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

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Linguistics 21Lecture 5 LANGUAGE, POWER, AND
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
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Whats wrong with this?

1. No cruising on this street.
2. Headline Need Plain Clothes Security Must have
   Shoplifting Experience
3. Weather forecast Cloudy with a chance of rain.
4. Headline Advice to Teachers and Parents on Drugs
5. He ate his cheesecake with relish.
6. Sign Dogs must be carried on escalator.

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Precision

• To communicate clearly
• To defend ones claims without room for confusion
  or misinterpretation
• To assess the truth of premises presented to us
  in the arguments of others

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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.

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Vague? Overgeneral? Ambiguous?

1. With her enormous bottom exposed to the sky,
   Ellen watched Titanic slowly sink.
2. Bob told Devlin he was hot.
3. Headline Former Concentration Camp Guard Helps
   Burn Victims
4. 3 5 x 3 ?
5. Headline British Left Waffles on Falkland
   Islands.
6. She cannot bear children.

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Vague? Overgeneral? Ambiguous?

• Politician We need a tax code that is fair to
  working families. I intend to introduce
  appropriate legislation that achieves this end.
• Parent Where are you going?
• Kid Out.
• Parent When will you be back?
• Kid Later.

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Vague? Overgeneral? Ambiguous?

• Headline Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
• Cricket rule It is unfair for any member of the
  fielding side to waste time.
• Headline Panda Mating Fails Veterinarian Takes
  Over
• Never withhold herpes infection from a loved one.

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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.

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Verbal Dispute or Factual Dispute?

• 1. Tracy Sue is really religious. She reads
  her Bible and prays every day.
  
• Mark She isnt religious, She never goes to
  church.
• 2. Paul This is a maple tree. I know because
  its just like the one in my backyard.
  
• Amy Bull! Maple trees dont have acorns!
• 3. Mike We better leave now. Coach said the
  game starts at 100.
  
• Linda We have plenty of time. The game starts
  at 400.

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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.
• Ben Ty Cobb has the highest single-season
  batting average -- .420.
  
• Ned Wrong as usual, sports fan. Rogers
  Hornsby hit .424 one year.

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TYPES OF DEFINITIONS

• Stipulative Definition definition that
  articulates what it is you mean
• Buddy-dumped means dropped from a persons
  Facebook Friends List.
• Persuasive Definition definition meant to
  persuade, often slanted
• Tic-tac-toe means a mindless game for bored
  children.

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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!

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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 cant be answered.

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Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

1. Litter-butt means a person who throws lighted
   cigarette butts out car windows.
2. Affluent means, for purposes of this sociological
   study, having an annual family income of 250,000
   or greater.
3. Labyrinth means an intricate structure of
   intercommunicating passages, through which it is
   difficult to find ones way without a clue.
4. Democracy means rule by the ignorant masses.

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Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

1. Circler means someone who spends an inordinate
   amount of time circling parking lots, looking for
   the closest possible parking place.
2. Chronically tardy means being late to class five
   or more times in any quarter or three or more
   times in any two-week period.
3. Garden means a plot of ground, usually near a
   house, where flowers, vegetables, or herbs are
   cultivated.

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Stipulative, Persuasive, Lexcial, Precising?

1. Intoxicated, for purposes of driving a car in
   this state, means having a blood alcohol ration
   of 0.08 or higher.
2. Chathead means a person who stays glued day and
   night to Internet chat rooms.
3. Indolent means having or showing a disposition to
   avoid exertion lazy slothful.
4. Republican Party means a political organizaton of
   patriotic, civic-minded citizens dedicated to
   preserving the cherished freedoms of all
   Americans.

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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.

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WHICH STRATEGY?

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.

1. Ostensive
2. Enumerative
3. Sub-class
4. Etymological
5. Synonymous
6. Genus and Difference

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Rules for Constructing Good Lexical Definitions

• Dont 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.

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DEFINITIONS

1. Romantic comedy
2. Tet
3. Poet
4. Mariachi
5. Fanatic
6. Super star
7. R and B
8. Advertising
9. Liberal
10. Racism

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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 schools sports
   teams. Is cheerleading a sport?

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Whats Wrong?

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.

1. Too broad
2. Too narrow
3. Lacking in context
4. Figurative
5. Slanted
6. Obscure
7. Circular

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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.)

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EMOTIVE LANGUAGE Slanting the Truth

• Denotation literal meaning
• Connotation the images and feelings that are
  associated with the word
• Example Little Saigon

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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.

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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.

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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

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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?

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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

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A Little Articulatory Phonetics
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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

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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

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Pick a Brand Name

• Which headache tablet sound faster?
• Pavil Bavil
• Which computer sounds more compact?
• Gortan Kortan
• Which car sounds faster?
• Sarrant Tarrant
• Which computer sounds more compact?
• Syndron Zyndron
• Which car sounds faster?
• Faldon Valdon
• Which computer sounds faster?
• Taza Paza
• Which car sounds more dependable?
• Basiza Vazia
• Which computer sounds more dependable?
• Gamza Damza

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Answers

• Which headache tablet sound faster?
• Pavil Bavil
• Which computer sounds more compact?
• Gortan Kortan
• Which car sounds faster?
• Sarrant Tarrant
• Which computer sounds more compact?
• Syndron Zyndron
• Which car sounds faster?
• Faldon Valdon
• Which computer sounds faster?
• Taza Paza
• Which car sounds more dependable?
• Bazia Vazia
• Which computer sounds more dependable?
• Gamza Damza

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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

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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.

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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.