| A | B |
|---|
| Language | A system comprised of vocabulary and rules of grammer that allows us to engage in verbal comunication. |
| Verbal symbols | Words or vocabulary that make up language. |
| Grammar | The rules that dictate the structure of language. |
| Encoding | The process of putting thoughts and feelings into verbal symbols, nonverbal messages, or both. |
| Decoding | The process of developing thought based on hearing verbal symbols, observing nonverbal messages, or both. |
| Denotative meaning | The literal, conventional meaning of a verbal symbol that most people in a culture have agreed is the meaning of that symbol. |
| Connotative meaning | The meaning of a verbal symbol that is derived from our personal and subjective experience with that symbol. |
| Concrete | Able to be seen, smelled, tasted, touched, or heard. |
| Referant | The thing a verbal symbol represents. |
| Abstract | Not able to be seen, smelled, touched, or heard. |
| Framing theory | A theory arguing that when we compare two unlike things in a figure of speech, we are unconsciously influenced by this decision. |
| Process of abstraction | The ability to move up and down the ladder of abstraction from specific to general and vice versa. |
| Strategic ambiguity | Leaving out cues in a message on purpose to encourage multiple interpretations by others.. |
| Equivocation | A type of ambiguity that involves choosing our words carefully to give a listener a false impression without actually lying. |
| Euphemism | A milder or less direct word substituted for another word that is more blunt or negative. |
| Idiom | A word or phrase that has an understood meaning within a culture but whose meaning is not devied by exact translation. |
| Phatic communication | Communication consisting of words and phrases that are used for interpersonal contact only and are not meant to be translated verbatim. |
| Code switching | Shifting back and forth between anguages in the same conversation |
| Speech community | A group of people who share norms about how to speak; what words to use; and when, where, and why to speak. |
| Symbolic interactionism theory | The theory that our understanding of ourselves and of the world is shaped by our interactions with those around us. |
| Linguistic determinism | A theory arguing that our language determines our ability to perceive and think about things. If we don't have a word for something in our language, this theory predicts that we won't think about it or notice it. |
| Linguistic relativity | A theory stating that our language influences our thinking but doesn't determine it. Thus, if we don't have a word for something in our language, this theory predicts that it will be difficult, but not impossible, to think about it or notice it. |
| Sapir-Whorf hypothesis | A theory that points to connections among culture, language, and thought. In its strong form, this theory is known as linguistic determinism, and in its weak form, it is known as linguistic reltivity. |
| Codability | The ease with which a language can express a thought. |
| Two-culture theory | A theory asserting that sex operates in the same way as culture in establishing different rules, norms, and language patterns for men and women. |
| Static evaluation | The tendency to speak and respond to someone today the same way we did in the past, not recognizing that people and relationships change over time. |
| Polarization | The tendency to use "either-or" language and speak of the world in extremes. |
| Reification | The tendency to respond to words, or labels for things, as though they were the things themselves. |
| Lexical gaps | Experiences that are not named |
| Muted group theory | Theory that explains what happens to people whose experiences are not well represented in verbal symbols and who have trouble articulating their thoughts and feelings verbally because their language doesn't give them an adequate vocabulary. |
| Sexist language | Language that is demeaning to one sex |
| Generic he | The use of the masculine pronoun he to to function generically when the subject to the sentence is of unknown gender or includes both men and women. |
| Man-linked words | Words that include the word man but are supposed to operate generically to include women as well, such as mankind |
| Confirmation | A response that acknowledges and supports another |
| Disconfirmation | A respons that fails to acknowledge and support another leaving the personfeeling ignored or disregarded. |
| Perspective taking | Acknowledging the viewpointsof those with whom we interact. |
| Indexing | Avoiding generalizations by acknowledging the time frame in which we judge others and ourselves |
