Public Speaking Ch. 5 Vocabulary

abstract

Removed from concrete reality. Symbols are inferences and generalizations derived from a total reality.

ambiguous

Subject to more than one interpretation. Their meanings vary from person to person and context to context.

arbitrary

Random; not determined by necessity. Symbols are arbitrary because there is no particular reason for any one symbol to stand for a certain referent.

communication rules

Shared understandings of what communication means and what behaviors are appropriate in various situations.

constitutive rules

Communication rules that define what communication means by specifying how certain communicative acts are to be counted.

dual perspective

The ability to understand another person’s perspective, beliefs, thoughts, or feelings.

hypothetical thought

Cognitive awareness of experiences and ideas that are not part of the concrete, present situation.

indexing

A technique of noting that statements reflect specific times and circumstances and may not apply to other times or circumstances.

loaded language

An extreme form of evaluative language that relies on words that strongly slant perceptions and hence meanings.

marginalization

A condition and process preventing individuals and groups from equal participation in wider society, including social, economic, and political life.

punctuation

Defining the beginning and ending of interaction or interaction episodes.

regulative rules

Communication rules that regulate interaction by specifying when, how, where, and with whom to talk about certain things.

static evaluation

Assessments that suggest something is unchanging. “Bob is impatient”

totalizing

Responding to people as if one aspect of them were the sum total of who they are.