Language is words, sounds and rhythm and how they are all connected to help the audience see and hear what the speaker says. Before I talk about different uses of language, you must realize that everyone see the world differently. It is the speakers obligation and responsibility to allow the audience to see the speaker's perspective. Even if everyone had English as their first language, it is not always the same language. People have different regional backgrounds, different words, and different meaning for the same words. Take the words that represent a couple's activity while parked up on Council Crest after a date, for example. We call it "making out" "necking," "smooching." At a college in New Jersey, they call it "grouching."

There are two types of meaning in words: denotative and connotative. The denotative definition of words is the "dictionary" definition - it is the primary meaning of a word. If you look a word up in the dictionary, it would be the first choice listed. Connotative definitions are the secondary meanings - that which makes the word personally meaningful to you. For example, the denotative meaning of the word "gay" is happy, carefree. The connotative meaning is homosexual. You can not assume that your language choices will be the choices for your audience.

There are many strategies which will help your audience understand what you are trying to say. The one aspect every Rhetorian can agree is that language must be clear. A reader has the opportunity to reread a sentence and to look a word up in the dictionary; a listener does not have this opportunity. To promote clarity, use words which are familiar to your audience. When you use a word which may be unfamiliar to your audience, restating it in a different manner will help them understand. For example, when I am lecturing on the Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis (language and culture), I might say, "Language is culturally specific; it directs our attention to the salient aspects of a culture. In other words, it tells us which values are the most important to that culture." So someone who has never heard or used the word "salient" before can still understand the concept of the sentence.

Technical words are often unfamiliar to an audience and we sometimes get so wrapped up in our own little reality that we forget that others do not know these terms. Chemistry majors would understand "regent," accounting majors would understand a "trial balance" (which I hear has nothing to do with how I balance my checkbook....); even "spark plug" is a technical term. Technical words do not have to be $6 million words; they are any precise and definite meanings within a specific field.

I once had a student who gave an informative speech on how airplanes fly. He used four terms (I forget the exact words, but they were small everyday words like "pull," "thrust" and "flow"). Following his speech, I said he needed to have defined his terms. His reply was, "Any idiot should know the meaning of those words."

I responded, "Well THIS idiot was not sure how they were defined in regard to this specific speech."

He sat back, folded his arms and arrogantly said, "If someone is too stupid to know the meaning of those words, they shouldn't be listening to my speech."

I looked him in the eye and said, "No. Your responsibility as a speaker is to help your audience understand what you are saying. While I know the meaning of those words in general, I need to understand how they apply specifically to the focus of your speech. Remember a speaker is not up there to show off his knowledge, but to allow the audience to understand what he is saying."