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Discriminative Cues
A discriminative cue is anything that serves to notify your subject that conditions have changed and that as a result, reinforcement and/or punishment are now, suddenly pending, depending on what he does next.
In effect, a discriminative cue puts your subject on notice that he'd best pay attention, because the fat's in the fire and things could be popping shortly.
For example, if your telephone rings, that can serve as a discriminative cue that tells you that reinforcement is available in the form of someone who wants to speak to you, if you make the response of picking up the receiver.
Or, if your dog stands at the back door whining desperately to get out, that can serve as a discriminative cue that tells you that punishment in the form of a urine stained carpet will be forthcoming, unless you let the dog out.
In similar fashion, the word no can serve as a discriminative cue that tells your dog that in just an instant he is either going to be rewarded or he is going to be punished, depending on what he does next.
All of the formal commands as well as the attention getter, can rightly be said to be discriminative cues.