Brief outline of chapter 6 from Communicating Critical Thinking by Jack Sterk and Jim Marteney (2008.)

1. Language and Critical
Thinking
Nicole Britton
Speech 104/ Fall 2012

2. Attributes of Good Critical Thinker
◊ Knows their audience and uses
language accordingly
◊ Uses language appropriate to
• Time
• Place
• Person
• Occasion

3. Warning: Poor choices in language may lead to serious
dilapidation in communication
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4. Linguistics and Semantics
◊ Linguistics
• The scientific study of human language
◊ Semantics
• The branch of linguistics that studies the
meanings of words, phrases and
sentences
oxforddictionaries.com

5. Word Choice
◊ Meaning is in the mind, not in the
symbols.

6. Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis
◊ Thoughts and behavior are determined
by language
◊ Our culture determines our language
• Language leads to categorization of our
thoughts
• Meanings can change as social groups use
them for their own purposes
◊ Language affects how you think

7. Ambiguity…Words have more than one
interpretation
◊ Subtle abuses of language cause ambiguity
• Doublespeak - language used to lie or mislead
◊ Euphemism (ex: “use the little girls’ room”)
◊ Jargon
◊ Obscure language
◊ Ambiguous language leads to…
• confusion
• over-generalizing
• Bypassing

8. Definitions
◊ Define the terms you are working with
• Words convey two different meanings
Denotative - common usage
Connotative - emotional response to word
◊ Ways to Define terms
• Dictionary
• Operational definition
• Definition by example
• Definition by negation
• Definition by etymology
• Special definitions

9. Intensity of Language
The emotional level of a communication encounter can be raised
negatively through the use of intense language
◊ Negative Evaluative words
• Understood through comparison with opposite
• May be used to indicate strength of another word
ex: always, never, absolutely
◊ Strong Emotive Words
• Present an attitude
• Potentially negative editorial statements
◊ Abusive language
• Obscenities, name calling, insults, swear words, etc.

10. Impact of Language on Critical Thinking
Language…
…is related to audience attention and comprehension
…is related to audience acceptance and rejection of an
argument. Choose words carefully and thoughtfully to
maximize audience reception.
…affects arguer credibility. Word choice reveals class and
education
…determines how people interpret their environment.
Select language symbols to match thoughts.