Language and Language Use

This flashcard set covers key vocabulary and concepts related to language use and its implications on human social behavior, as discussed in the lecture notes.

Common Ground

The set of knowledge shared by the speaker and listener in a conversation.

Audience Design

Constructing utterances to suit the audience’s knowledge.

Language Use

The way humans utilize language for communication, shaping social interactions.

Priming

A stimulus presented to a person reminds him or her about other ideas associated with the stimulus.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The hypothesis that the language that people use determines their thoughts.

Situation Model

A mental representation of an event, object, or situation constructed at the time of comprehending a linguistic description.

Linguistic Intergroup Bias

A tendency for people to characterize positive things about their ingroup using more abstract expressions.

Social Brain Hypothesis

The hypothesis that the human brain has evolved to maintain larger ingroups.

Lexicon

The collection of words and expressions used in a language.

Ingroup

The group to which a person belongs.

Outgroup

The group to which a person does not belong.

Discourse Analysis

The study of language use beyond the sentence level, examining how larger units of language function in communication.

Interpersonal Alignment

The process whereby participants in a conversation align their actions and language use with one another.

Therapeutic Effects of Language

The psychological benefits gained from discussing and verbalizing emotions and past experiences.

Child-Developed Language

Language that develops spontaneously among individuals with minimal input from adults, as seen in Nicaraguan Sign Language.

Dialect

A particular form of a language specific to a region or social group.

Elicited Imitation

A technique used in linguistic research whereby participants are asked to reproduce a phrase or sentence they heard.

Conversational Dynamics

The complex interactions that occur during a conversation, including turn-taking and the adjustments made by speakers.

Gossip Functionality

A way for humans to share information about social relationships and norms within a community.

Identity Construction Through Language

The process by which individuals establish their identities via their use of language.