Chapter Four

Vocabulary

Examples

Connections

Key Ideas

Troublesome language

Gender and language

The power of language

The nature of learning

Convergence: Accomedating one's speaking style to another person... pg. 105

Reappropriation: The process by which members of a marginalized group.... pg 100

language: A collection of symbols, governed by rules... pg. 97

euphemism: A mild or indirect term or expression used in . place... pg. 114

Abstraction Ladder: A range of more to less abstract terms describing an event or object pg. 109

I have noticed after being with my boyfriend for a while, we started convergence with how we speak. I tend to say phrases that he tends to say and vice versa

"Besides shaping the way we view ourselves and others, language reflects our values, attitudes, and beliefs" pg 104

"Some words are equivocal as a result of culteral or cocultural differences in language usuage" pg 107

"Language isn't in the words themselves but rather in the way people make sense of them" pg. 97

"One of the main reasons men and women communicate differently is that society expects them to" pg 118

  1. A topic that interests me in this chapter is the gender and language. I find it interesting how the texts says how men and women are wired differently to communicate. I realize that the differences are not that big but I still find it interesting.
  2. A topic which confused me this chapter that I would like to understand better is equivocation and if it can be used in a good way or only bad.

I use jargon a lot with specific people. For example when I talk about figure skating with friends who do it aswell I use words that others would be confused about. For me it is a simple idea or word but to others it doesn't make sense.