-
Two Linguistic Functions:
1. Convey Information=> Cognitive meaning
2. Express or evoke feelings (to persuade) => Emotive meanings.
-
Value claim:
a claim that something is good, bad, right, wrong, better or worse, more or less important than something else.
--part of cognitive meaning of emotive charged statements, must be able to separate value claims from emotive statements.
--require evidence to support them.
-- emotion covers value claims and gives psychological momentum so listeners just believe the claims w/o evidence
-
Vagueness:
allows for borderline cases in which it is impossible to tell if the expression applies or not; allows for range of interpretations; blurs meaning.
ex: love, fresh, rich or poor (varies on scale/degree)
-
Ambiguous:
one that can be interpreted as having completely different/distinct meanings; allow for varying interpretations.
ex: Hot as in spicy or hot as in temperature?
-
Stipulative Definition
Assigns a meaning to a word for the first time.
--coining a new word; giving a new meaning to an old word
ex: cyberdate
-
Lexical Definition
Dictionary definitions; may use colons to get rid of ambiguity and several definitions
ex: "Scale" means a device for weighing things; part of the skin of a fish; a series of musical notes.
-
Precising Definition
To reduce vagueness of a word by putting into context
ex: In the state of Alabama, "Poor" means having an annual income of less than $4,000
-
Theoretical Definition
Scientific/experimental def
ex: "Sound" means a compression wave, in air or some other elastic medium, having a frequency ranging from 20 to 20,000
-
Persuasive Definition
emotionally charged definition to engender a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward what is denoted by the word.
ex: "Sports Utility Vehicle" means an unwieldy pile of vehicular machinery that consumes massive quantities of fuel
-
Enumerative Definitions
Assigns a meaning to a term by naming members of the classs the term denotes
ex: Corporation means Honda, Apple, Whole Foods...
-
Definitions by Subclass
meaning to a term by naing subclasses
- ex: Flower means rose, lily, daisy
- ex 2: Professional Person means doctor, lawyer, professor.
**these subclasses can be broken down: many types of doctors, roses, etc
-
Definition by Genus & Difference
Assigns a meaning to a term by identifying a genus term and one or more difference words that when combined convey the meaning of term being defined
- ex: "Doe" means a female deer
- ex 2: "Oak" means a tree that bears acorns
-
Synonymous Definition
- ex: "Physician" means doctor
- ex 2: "Error" means mistake.
-
Etymological Definitions
Assigns a meaning to a word by disclosing the word's ancestry in both its own language and other languages.
ex: "Atom" originates from the Greek word meaning, "that which cannot be divided".
-
Operational Definitions
assigns a meaning to a word by specifying certain experimental preocedures that determine whether or not the word applies to a certain thing.
ex: Brain activity means that an electroencephalograph shows oscillations when attached to a patients head
ex 2:
|
|
