Quarter 4 Terminology

1 Intuition
The power of attaining knowledge or understand without evident rational thought and drawing conclusions from available evidence.

2 Denotation
The literal meaning of a word

3 Connotation
The idea or feeling that the word invokes for a person in addition to its literal meaning.

4 Euphemism
A mild or indirect word or expression for one too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

5 Persuasion
A means of persuading someone to do or believe something; an argument or inducement.

6 Vagueness
Poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning.

7 Ambiguity
Words have many different meanings; uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language.

8 Secondary meaning
The alternate meaning of a word, one that is as commonly used.

9 Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

10 Sarcasm
The use of irony to mock or convey contempt. It allows more meaning and is difficult to interpret.

11 Irony
Saying one thing but meaning but opposite; the expression of one's meaning of using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

12 Three theories of meaning
(a) Definition theory
The easiest way to resolve the question about a meaning is to look it up in a dictionary
(b) Denotation theory
What distinguishes a meaningful word from a meaningless one is that the former stands for something while the latter does not.
(c) Image theory
The meaning of a word is the mental image it stands for, and you know the meaning of the word when you have the appropriate concept of it in your mind.

13 Sapir-Whorf Theory
What language we speak changes the way we experience; what we know is determined by what language we speak. We can only what our language allows us to see, and thought and language are interconnected.

14 Emotive meaning
Words chosen for emotional appeal. For example, genetically modified food vs. Franken food, terrorists vs. liberators, prochoice vs. baby killer.

15 Weasel words
Words that are not false but do not give a clear picture of what they represent. For example, the advertisement of a toothpaste state that it helps to fight tooth decay but the consumers don't know to what extent the toothpaste can help.

16 Passive voice
It removes the sense of responsibility. For example, "Mrs. Jackson is hit by the car". It helps to separate the readers from the person who did the action and person who received the action.

17 Revealing/concealing
Selective language in which the speakers pick and choose things to talk about.

18 Propaganda
Information, especially of biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Sometimes it dehumanizes people. For example, gooks, jabs, etc.

19 Problems of translation
(a) Double meanings
A figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways.
(b) Context
The parts of something written or spoken that immediately precede and follow a word or passage and clarity its meaning
(c) Untranslatable words
Words that exist only in one language and not the other.

20 Idioms/Slang
A form of expression natural to a language, person, or group of people.

21 Three rules of translation
(a) Faithfulness
The loyalty of the translation to its original language
(b) Comprehensibility
The quality of clarity
(c) Back translation
If the translation is translated back to its original language and still able to convey the same message.

22 Language is
(a) Rule-governed
The rules of language include grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.
(b) Intended
Language makes a statement about something.
(c) Creative/open-minded
Language does not stay the same over time. Because of the frequency of use, it develops. For example, "Google" has now become a noun and a verb.

23 Naming
Names identify who we are and sometimes contain the expectations of our parents.

24 Profanity/Swearing
Obscene language. According to Bill Bryson's article, some cultures don't have swear words and most languages now apply euphemism in some measure.