Chapter 4- SCOM PDF

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SCOM Chapter 4 Study Guide and notes...

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SCOM 121, 122, 123 Chap 4 Language: - Language: a structural system of symbols for communication meaning. - Grammar: the set of rules that specify how the units of language can be meaningfully combined. - Phonemes: individual units of sound that compose a specific spoken language. - Phonology: a part of grammar that describes the patterns of sound in a language. - Morpheme: the smallest unit of meaning in language. - Free morpheme: stand-alone word - Bound morpheme: a unit of meaning - Syntax:  rules that govern combining words into phrases and phrases into sentences. - Semantics: the set of rules that governs the meaning of words and sentences. - Symbols: arbitrary representations of objects, events, ideas, or relationships. - Referents: are the objects, events, or ideas referred to by words. - Lexicon: the total vocabulary - Productivity: the capacity of language to transform a small number of phonemes into whatever words, phrases, and sentences that you require to communicate your thoughts and feelings. - Displacement: the ability to use language to talk about objects, ideas, events, and relations that don’t just exist in the physical here and now (fairies, unicorns). - Self-reflexive: the ability to use language to communicate about language. Abstracting Process: - Abstracting: the process whereby we formulate increasingly vague, general conceptions of our world by leaving out details associated with objects, events, and ideas. - Inferences: conclusions about the unknown based on the known. - Descriptions: verbal reports that sketch what you perceive from your senses. - Judgments: subjective evaluations of objects, events, or ideas. The Power of Language: - Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - Linguistic determinism:  we are prisoners of our native language, unable to think certain thoughts or perceive in certain ways because of the grammatical structure and lexicon of our language. - Linguistic relativity: the grammar and lexicon of our native language powerfully influence, but do not imprison our thinking and perception. - Masculine-generic gender references: using words such as man, mankind, he, him, businessman, chairman. - Example: “A doctor should treat his patients compassionately.” - Gender-based language makes women virtually invisible and brands them as less powerful and less important.

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Label: a name or a descriptive word or phrase, and it can powerfully influence perceptions. - Labels can influence perception of smell and behavior. - Framing: the influence wording has on our perception of choices. - Framing more specifically than just labels, narrows our perceptions. Competent Language Use - Signal reaction: an automatic, unthinking, emotional response to a symbol. - Connotation: a personal meaning. It is the volatile, individual, subjective meaning of a word. - Connotations can have three dimensions: evaluations (good/bad), potency (strong/weak), and activity (active/ passive). - Denotation: shared meaning. It is the objective meaning of words commonly agreed to by members of a speech community and usually found in a dictionary. - Semantic reaction: a delayed, thoughtful response that seeks to decipher the user’s intended meaning of a word, thus, short-circuiting a behavioral response to the hair-trigger emotional reaction. - False dichotomy: using either-or language to frame a choice as though only two opposing possibilities exist when at least a third option is available. Competence and Mislabeling: - Operational definition: grounds a label by specifying which measurable behaviors or experiences are subsumed under the label and which are ruled out. - Dead-level abstracting: refers to the practice of remaining stuck at one level of abstraction. - Example: George likes sports > George likes team sports > George likes contact team sports > George likes football. - Example: When politicians use “family values” and “patriotism”, voters cannot know what is precisely meant. - Inferential error: a mistaken conclusion that results from the assumption that inferences are factual descriptions of reality. - Jargon: verbal shorthand, every profession and group has its specialized language. - Euphemisms: a form of linguistic Novocain whereby word choices numb us to or camouflage unpleasant or offensive realities. - Slang: the highly informal words not in standard usage that are employed by a group with common interests....