coercion

: the use of implied or direct threats, insults, or physical and psychological violence in order to get the audience to comply

concept

: a term to describe what topic, theory, or idea you will explain to your audience

connotative meaning

: feelings and ideas a person may associate with a specific word or phrase

contingent

: something that is unpredictable, subject to the unknown, dependent on variables that may not be completely foreseen

create meaning

: the use of communicative interaction to understand the audience and have the audience understand you

credibility

: the quality of being believable or worthy of trust (i.e.) how much the speaker knows about a topic and how they are qualified to talk about it; also a statement in the introduction used to establish a speaker's credibility

critical listener

: one who listens to a speech and analyzes, thinks on, and makes a judgment about information presented

cultural context

: considering the variables associated with different cultures including history, social settings, and power relationships

decode

: to process encoded messages based on personal experience, background, and world-similar variables

demographic stereotyping 

: making assumptions about how a particular demographic group will think or respond

denotative definition

: literal or dictionary meaning of a word

dialogical perspective

: ethical approach that foregrounds the relationship between participants in the communicative exchange

divided audience

: an audience made of members who represent both sides of an argument, both opposed and supportive

dyadic setting

: conversations that take place between two people

egocentric

: an audience's natural tendency to think "What's in it for me?"

encode

: the process of adding meaning based on cultural background, immediate environment, and past experiences into language and symbols

essentialize

: to put one demographic group before another