Deck 3: C: Communication and Culture

Question 1

What is an example of jargon that you use at work or that you have encountered when communicating with a professional in some field?

Answer 1

Examples will vary but should represent technical language that would not be known to the general public (or the meaning would be unclear to people outside that professional group).

Question 2

Grammar is made up of ____________ that dictate how words should be pronounced and ___________ that dictate the placement of words in sentences.

Answer 2

phonological rules; syntactic rules

Question 3

Define the process of code switching.

Answer 3

Code switching (and style switching) is a type of accommodation in which the communicator changes his or her regular language and slang, as well as his or her tonality, pitch, rhythm, and inflection, to fit into a particular group.

Question 4

What do we mean when we say that competent communicators use language that meets a standard of civility, and how does that differ from rude or profane language?

Question 5

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Question 6

In your own words, what is the difference between semantics and pragmatics?

Question 7

Define the difference between denotative and connotative meaning.

Question 8

What is the difference between hatespeech and hurtful language?

Question 9

Contrast the difference between slang and jargon.

Question 10

Define and provide an example of politically correct language.

Question 11

Imagine that you are a woman who is being hit on by a man you do not find attractive. Provide an example of a resistance message that adheres to the feminine preferences discussed in the text.

Question 12

Provide a brief example to illustrate how we use the ritualizing function of language.

Question 13

Provide an example each of a context in which high language would be appropriate and a context in which low language would be an appropriate choice.

Question 14

Give an example of a tag question.
Answer Key

Question 15

Briefly describe the meaning of the abstraction ladder. What is the difference between words at the top of the ladder as compared to the ones on the lower rungs?

Question 16

Provide an example of a euphemism.