Linguistics 21: Lecture 5: LANGUAGE, POWER, AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.

Linguistics 21:

Lecture 5: LANGUAGE, POWER, AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

What’s wrong with this?

1. No cruising on this street. 2. Headline: Need Plain Clothes Security: Must

have Shoplifting Experience3. Weather forecast: Cloudy with a chance of rain.4. Headline: Advice to Teachers and Parents on

Drugs5. He ate his cheesecake with relish.6. Sign: Dogs must be carried on escalator.

Precision:

• To communicate clearly

• To defend one’s claims without room for confusion or misinterpretation

• To assess the truth of premises presented to us in the arguments of others

Imprecise Language• Vague – Vague words have meanings that are fuzzy

and inexact, and thus have debatable applications.

• Overgeneral – Overgenerality occurs when language is too broad and unspecific.

• Ambiguous – Ambiguity involves words (‘semantic ambiguity’) or sentences (‘syntactic ambiguity’) that have two or more distinct meanings in a particular context.

Vague? Overgeneral? Ambiguous?

7. With her enormous bottom exposed to the sky, Ellen watched Titanic slowly sink.

8. Bob told Devlin he was hot.9. Headline: Former Concentration Camp Guard

Helps Burn Victims10. 3 + 5 x 3 = ?11. Headline: British Left Waffles on Falkland

Islands.12. She cannot bear children.

Vague? Overgeneral? Ambiguous?

13. Politician: We need a tax code that is fair to working families. I intend to introduce appropriate legislation that achieves this end.

13. Parent: Where are you going? Kid: Out. Parent: When will you be back? Kid: Later.

Vague? Overgeneral? Ambiguous?

13. Headline: Teacher Strikes Idle Kids14. Cricket rule: It is unfair for any member of

the fielding side to waste time.15. Headline: Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian

Takes Over16. Never withhold herpes infection from a

loved one.

DISPUTES

• Verbal dispute: occurs when people appear to disagree on an issue but actually have simply not resolved the ambiguity of a key term.

• Factual dispute: occurs when opponents disagree not over the meanings of words but over the relevant facts.

Verbal Dispute or Factual Dispute?

1. Tracy: Sue is really religious. She reads her Bible and prays every day. Mark: She isn’t religious, She never goes to church.2. Paul: This is a maple tree. I know because it’s just like the one in my backyard. Amy: Bull! Maple trees don’t have acorns!3. Mike: We better leave now. Coach said the game starts at 1:00. Linda: We have plenty of time. The game starts at 4:00.

Verbal Dispute or Factual Dispute?4. Prosecutor: The defendant was neither legally insane nor coerced when he shot Frank Smith, mistaking him for a porcupine. Thus, the defendant acted freely. Defense attorney: Your honor, my client shot Frank Smith accidentally, not intentionally. So my client did not act freely.5.Ben: Ty Cobb has the highest single-season batting average -- .420. Ned: Wrong as usual, sports fan. Rogers Hornsby hit .424 one year.

TYPES OF DEFINITIONS

• Stipulative Definition – definition that articulates what it is you mean–Buddy-dumped means dropped from a

person’s Facebook Friends List.• Persuasive Definition – definition meant to

persuade, often slanted– Tic-tac-toe means a mindless game for bored

children.

TYPES OF DEFINITIONS• Lexical Definition – definition of the way the term is

standardly used in the language.– Pastel means a color having a soft, subdued

shade.• Precising Definition – definition to make a vague

word more precise– Class participation means attending class,

listening attentively, asking and answering questions and participating in class discussions and activities.

NOTE: Most critical thinking contexts call for lexical definitions!

Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

1. Funky two-step means the funny dance Peppermint Patty does in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

2. Oar means a stout pole, widened and flattened at one end into a blade, used as a lever to propel a boat.

3. Philosopher means a deluded dreamer who spends his or her life attempting to answer questions that can’t be answered.

Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

4. Litter-butt means a person who throws lighted cigarette butts out car windows.

5. Affluent means, for purposes of this sociological study, having an annual family income of $250,000 or greater.

6. Labyrinth means an intricate structure of intercommunicating passages, through which it is difficult to find one’s way without a clue.

7. Democracy means rule by the ignorant masses.

Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

8. Circler means someone who spends an inordinate amount of time circling parking lots, looking for the closest possible parking place.

9. Chronically tardy means being late to class five or more times in any quarter or three or more times in any two-week period.

10. Garden means a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, vegetables, or herbs are cultivated.

Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

11. Intoxicated, for purposes of driving a car in this state, means having a blood alcohol ration of 0.08 or higher.

12. Chathead means a person who stays glued day and night to Internet chat rooms.

13. Indolent means having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; lazy; slothful.

14. Republican Party means a political organizaton of patriotic, civic-minded citizens dedicated to preserving the cherished freedoms of all Americans.

STRATEGIES FOR DEFINING• Ostensive Definitions

– Chair means that.• Enumerative Definitions

– River means the Mississippi, Thames, Nile, etc.• Definitions by Subclass

– Poem means sonnet, limerick, haiku, epic, ode, etc.• Etymological Definitions

– Automobile comes from the Greek auto and the French mobile.• Synonymous Definitions

– Loquacious means talkative.• Definitions by Genus and Difference

– Buck means a male deer.

WHICH STRATEGY?

a. Ostensiveb. Enumerativec. Sub-classd. Etymologicale. Synonymousf. Genus and

Difference

1. Poet means a person like John Keats, Ezra Pound or Ann Plath.

2. Sagacious means wise.3. Moon means that. (pointing)4. Beverage means a drinkable liquid.5. Faith comes from the Latin verb

fidere, meaning ‘to trust.’6. Bird means robin, cardinal,

sparrow, starling and the like.

Rules for Constructing Good Lexical Definitions• Don’t make the definitions too broad or too narrow.

– Automobile means a vehicle with four wheels.– Sibling means a brother.

• Convey the essential meaning of the word being defined.– Horses are animals ridden by Napoleon at Waterloo.

• Provide a context for ambiguous words.– A walk, in baseball, is a base on balls.

• Avoid slanted definitions.– Universal health care means a socialist program of medical insurance for

everyone.• Avoid figurative definitions.

– Advertising is legalized lying. – Slot machine means a one-armed bandit.

• Avoid Needlessly obscure definitions.– Mouse means a quadrupedal mammalian ….

• Avoid circular definitions.– Gambler means a man who gambles.

DEFINITIONS1) Romantic comedy2) Tet3) Poet4) Mariachi 5) Fanatic6) Super star7) R and B 8) Advertising9) Liberal 10) Racism

DEFINING KEY WORDS

1. You just caught your significant other carrying on a sexually explicit dialogue with someone in an electronic chat room. Has your significant other ‘cheated’ on you?

2. One of your professors thinks women are far superior to men in every way – intellectually, morally, emotionally, etc. Is your professor a ‘feminist’?

3. The cheerleaders at SJSU have petitioned to have cheerleading listed as one of the school’s sports teams. Is cheerleading a ‘sport’?

What’s Wrong?

a. Too broadb. Too narrowc. Lacking in

contextd. Figurativee. Slantedf. Obscureg. Circular

1. Epistemology means the systematic study of epistemological issues.

2. Lawyer means a scum-sucking scavenger licensed to practice law.

3. Spouse means wife.4. Guard means either of two players

stationed in the back court.5. Architecture means frozen music.6. Rectangle means a geometrical figure.7. Deodorant means a preparation for

masking the malodorous secretions of the apocrine sudoriferous glands.

What do these words mean?

• Agraffe (n.)• Basorexia (n.)• Bombilate (v.)• Cachinnation (n.)• Cruciverbalist• Dentiloquent (adj.)• Farctate (v.)• Gambrinous (adj.)• Gongoozler (n.)• Jentacular (adj.)

• Lalochezia (n.)• Mammothrept (n.)• Misocapnist (n.)• Nudiustertian (adj.)• Pandiculate (v.)• Pyknic (adj.)• Qualtagh (n.)• Runcation (n.)• Sciapodous (adj.)• Tasrantism (n.)

EMOTIVE LANGUAGE: Slanting the Truth

• Denotation – literal meaning

• Connotation – the images and feelings that are associated with the word

• Example: “Little Saigon”

Identify the Emotive Language:1. From an ad for a home: Charming, cozy three-bedroom

Cape Cod in an older neighborhood, wall-to-wall carpeting throughout, lower-level recreation room opening onto large deck, modern kitchen, new roof, garage, needs some tender loving care.

2. From a personal ad: DWF, mature, petite, attractive, spiritual, intelligent business professional, occasional drinker, enjoys quiet evenings, serious movies, and long novels.

Euphemisms and Political Correctness• Euphemism: mild, comforting, or evasive words that take

the place of harsh, blunt, or taboo words.– Bodily functions: the facilities, restroom, ladies’ room,

powder room– Firing: down-sizing, right-sizing, career transition

program, normal payroll adjustment, reducing duplication, strengthening global effectiveness

– Jobs: custodial engineer, meat cutter, administrative support coordinator, sales associate, customer service representative

– Military: collateral damage, expendable resources, soft targets, friendly fire, strategic redeployment, sharpshooters.

Political Correctness• The use of language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as

seeking to minimize social offense in gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, handicap, and age-related contexts. The term is almost exclusively pejorative, connoting “intolerant” and “intolerance,” while the usage politically incorrect, denotes an implicitly positive self-description. [Wikipedia]– ‘urban’– ‘economically disadvantaged’– ‘chemically dependent’– ‘weight challenged’

Emotive language

• What are some examples of emotive language?

• Are there circumstances in which emotive language is warranted or acceptable?

• What are some examples of when you use emotive language?

• What is the response of people who hear it?

Sound Symbolism

• The association of certain sound with specific qualities– For example, the [gl-] sound is often associated

with light or shininess• Gloss, gleam, glow, glisten, glimmer, glitter, etc.

• Corporations conduct research to determine what qualities are associated with which sounds

A Little Articulatory Phonetics

Types of Sounds

• Obstruents – sounds made with a blockage of air in the vocal tract– For example, [p], [t], [k]– Harder,. More masculine– ‘Clorox’

• Sonorants – sounds made with a ‘smooth’ or resonant quality– For example [š], [ž], [m]– Softer, more feminine– ‘Chanel’

Some Phonetic Concepts

• Voiced vs. Voiceless – whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating

• Labials – sounds made with the lips• Dentals – sounds made with the teeth• Stops – sounds involving a total blockage of air

flow in the mouth• Fricatives – sounds made with a ‘friction’ sound

as the air passes through the mouth

Pick a Brand Name

a. Which headache tablet sound faster?Pavil Bavil

b. Which computer sounds more compact?Gortan Kortan

c. Which car sounds faster?SarrantTarrant

d. Which computer sounds more compact?Syndron Zyndron

a. Which car sounds faster?Faldon Valdon

a. Which computer sounds faster?Taza Paza

a. Which car sounds more dependable?Basiza Vazia

a. Which computer sounds more dependable?Gamza Damza

Answersa. Which headache tablet sound faster?

Pavil Bavilb. Which computer sounds more compact?

Gortan Kortanc. Which car sounds faster?

Sarrant Tarrantd. Which computer sounds more compact?

Syndron Zyndrona. Which car sounds faster?

Faldon Valdona. Which computer sounds faster?

Taza Pazaa. Which car sounds more dependable?

Bazia Vaziaa. Which computer sounds more dependable?

Gamza Damza

Size, Speed & Dependability• Voiceless stops [p, t, k] = speed better than voiced stops

[b, d, g]• Voiceless stops [p, t, k] = smallness better than voiced

stops [b, d, g]• Fricatives [v, f, z, s] = speed better than stops [b, p, d, t]• [z] = smallness better than [s]• Voiced fricatives [v, z] = speed better than voiceless

fricatives [f, s]• Dentals [d, t] = speed better than labials [b, p]• Stops [b, p, d] = dependability better than fricatives [v, f,

z, s]• [d] = dependability better than [g]

Sound Symbolism in Your Daily Life

• Identify examples of sound symbolism among the products you own, use, or have heard. – Automotive products– Health and beauty care products– Electronics equipment– Banking and financial services– Food and beverages– Clothing and accessories– Etc.

Language, Euphemisms and Critical Thinking

• Critical thinkers should strive to be aware of imprecision in language, euphemisms that conceal reality, and sound symbolism that evokes connotations, and they should make every effort in their own writing to use words that are accurate and precise.