LANGUAGE& Critical Thinking

“Thought is the blossom; language, the bud; action, the fruit behind it.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

LANGUAGE…

➤ Meanings are assigned to words arbitrarily, and the meaning of words in our language can change as social groups within the society use them for their own purposes.

➤ An effective critical thinker uses language that meets the needs and expectations of the audience, and is appropriate to the time, place, person, and occasion.

There are four areas of language that are important when it comes to critical thinking.

➤ Word choice

➤ Ambiguity

➤ Definition

➤ Intensity

WORD CHOICE

➤ The meaning of words does not simply rest in the words themselves but in the minds of the people who use and receive them.

➤ Language is one of the most powerful agents of enculturation, and therefore we must choose our words very carefully.

➤ Understanding is heavily related to vocabulary.

➤ Good word choice involved being able to look critically at language and select the words that most accurately convey the message.

AMBIGUITY

➤ When we argue, we use language that we assume the recipients can understand. Arguers selecting ambiguous language run the risk of being misunderstood and face rejection of their advocated point of view.

➤ Euphemism: a less direct term used in the place of a more specific term which may be considered offensive

AMBIGUITY

➤ Ambiguous language can cause confusion.

➤ Ambiguous language can lead to over-generalizing and stereotyping. The greater the ambiguity, the more likely one is to ignore individual differences and classify all members of the group as being the same.

➤ Ambiguous language can lead to bypassing, which is when people unintentionally use the same word to mean different things or use different words to represent the same thing. With ambiguous language, there is no real way of checking the accuracy of the term against the actual event it is being used to describe.

DEFINITION

➤ One way to avoid the problems caused by ambiguity is to define your terms.

➤ Words convey two different meanings: denotative and connotative.

➤ Denotative meaning: the way a word is generally used or the meaning that people most frequently attach to a word

➤ Connotative meaning: the way a person emotionally responds to a word

OTHER WAYS TO DEFINE WORDS

➤ Dictionary definition: formal definition

➤ Operational definition: definition by function or operation

➤ Definition by example: definition by citing specific instances of a word or phrase

➤ Definition by negation: definition by telling what a word or phrase is not

➤ Definition by etymology: definition by citing a word's historical roots or point of origination

➤ Special definitions: use of slang or colloquialisms related to modern English

INTENSITY

➤ The intensity level of one's language refers to the use of words or phrases that often negatively raise the emotional level or any communication encounter.

➤ Negative evaluative words: words that can only be understood through a comparison with their opposite

➤ Strong emotive words: words which are used to describe something, but really present the person's attitude toward what is being described; goal is to get an emotional response

➤ Abusive language: use of obscenity, name calling, insults, swear words, and off-color remarks that are usually of a racial or sexual nature; usually for shock value

IMPACT OF LANGUAGE ON CRITICAL THINKING➤ Language is related to audience

attention and comprehension.

➤ Language is related to audience acceptance and rejection of an argument.

➤ Language affects arguer credibility.

➤ Language determines how people interpret their environment.