The Language of Deception

It’s a phased withdrawal, not a retreat. Except that the terms actually mean the same thing. But “retreat” sounds much worse, so savvy politicians avoid using it. That’s because they understand that there is a difference between the cognitive (or literal) meaning and the emotive meaning of a word. This lesson examines the ways in which terms that pack an emotional punch can add power to a statement – and also ways in which emotive meanings can be used to mislead, either by doing the reader’s thinking for him or by blinding her to the real nature of the issue.
 

Objectives

In this lesson, students will

  • Learn to distinguish between different uses of language.
  • Analyze the emotive impact of words.
  • Examine the effects of euphemism in altering the meaning of arguments.

KEY TERMS:

  • Informative language: language that communicates information through statements that can be true or false
  • Expressive language: language that expresses feelings or that attempts to bring about a feeling or emotion in the listener
  • Directive language: language that gives commands or that requests a particular action be performed
  • Performative language: language whose utterance constitutes the act itself
  • Cognitive meaning: the literal dictionary definition of a word
  • Emotive meaning: the emotions or feelings that a word inspires
  • Euphemism: words used to hide the emotive impact of a particular word or phrase