Chapter 4 Study Guide Questions

1. Language is a collection of symbols governed by rules and used to convey messages between
individuals.

2. Phonological rules are linguistic rules governing how sounds are combined to form words.
Syntactic rules are rules that govern the ways in which symbols can be arranged as opposed to
the meanings of those symbols. Sematic rules are rules that govern the meaning of language as
opposed to its structure. Pragmatic rules are rules that govern how people use language in
everyday interaction.

3. Equivocal language is talking with an open meaning where there could be more than one
interpretation. One example is the phrase “hitting the hay”. This could be going to sleep or literally
someone is hitting the hay. This phrase can have an open meaning to people who aren’t familiar
with the phrase. Another example is a patient told the nurse that he “wouldn’t be needing” the
materials he requested from home. The nurse interpreted the sentence by thinking that the
patient would be going home soon, while the patient meant he was going to die soon.

4. Relative words are words that gain their meaning by comparison. An example of relative words
are “few” and “soon”.

5. Slang is language used by a group of people whose members belong to a similar co-culture or
other group. Examples of slang are the words “salty” and “basic”.

6. Jargon is specialized vocabulary used as a kind of shorthand by people with common backgrounds
and experience. Examples of jargon include “AWOL” and “LOL”.

7. Abstract language is language that lacks specificity or does not refer to observable behavior or
other sensory data. Examples of abstract language include “maybe” and “I don’t know”.

8. The difference between a fact and an opinion is that a fact is a claim that can be verified true or
false while an opinion is based on the speaker’s beliefs. An example of a face is “Mexico has 2 out
of 10 of the best beaches in North America.” An example of an opinion is “The beaches are better
in Mexico.”

9. Emotive language is language that conveys an attitude rather than simply offering an objective
description. Examples of emotive language include “it’s a piece of junk” and “she’s controlling.”

10. Euphemism is a mild or indirect term or expression used in place of a more direct but less pleasant
one. Examples of Euphemisms include “haze” instead of fog and “bumpy air” instead of
turbulence.