Chapter 3 Terms

Accents

Distinct styles of pronunciation

Adjacency Pairs

Related communication structures that come one after the other in an interaction

Affective Language

Language used to express a person’s feelings and create similar feelings in another person

Annoyance Swearing

Used to provide a sense of relief for people using it to manage stress and tension; a preferable alternative to physical aggression

Code Switching

Changes in accent, dialect, or language

Codes

Culturally agreed-upon and ever-changing systems of symbols that help us organize, understand, and generate meaning

Commissives

Utterances that communicate intent

Communication Accommodation Theory

A theory that explores how and why people modify their communication to fit situational, social, cultural, and relational contexts

Connotation

Definition based on an emotion- or experience-based association people have with a word

Contaminated Messages

Messages that include mixed or misleading expressions

Convergence

A person making their communication more like another person’s

Cultural Bias

Skewed, typically negative way of viewing or talking about a group

Denotation

Definitions that the language group as a whole accepts; or the dictionary definition of a word

Dialects

Versions of languages that have distinct words, grammar, and pronunciation

Displacement

Our ability to talk about events that are removed in space or time from a speaker and situation

Divergence

A person using communication to emphasize differences from a conversational partner

Esperanto

The most well-known and widely used auxiliary language, intended to serve as a common international language

Facts

Conclusions based on direct observation or group consensus

Grammar

Rules that govern how words are used to make phrases and sentences

Inference-Observation Confusion

Conclusions based on limited information about an observed or agreed-upon fact

Interferences

Conclusions based on thought or speculation, but not direct observation

Judgments

Expressions of approval or disapproval that are subjective and not verifiable

Language Acquisition

The process by which we learn to understand, produce, and use words to communicate within a given language group

Metaphor

An implicit comparison of two things that are alike and/or are not typically associated

Neologisms

Newly coined or used words

Partial Messages

Messages missing a relevant expression and, therefore, able to lead to misunderstanding and conflict

Personification

The attribution of human qualities or characteristics of other living things to nonhuman objects or abstract concepts

Simile

A direct comparison of two things using the words “like” or “as”

Slang

New or adapted words that are specific to a group, context, and/or time period

Social Swearing

Expressions used to create social bonds or for impression management

Supportive Messages

Messages communicated in an open, honest, and non-confrontational way

Symbol

Something that stands in for or represents something else

Triangle of Meaning

A model of communication that indicates the relationship among a thought, a symbol, and a referent, highlighting the indirect relationship between the symbol and the referent

Unsupportive Messages

A message that makes another respond defensively, which can lead to feelings of separation, actual separation, or dissolution of a relationship

Verbal Expressions

Spoken words that help us communicate our observations, thoughts, feelings, and needs

Whole Messages

All the relevant types of expressions needed to most effectively communicate in a given situation, including what you see, think, feel, and need