Speech 10/14

Connotative Meaning

is the meaning you attach to a word based on your personal experiences and associations.

Kinesics

The study of body movement including gestures, hand, arm and leg movements, facial expressions, eye contact and stance or posture.

Cultural Patterns

refer to common themes through which different cultures can be understood. They consist of beliefs, values and norms shared among a group of people and remain stable over long periods of time.

Low-context Message

is one where the message is encoded in the words used or in the verbal expression and not as much in the context.

Masculinity-Femininity

refers to the degree to which a culture values such behaviors as assertiveness and the acquisition of wealth or caring for others and the quality of others.

Denotative Meaning

is the socially agreed conventional meaning found in a dictionary.

Ethnocentrism

is the notion that one's own culture is superior to any other.

Monochronic Time

time refers to linear time; is tangible and can be 'saved, spent, lost wasted,' etc. People from monochronic cultures tend to focus on one thing at a time.

High-context Message

The meaning of the message is implied by the physical setting or is presumed to be part of the culture's shared beliefs, values and norms.

Holistic Pattern

instead of directly and explicitly presenting key ideas, use examples and stories to convey the main idea and leave it to the audience to interpret the message encoded in the examples and stories told.

Paralanguage

refers to the vocal cues that accompany spoken language such as volume, rate and pitch.

Power Distance

refers to the degree to which the culture believes that institutional and organizational power should be distributed unequally and the decisions of the power holders should be challenged or accepted.

Individualism-Collectivism

refers to the degree to which a culture relies on and has allegiance to the self or the group.

Prejudice

refers to a negative attitude toward a cultural group, often based on little or no experience.

Polychronic Time

time refers to cyclical time. Time is less tangible and is seldom considered 'wasted'. People from polychronic cultures can often be involved in multiple activities at the same time, with no strict division among the different activities.

Spiral Pattern

A type of holistic pattern in which the speaker builds up dramatic intensity by moving from smaller and less intense scenarios to bigger and more intense scenarios, in an upward spiral.

Star Pattern

A type of holistic pattern, the star pattern presents a set of main points connected by an underlying common theme. For different audiences, speakers will start with different main points. However, all main points will be united by one theme.

Stereotype

A standardized conception or image of a group of people, a stereotype forces a simple pattern upon a complex mass and assigns a limited number of characteristics to all members of a group. Stereotypes are simple, acquired, often erroneous and resistant to change.

Triangle of Meaning

Refers to the symbolic, arbitrary nature of language wherein the word spoken or the symbol of the actual object in nature (the referent), has no actual connection to the object it represents. The symbol and the referent are connected only by the thought in one's mind.

Uncertainty Avoidance

refers to the extent to which the culture feels threatened by ambiguous, uncertain situations and tries to avoid them by establishing more structure

Wave Pattern

A type of holistic pattern that follows a crest-trough wave pattern where speakers use examples and stories to slowly build up to the main point at the crest of the wave

Alliteration

The repetition of the initial sounds of words.

Antithesis

Rhetorical strategy that uses contrasting statements in order to make a rhetorical point.

Clichés

Phrases or expressions that, because of overuse, have lost their rhetorical power.

Colloquialisms

Words or phrases used in informal speech but not typically used in formal speech.

Communication

Attempts to reproduce what is in our minds in the minds of our audience.

Generic "he" or "man"

Language that uses words such as "he" or "mankind" to refer to the male and female population.

Hedges

Powerless phrases such as "I thought we should," "I sort of think," or "Maybe we should" that communicate uncertainty.

Heterosexist Language

Language that assumes the heterosexual orientation of a person or group of people.

Hyperbole

The use of moderate exaggeration for effect.

Jargon

The specialized language of a group or profession.

Language

The means by which we communicate a system of symbols we use to form messages.

Man-linked Terms

Terms such as "fireman" or "policemen" that incorrectly identify a job as linked only to a male.

Metaphors

Comparisons made by speaking of one thing in terms of another.

Qualifiers

Powerless words such as "around" or "about" that make your sentences less definitive.

Regionalisms

Customary words or phrases used in different geographic regions.

Sexist Language

Language that unnecessarily identifies sex or linguistically erases females through the use of man-linked terms and/or the use of "he" or "man" as generics.

Similes

Comparisons made by speaking of one thing in terms of another using the word "like" or "as" to make the comparison.

Slang

Type of language that most people understand but that is not considered acceptable in formal or polite conversation.

Spotlighting

Language such as "male nurse" that suggests a person is deviating from the "normal" person who would do a particular job and implies that someone's sex is relevant to a particular job.

Tag Questions

Powerless language exemplified by ending statements with questions such as "Don't you think?" or "Don't you agree?"