A study investigated the relationships between conflict message strategy utilization and the criterion variables of communication satisfaction and interpersonal solidarity in situations of interpersonal conflict. Subjects were 114 college students and their "willing" conversational partners. Each subject completed a questionnaire…

Each debate judge's philosophy consists not of one single view of argument, but rather of a theory of argument containing several independent levels of belief. One current issue is the extent to which a judge should impose his or her bias on the participants in a debate round. Judges can impose rules on debates by utilizing those rules to which…

Pointing out that the "tabula rasa" debate perspective is built on the assumption that free and open debate is the fairest and most accurate method of resolving disputes, this paper argues that the "tabula rasa" approach itself has not been subjected to a similar scrutiny. The paper notes that this perspective was derived from…

Noting that speech communication educators devote little classroom time to the subject of ethics, this paper proposes a framework for the discussion of interpersonal ethics in the classroom setting. The paper first summarizes C. T. Brown and P. W. Keller's work in interpersonal ethics, which places the study of ethics within the democratic…

The studies counterplan, frequently used as a debate strategy by the negative, is unlikely to produce the desired effect in the United States Congress, its frequently mentioned target. First, Congress tends to move slowly, which implies that an optimal solution determined by a studies counterplan may not be adopted soon after the completion of the…

A study of the 1980 debate between Republican presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and George Bush demonstrates what influence, if any, a debate has on the voting public. The unit of analysis used in the study was each single message presented by each candidate without interruption by the other candidate or the moderator. Two investigators made…

While editors have no way of encoding most of the features of the human voice, they are often able to use punctuation and other devices to give the impression of speech. While retaining many distinctive features of a personal voice is possible in writing, considerations of voice are inseparable from considerations of textual features and audience…

The transcript of a teleconference on the relations among rhetorical theory, communication theory, and research as it was presented to a speech communications class at Texas Tech University in 1971 is presented in this paper. Issues discussed in the transcript include whether intent is a useful defining characteristic of the term "communicaton";…

A conceptual model of the rhetorical community that addresses the sociodramatic processes through which social order evolves, is maintained, can change, and is threatened is presented in this paper. Following an introduction, the paper identifies the various uses of rhetorical vision and rhetorical community that are found in fantasy theme…

An explanatory linguistic theory attempts to capture and explain the universal nature of human language, to choose among possible grammars of each human language, and to account for the linguistic constraints involved in language acquisition. Discourse theory, like linguistic theory, must be mentalistic in that it seeks to account for mental…

Because the affirmative plan in debate cannot be modified once it has been criticized by the second negative, it is important that the affirmative team word the plan carefully in simple and concise language, assuring that it upholds all possible policies and contains only those planks that support the resolution. Other considerations in…

In debate, it has been argued that a judge's decision is between two competing policy systems. This paradigm does not admit of direct refutation by the negative team considering the predicate facts and value assumptions of the affirmative policy. A second position is that straight refutation is an appropriate means of analysis in resolving…

In considering the possibility of certifying specialists in speech communication, it is helpful to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of credentialling standards, to survey certification procedures in other professions, and to identify the steps that would have to be taken to begin a certification program. Two advantages of certification…

A model that depicts communication as a dynamic ongoing phenomenon is presented in this paper. The key elements of the described model are: environmental factors, actor/auditor, image, perception, messages, channels, intrapersonal feedback, and consensus of meaning. An axiomatic basis is provided for each variable to serve as rules of…

Noting that little effort has been devoted to the precise use of the term "theory" in rhetorical theory studies, this paper argues that, for the sake of scholarly precision in research, it is important to establish parameters of the term and to distinguish it from related terms and concepts. The paper reviews the advantages of the use of theory,…