Comm 291 Chapter 5 Review

Equivocal language

• govern the grammar of a language/ rules that govern ways symbols can be arranged

• consists of statements that have more than one commonly accepted definition, the deliberate use of words, signs or phrases that can be interpreted in more than one way in order to mislead someone.

• gains meaning by comparison

The ways in which users of a language assign meaning to a particular linguistic symbol, usually a word

• semantic rules

• syntactic rules

Relative words gain their meaning by comparison

• True

• False

What term illustrates that the same phenomenon can be described at various levels of specificity and abstraction / a range of more to less abstract terms describing an event or object

• convergence

• abstraction ladder

• relative words

These rules govern the grammar of a language and dictate how symbols can be arranged

• syntactic rules

• divergence

• relative words

Convergence is

• a statement that expresses or implies a judgement of the other person

• the ability to replace the personal pronoun "I" with the less immediate word "it" often reducing the speakers acceptance of responsibility for the statement

• the process of adapting one's speech style to match that of others

Language mannerisms that emphasize a communicator's differences from others / set yourself apart from others

• divergence

• linguistic relativism

• syntactic rules

"It" statements

• expresses or implies a judgement of the other person

• replace the personal pronoun "I" with the less immediate word "it" often reducing the speakers acceptance of responsibility for the statement

• implies that the issue is the concern and responsibility of both the speaker and receiver of a message

A statement that clearly identifies the speaker as the source of a message

• "You" language

• "we" language

• "I" language

A statement that expresses or implies a judgement of the other person

• "we" language

• "you" language

• "I" language