LANGUAGE AND CRITICAL

THINKING

HELAINA MAMURIAN

COMMUNICATIONS 104

WHAT IS LANGUAGE? THE SYSTEMS OF

WORDS OR SIGNS THAT PEOPLE USE TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS TO EACHOTHER.

ANY ONE OF THE SYSTEMS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE THAT ARE USED AND UNDERSTOOD BY A PARTICULAR GROUP OF PEOPLE.

WORDS OF A PARTICULAR KIND

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

DISCIPLINED THINKING THAT IS CLEAR, RATIONAL, OPEN-MINDED, AND INFORMED BY EVIDENCE

THE MENTAL PROCESS OF ACTIVELY AND SKILLFULLY CONCEPTUALIZING, APPLYING, ANALYZING, SYNTHESIZING, AND EVALUATING INFORMATION TO REAACH AN ANSER OR CONCLUSION

GET YOUR THINKING CAP ON!

6 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN SOMEONE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!

WHO?- WHO SAID IT? WHAT?- WHAT DID THEY SAY? WHERE?- WHERE DID THEY SAY

IT? WHEN?- WHEN DID THEY SAY IT? WHY?- WHY DID THEY SAY IT? HOW? – HOW DID THEY SAY IT?

ACTUALLY USING YOUR BRAIN THE MOST IMPORTANT

THING EVERY CRITICAL THINKER NEEDS TO REMEMBER IS KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

CRTICAL THINKING PUT YOUR SKILLS TO

USE!

FOUR AREAS OF LANGUAGE THAT ARE KEY TO A CRITICAL THINKER WORD CHOICE AMBIGUITY DEFINITON INTENSITY

IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF SLIDES WE WILL BEGIN TO EVALUATE THESE AREAS IN MORE DEPTH AND USE EXAMPLES TO HELP BETTER UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT. THIS TO CAN HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER THINKER AND COMMINUCATOR.

WORD CHOICE LANGUAGE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO OUR

CULTURE, THEREFORE WE HAVE TO CHOOSE OUR WORDS VERY CAREFULLY, THINGS CAN CHANGE BECAUSE WE USED THE WRONG WORDS.

WORD CHOICE ALLOWS US TO INDIRECTY EXPRESS OUR “REAL” FEELINGS ABOUT THE PEOPLE, EVENTS AND THINGS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT.

THE WHORF-SAPIR HYPOTHESIS THEORIZES THAT THOUGHTS AND BEHAVIOR ARE DETEREMINED BY LANGUAGE.

AMBIGUITY LANGUAGE IS AMBIGUOUS, WHICH

MEANS IT CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE MEANING.

EUPHEMISM IS USED TO MAKE ANY GIVEN WORD MORE ACCEPTABE TO THE AUDIENCE IT IS BEING INTRODUCED TO.

DOUBLESPEAK IS A LANGUAGE WHICH, ACCORDING TO WILLIAM LUTZ, MAKES THE BAD SEEM GOOD.

DEFINITION DENOTATIVE MEANING REFERS TO THE WAY A WORD IS

GENERALLU USED OR THE MEANING PEOPLE MOST FREQUENTLY ATTACH TO A WORD.

CONNOTATIVE MEANING REFERS TO THE WAY A PERSON EMOTIONALLY RESPONDS TO IT.

DICTIONARY DEFINITION IS THE MOST COMMON FROM OF CLARIFYING WHAT A WORD MEANS.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION IS SOMETIMES THE MOST USEFUL WAY TO DEFINE A WORD BY ITS FUNCTION OR OPERATION.

DEFINITION BY EXAMPLE IS THE METHOD THAT ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE A WORD OR PHRASE BY CITING SPECIFIC INSTANCES OF THAT WORD OR PHRASE.

DEFINITION BY NEGATION A FORM OF DEFINITION TELLS US WHAT A WORD OR PHRASE IS NOT.

DEFINITION BY ETYMOLOGY IS A WAY OF DEFINING A WORD BY CITING ITS HISTORICAL ROOTS OR PLACE OF ORIGIN.

SPECIAL DEFINITONS ARE OUR EVERYDAY CONVERSATIONS THAT MAY CONTAIN AN INFORMAL QUALITY THAT COMES FROM OUR USE OF SLANG AND COLLOQUIALISMS.

INTENTSITY OF LANGUAGE THE INTENSITY OF A WORD, OR LANGUAGE

IS IMPORTANT TO THE OVERALL IMPACT OF THE WORD.

NEGATIVE EVALUATIVE WORDS ARE ONES THAT CAN BE ONLY UNDERSTOOD THROUGH A COMPARISON WITH THEIR OPPOSITE.

STRONG EMOTIVE WORDS WHICH ARE USED TO DESCRIBE SOMETHINGS, BUT REALLY REPRESENTS THE PERSON’S ATTITUDE TOWARD WHAT IS BEING DESCRIBED.

ABUSIVE LANGUAGE IS WORDS THAT INVOLVE NAME CALLING, INSULTS, SWEAR WORDS, SEXUAL OR RACIAL WORDS.

IMPACT OF LANGUAGE ON CRITICAL THINKING LANGUAGE IS RELATED TO AUDIENCE

AND COMPREHENSION. LANGUAGE IS RELATED TO AUDIENCE

ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION OF AN ARGUMENT.

LANGUAGE AFFECTS ARGUER CREDIBILITY.

LANGUAGE DETERMINES HOW PEOPLE INTERPERT THEIR ENVIRONMENT

LANGUAGE AND CRITICAL THINKING QUOTES. THEY GET YOU THINKING! “TO SPEAK A LANGUAGE IS TO TAKE ON A WORLD, A CULTURE.” –FRANTZ

FANON “SPEECH HAS BOTH AN INDIVUDUAL AND A SOCIAL SIDE, AND WE CANNOT

CONCEIVE OF ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER.” –FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE “LANGUAGE DISGUISES THOUGHT.” –LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN “LANGUAGE SHAPES THE WAY WE THINK, AND DETERMINES WHAT WE CAN

THINK ABOUT.” BENJAMIN LEE WHORF “CHANGE YOUR LANGUAGE AND YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR THOUGHT.” –

KARL ALBRECHT “I DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO SAY, ‘SOMETHING IS TRUE BECAUSE TYSON

SAYS IT IS TRUE.’ THAT’S NOT CRITICAL THINKING.” –NEIL DE GRASSE TYSON

“THE ESSENCE OF THE INDEPENDENT MIND LIES NOT IN WHAT IT THINKS, BUT IN HOW IT THINKS.” –CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

“IF THERE WAS ONE LIFE SKILL EVERYONE ON THE PLANET NEEDED, IT WAS THE ABLILTY TO THINK WITH CRITICAL OBJECTIVITY.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. MARTENEY, JIM, AND STERK, JACK

COMMUNICATION CRITICAL THINKING, 2008. PRINT.