Speech and Theater Arts Study Flashcards

A comprehensive collection of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, concepts, and frameworks in speech production, public speaking, rhetoric, oral interpretation, drama, and theater production from the review lecture notes.

Speech

The human act of producing articulated sounds to encode meaning.

Verbal (oral)

Spoken language; primary for face-to-face interaction

Written

Inscriptions and print enable permanence and complex organization

Nonverbal

Facial expression, gesture, posture, and eye-contact

Argumentation

Reasoned discourse aiming to persuade through logic and evidence.

Debate

Structured performance of argumentation in opposition. Develops logical reasoning, ethical persuasion, active listening, critical evaluation of sources, and respect for diversity of opinion.

Speeches for Special Occasion

Ceremonial forms designed for events (weddings, graduations, tributes, inaugurations, memorials) to honor individuals, celebrate milestones, or inspire while maintaining sincerity.

Paralinguistic/vocalics

Voice quality, prosody, and hesiations

Visual (multimodal)

Images, layout, slides, and body language; increasingly important in digital contexts.

Transmission Models (Shannon & Weaver):

Treat communication as sending a coded signal through a channel, with noise and possible distortion; useful for analyzing media and technical transmission.

SMCR / Berlo Model

Emphasizes the Source, Message, Channel, and Receiver, highlighting intervening variables (skills, attitudes, culture) that shape encoding and decoding.

Transactional Models

Stress simultaneous sending/receiving and continuous feedback loops in real-time interaction.

Model + Imitate

Play a short TED excerpt and have learners mark stress and intonation; then rehearse and present.

Context Swap

Provide a single sentence and ask students to rephrase it for different fields, tenors, and modes (e.g., text message vs. formal report).

Micro-Speeches

1-minute presentations with immediate numeric feedback to practice clarity, voice, and audience engagement.

Audience-Centeredness

Adapting style, register, and examples to listeners' knowledge, needs, and values.

Assessment and Training

Empirical work shows that frequent low-stakes presentations with targeted feedback (e.g., 1-minute talks, peer ratings) effectively build public-speaking skills.

Speeches for Special Occasion

Ceremonial forms designed for events (weddings, graduations, tributes, inaugurations, memorials) to honor individuals, celebrate milestones, or inspire while maintaining sincerity.

Prosody Drill

Students read a short paragraph with three different intentions (inform, persuade, console) and reflect on vocal changes.

Communication

The broader social process by which people exchange information, ideas, emotions, and intentions using language, paralinguistic signals, and nonverbal behavior.

Field

A contextual variable in communication specifying what is happening, including the subject matter or activity.

Tenor

A contextual variable in communication specifying who is taking part, including roles, relative status, and interpersonal relations among participants.

Mode

A contextual variable in communication specifying what role language performs, including the channel and genre.

Suprasegmentals (Prosody)

The melody and rhythm of speech, comprising stress, intonation (pitch contour), rhythm, tempo, loudness, pausing, and voice quality.

Enunciation

Articulation clarity that ensures segmental intelligibility in speech performance.

Conceptualization Stage

The idea-generation stage of speech production where a speaker forms an intention or communicative goal, involving message planning and preverbal message formulation.

Formulation Stage

The stage of speech production that converts a preverbal idea into a linguistic structure by activating Broca's area and employing grammatical and phonological encoding.

Grammatical Encoding

A process within the formulation stage involving lexical selection, syntactic structure organization, and morphological marker assignment.

Phonological Encoding

A process within the formulation stage involving translation of words into sound patterns, planning prosody, and retrieving phonetic representations from memory.

Articulation Stage

The motor execution phase where the brain's speech plan is sent to physical speech organs, coordinated by the motor cortex and cerebellum.

Respiratory System

The physiological system involving the lungs, diaphragm, and trachea that provides airflow and breath support for speech and controls loudness and length.

Phonatory System

The physiological system involving the larynx, vocal cords, and glottis that converts airflow into sound waves via vocal fold vibration.

Articulatory System

The physiological system involving the tongue, lips, teeth, and palate that shapes sound into speech by modifying airflow.

Resonatory System

The physiological system involving the nasal cavity, oral cavity, and pharynx that amplifies and filters sound, giving each voice its unique timbre.

Invention (Inventio)

The first canon of rhetoric, concerning the discovery and generation of ideas, arguments, points, evidence, and persuasive appeals (ethos, logos, pathos).

Arrangement (Dispositio)

The canon of rhetoric dealing with organizing material into a coherent structure consisting of introduction, statement of facts, division, proof, refutation, conclusion, and transitions.

Style (Elocutio)

The canon of rhetoric referring to the choice of language, diction, figures of speech, sentence structure, rhythm, and imagery to shape tone and voice.

Memory (Memoria)

The canon of rhetoric involving internalizing the content and structure of a speech to enable natural, confident, and adaptable delivery.

Delivery (Pronuntiatio)

The final canon of rhetoric focusing on physical performance, including vocal modulation, articulation, pausing, gesture, posture, eye contact, and spatial movement.

Impromptu Speaking

Delivering a speech spontaneously with little to no preparation, highlighting cognitive agility and composure.

Extemporaneous Speaking

A public speaking mode combining structure with flexibility by using brief notes or outlines rather than a full manuscript.

Memorized Speaking

The delivery of a fully rehearsed speech from memory without reading from notes or text.

Manuscript Speaking

The delivery of a pre-written speech read verbatim from a text, standard in formal, diplomatic, or broadcast settings.

Argumentation

Reasoned discourse that aims to persuade through logic and evidence.

Debate

The structured performance of argumentation conducted in opposition.

Oral Interpretation

The expressive vocal performance of literary texts intended to reveal meaning, emotion, and rhythm through voice rather than full dramatization.

Declamation

The memorized reenactment of a historically or rhetorically significant speech, performed with passion, understanding, and persuasive intensity while avoiding histrionics.

Internal Monologue

A character's inner thoughts, emotions, and reflections presented directly without being spoken aloud; also known as interior monologue or stream of consciousness.

External Monologue

A spoken address directed outward to another character or an audience, revealing the speaker's opinions, intentions, or experiences.

Soliloquy

A form of internal monologue spoken aloud when a character is alone on stage to reveal inner thoughts, fears, and desires directly to the audience.

Creative Drama

Improvised, process-oriented activities emphasizing spontaneous expression, exploration, and collaboration over formal performance.

Role Playing

A technique where participants assume characters or social roles to explore real-life situations, decisions, or perspectives in a safe setting.

Improvisation

Unscripted performance where actors spontaneously create dialogue and action around a central theme or situation.

Pantomime

A performance style that conveys meaning through gesture, movement, and facial expression without spoken language.

Proscenium Theater

A traditional theater arrangement featuring a framed stage ('picture frame') separating performers from the audience, emphasizing illusion and visual spectacle.

Thrust Stage

A stage setup that extends into the audience on three sides, promoting actor-audience intimacy and multi-angle viewing.

Arena Theater

A theater configuration in which the audience completely surrounds the stage, requiring flexible 360-degree blocking and minimal scenery.

Black Box Theater

A flexible, minimalist performance space allowing experimental staging and variable audience seating arrangements.

Environmental Theater

Performances staged in non-traditional spaces such as parks, streets, or museums to immerse the audience in context.

Playwriting

The art of crafting scripts for performance, combining narrative structure, dialogue, character development, and dramatic tension.

Dramaturgy

The interpretive bridge between text and performance, providing historical research, thematic analysis, and contextual interpretation to support production coherence.

Scene Design

The practice of creating the visual environment of a performance, including its spatial composition, mood, and symbolism.

Stanislavski's System

An acting methodology developed by Konstantin Stanislavski focusing on psychological realism, emotional truth, objectives, and the 'Magic If'.

Theatre of the Oppressed

A theatrical framework created by Augusto Boal in 1970s Brazil that transforms passive spectators into 'spect-actors' to promote social change and empowerment.

Theatre of Poverty (Poor Theatre)

Jerzy Grotowski's 1960s Polish theatrical approach that strips away sets, costumes, and technology to focus entirely on the spiritual discipline and physical relationship between actor and audience.

Epic Theatre

A theater form developed by Bertolt Brecht in 1920s-30s Germany aiming to provoke critical social awareness rather than emotional immersion.

Verfremdungseffekt (Alienation Effect)

Brechtian techniques—such as direct address, visible stage changes, and songs—designed to remind the audience that the theatrical performance is a constructed reality.

Gestus

A combination of gesture and social attitude in Brechtian theater that reveals a character's political or class position.

Method Acting

An acting approach developed by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner emphasizing psychological immersion and emotional authenticity.

Affective Memory

A technique in Method Acting where actors relive emotional experiences from their personal lives to evoke genuine feeling on stage.

Sense Memory

A technique in Method Acting where actors recreate physical sensory details (smells, sounds, textures) to deepen psychological realism.

Theatre of Cruelty

Antonin Artaud's theatrical vision aiming to shock audiences out of complacency through sensory, visceral experience, movement, light, sound, and symbolic violence.

Direction

The creative leadership that unifies all artistic elements of a production—text, performance, design, and technical aspects—into a coherent whole.

Production

The organizational and logistical framework of a stage play, encompassing budgeting, scheduling, marketing, and stage management.