Language and Media Dictionary of Key Terms (April 2016) Martin Montgomery

rapport-talk => report-talk.

readership media n. the collective readers of a published resource such as newspaper, magazine, or book. It can also refer to the state or quality of being a reader. SJ

reading public media n. those who are equipped by education and social background to form an audience for a certain kinds of literary production. The rise of the novel, for instance, has been identified with the growth a bourgeois middle class with the requisite resources of time and money to read, often in private, extended prose narratives. mmo

recency effect media n. **** {see existing entry}

reflexivity media n. circuits of cause and effect wherein both cause and effect shape one another. As a methodological issue in the social sciences, reflexivity implies self-consciousness and self-reference where investigation or action refers back to the presence of the investigator, thereby complicating explanation, prediction, and control as objective outcomes of study. SJ

register LANG n. stylistic variation in language according to its context of situation. The selection of words and structures by the language user is influenced strongly by features of the situation. Indeed, utterances typically carry the imprint of their context so markedly and we are so attuned to contextual variation that we can often infer features of the original context of situation from quite fragmentary, isolated linguistic examples. For instance, most readers will feel confident that they can reconstruct the original context of situation for the following examples:

1. 
   I’m going to give you a prescription for the pain.
   
2. 
   New Tubifast. The tubular dressing retention bandage. No sticking. No tying. No pinning.
   

And so it will come as no surprise to hear that (1) is from a doctor-patient interview and (2) from a magazine advertisement. What is more difficult to explain I show we recognise the original context in each case. Why, for example, is (1) not from an exchange in a pharmacy, and why is (2) not from a discussion between two nurses in casualty?

The fine-tuning that goes on between language and its context of situation operates along three independent parameters. First, the activity or topic on which the talk is based influences the kind of language used, particularly in the selection of vocabulary. Second, the nature of the social relationship will affect the language: talk between friends, for instance, is likely to avoid formal expressions, unless for ironic effect. Finally the medium of communication adopted – whether face-to-face speech, written text, telephone, dictaphone, etc. – will affect the way all utterances are formed. These three parameters are known as field, tenor and mode, respectively. Collectively they shape the register of a particular text. => GENRE MMO

reinforcement media n. the process of encouraging, establishing, or strengthening a belief, behavioural pattern, or memory, particularly through the use of positive stimuli such as a reward or encouragement. Conversely, negative reinforcement depends upon painful or otherwise distressing stimuli. SJ