emotionally laden. Meanings others have come to hold because of personal or individual experience.
Connotative Meaning
Words and phrases used informally.
Colloquialisms
An expression that has lost originality and force through overuse.
Cliche
A more polite, pleasant expression used instead of a socially unacceptable form.
Euphemism
Any language that is purposefully constructed to disguise its actual meaning.
Doublespeak
A specialized language of a group of people who share a common interest or belong to a similar co-culture.
Slang
Language that is disrespectful of things sacred.
Profanity
The technical language developed by a professional group.
Jargon
Words and phrases specific to a particular region or part of the country.
Regionalisms
Language that excludes individuals on the basis of gender.
Sexist Language
Language that insults a group because of its skin color or ethnicity.
Racist Language
Language that implies that everyone is heterosexual.
Heterosexist Language
Language that describes and denigrates people on the basis of their age.
Ageist Language
The practice of describing observed behavior or phenomena instead of offering personal reactions or judgments.
Descriptiveness
Restating another person’s message by rephrasing the content or intent of the message.
Paraphrasing
A definition that identifies something by revealing how it works, how it is made, or what it consists of.
Operational Definition
Words and statements that are specific rather than abstract or vague.
Concrete Language
Specifying when you made an observation, since everything changes over time.
Dating
An assessment of a concept that does not change over time.
Frozen Evaluation
Identifying the uniqueness of objects, events, and people. Recognizing the differences among the various members of a group.
Indexing
______ is the opposite of indexing.
Stereotyping
_______ are descriptions of what is sensed; _______ are conclusions drawn from observations.
Observations; inferences
The ability of individuals and systems to respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, and religions in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each.
Culture Competence
Which of the following is not a characteristic of language?
a. classifies reality
b. organizes reality
c. is intertwined with culture
d. is concrete
d. is concrete
Because messages can vary depending on the situation, it is important to examine the context of the communication. That is called:
a. syntax
b. pragmatics
c. semantics
d. encoding
b. pragmatics
Which statement reflects the relationship between language and culture?
a. Language does not progress in response to the needs of the culture, but culture does progress in response to language.
b. Language is a minor way that we learn about our culture.
c. Culture creates a lens through which we perceive the world and create shared meaning.
d. Language and culture are not related.
c. Culture creates a lens through which we perceive the world and create shared meaning.
When doctors communicate with technical language, they are using:
a. profanity
b. euphemisms
c. doublespeak
d. jargon
d. jargon
One way to improve language skills is to restate the other person’s message by rephrasing the content of the message, a process called
a. defining your terms
b. paraphrasing
c. using concrete language
d. dating
b. paraphrasing
A word’s dictionary definition is its _____________ meaning, and an individualized or personalized definition is its __________ meaning.
a. denotative; connotative
b. denotative; abstract
c. connotative; denotative
d. concrete; connotative
a. denotative; connotative
Communication may be helped or hindered when
a. proper grammar is used
b. language is used in unique or unusual ways
c. cliches are avoided
d. sexist or ageist language is utilized
b. language is used in unique or unusual ways
Dating, or specifying when you made an observation, is important because
a. you always view objects, people, or situations as remaining the same
b. situations do not change over time
c. you are saying that something is always or universally a certain way
d. you clarify that your perception was based on a particular experience in a specific context
d. you clarify that your perception was based on a particular experience in a specific context
Which of the following terms refers to disrespectful language?
a. profanity
b. jargon
c. cliches
d. colloquialisms
a. profanity
When you describe observed behavior instead of offering personal reactions, you are
a. avoiding intentional confusion
b. being concrete
c. using descriptiveness
d. demonstrating cultural competence
c. using descriptiveness
___________ is a sign that has a specific meaning or that represents something else.
Symbol
__________ are the emotional meaning or secondary associations of words.
Connotations
What a word indicates or signifies is called its __________.
Meaning
__________ are the descriptive, dictionary definitions of words or their primary meanings.
Denotations
Speech that is not adapted to the receiver.
Egocentric speech
Putting thoughts, ideas, or feelings into words.
Encoding
Speech in which the sender and receiver interact to share meaning.
Sociocentric speech
The content of communication devoted to words.
Verbal message
Mutual action that affects both the sender and the receiver.
Interaction
Nonstandard language of a culture or sub-culture.
Slang
__________ is the language we use when we talk with ourselves.
Self-talk
The view that our world is shaped by our language is called the __________.
Sapir-Whorf Hypotheses
When a message is without words, we say it is __________.
Nonverbal
__________ can help use language in a more constructive way.
Reframing
Events or situations that occur because we expect them to are called __________.
Self-fulfilling prophecies
A formal system of symbols with agreed-upon meanings among speakers.
Language
The content of communication devoted to words.
Verbal message
A sign that has a specific meaning or that represents something else.
Symbol
The significance of an idea or a feeling we are trying to communicate.
Meaning
The descriptive, dictionary definition of a word or its primary meaning.
Denotation
The emotional meaning or the secondary association triggered in most people by a word.
Connotation
Capable of being understood in more than one way.
Ambiguous
Putting thoughts, ideas, or feelings into words.
Encoding
Translating messages to determine their meaning.
Decoding
Speech in which the sender does not adapt the language to the receiver.
Egocentric speech
Speech in which the sender and receiver interact to share meaning.
Sociocentric speech
Mutual action that affects both the sender and the receiver.
Interaction
The meaning in a message that is separate from the words.
Metamessage
When we say that “words are arbitrary,” we mean that words have a meaning in and of themselves, a meaning that is the same for everyone using that language.
True/False
False
Denotative meaning refers to the individualized, personalized meaning that we give to a word.
True/False
False
Dating is a term in general semantics that means communication is improved if you always specify how your observation was made.
True/False
True
Paraphrasing is the repetition of a message in the same words.
True/False
False
Connotative meaning refers to the individualized, personalized meaning that we give to a word.
True/False
True
Encoding means assigning meanings of words into thoughts of our own.
True/False
False
Syntax refers to the rules by which we arrange words.
True/False
True
Semantics is the science of meaning in language.
True/False
True
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that our perception of reality is shaped by our language.
True/False
True
When a professor says that in order to avoid being counted absent you must come to scheduled classes, come to class before the bell, stay the entire class period, and leave only when dismissed, she is using operational definition. True/False
True
When we say that “the word is not the thing” we mean that the word is an abstraction, a simplification, a symbol of that for which it stands.
True/False
True
To say that “fraternity buys are rich” is a violation of the general semanticist’s notion of indexing.
True/False
True
When you say that you need “to use the rest room” instead of saying,” I have to do to the toilet”, you are using slang.
True/False
False
