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Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts

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As you read, make a note of important and relevant vocabulary words, key terms and significant concepts from the readings, as well as from lecture. You can then use these terms to make glossary entries. Each entry into the glossary can be collaboratively fleshed out with:

1) Definitions. Conceivably multiple definitions can be posted for each term, especially for those representing more complex concepts or concepts whose meaning seems to change over time. If you use an exact quote, make this clear by placing it in quotation marks (e.g. “Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life,” according to Lakoff and Johnson.). If you paraphrase from a longer explanation, make that clear also (e.g. De Saussure defines the sign as the unity of the signifier and the signified.). Always specify the source and location of the definition (e.g. “de Saussure p. 108). 

2) Examples. Examples can be drawn from the course texts, other sources or students’ own experience– make sure you specify the source (and page number if drawn from course texts). They should be concise, but described in enough detail to be clear and useful. Carefully choose examples to post best exemplify and clarify the concept or phenomenon.

3) Contexts of use, key theoretical and empirical questions or debates surrounding a given concept can also be discussed on the glossary, e.g. Lakoff and Johnson’s view of metaphor as pervasive in language as opposed to the commonsense idea of metaphor as a poetic device or rhetorical flourish, the controversy around linguistic relativity, etc. Again, competing positions should be outlined concisely but with enough detail to be clear. 

4) Links to related concepts: The Moodle glossary doesn’t allow us to group concepts together under more general categories or order our concepts hierarchically, but you can include references to related terms or concepts in your entry for a given term. If you mention a term that has its own entry in the glossary (or should have), bold that term so students can go look at its definition. Example from a hypothetical entry for the term “sign”: Semiologist Charles Peirce identified three types of sign: icon, index and symbol. 

General tips & guidelines: 

-Always specify the source of any quoted material or ideas that you paraphrase, including page numbers. 

-Prioritize: I expect to see more activity around entries that seem especially important, relevant, or inclusive of other concepts, and especially for those that crop up in multiple readings and topics throughout the course, as compared to terms that are mentioned in passing and do not seem especially central to the main ideas of the course. 

-Get creative! Links to online sound or video clips and images, transcripts of actual or hypothetical examples (e.g. from your “language in the wild” paper) and other supplementary materials are welcome. We need to keep this glossary readable, and hence somewhat concise, but I hope you’ll use it as a place to both clarify and have fun with key course concepts. 

-Editing: you may edit your own entries, and you may add to other people’s, but do not delete or alter any entry made by someone else. Please do comment on previous entries, but make sure to do so respectfully!

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