Chapter 6

Question 1

Euphemisms

Answer 1

“to use words of good omen”; pleasant terms substituted for blunt ones.
Eg. “He passed on” or “they are sleeping together

Question 2

phonological Rules:

Answer 2

govern how sounds are combined to form words.

Question 3

Syntatic Rules

Answer 3

govern the way symbols can be arranged.
govern the meaning of the symbols; they reflect the ways in which users of a language make sense of a particular linguistic symbol

Question 4

pragmatic rules

Answer 4

help decide what interpretation of a message is appropriate in a given context

Question 5

convergence

Answer 5

process of adapting one’s speech style to match that of others

Question 6

divergence

Answer 6

process of emphasizing differences from others

Question 7

powerless speech mannerisms

Answer 7

statements that can make a person appear more socially attractive or less authoritative

Question 8

Equivocation

Answer 8

Equivocal language consists of words that have more than one commonly accepted definition

Question 9

Abstraction

Answer 9

Convenient ways of generalizing about similarities between several objects, people, ideas, or events

Question 10

abstraction ladder

Answer 10

shows how to describe the same phenomenon at various levels of abstraction

Question 11

relative language

Answer 11

words that gain their meaning by comparision.

Question 12

Static Evolution

Answer 12

statements that contain or imply the word “is” lead to the mistaken assumption that people are consistent and unchanging.

Question 13

“it” statements

Answer 13

replace the personal pronoun “I” with the less immediate word “it”

Question 14

“I” language

Answer 14

clearly identifies the speaker as the source of the message

Question 15

“but” language

Answer 15

strategy for wrapping the speaker’s real but unpleasant message between more palatable ideas

Question 16

” I” language ( responsibility)

Answer 16

a way of accepting responsibility for a message

Question 17

” you” language ( responsibility)

Answer 17

expresses a judgement of another person

Question 18

we statements

Answer 18

• imply that the issue is the concern and responsibility of both the speaker and receiver of a message

Question 19

fact opinion confusion

Answer 19

in everyday conversation, we often present our opinions as if they were facts, and in doing so we invite argument

Question 20

fact inference confusion

Answer 20

Confusion of factual and inferential statements – conclusions drawn from an interpretation of evidence; use perception checking instead

Question 21

emotive language

Answer 21

• seems to describe something, but really announces the speaker’s attitude

Question 22

low context cultures

Answer 22

generally value using language primarily to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas logically.

Question 23

high content cultures

Answer 23

• value using language as a way to maintain social harmony

Question 24

linguistic determinism

Answer 24

is the idea that language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought, as well as thought processes such as categorization, memory, and perception. The term implies that people of different languages have different thought process

Question 25

linguistic relativsm

Answer 25

–holds that the structure of a language affects its speakers’ world view or cognition. Popularly known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis,