Language and meaning (Ch. 3.)

MARIA SUBERT

What is language? Language is a collection of symbols, letters, words with arbitrary meanings, governed by rules and used to communicate.

Language has rules:osemantics osyntax opragmatics

Semantics: The study of the way humans use language to evoke

meaning in others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcBvGToIxgA

Syntax: the way we arrange words to form phrases and sentences

Pragmatics: Language as it is used in social context

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aeCxWyNAQQ

Phatic communication: When we Do NOT to communicate information or ideas, rather to establish a mood of sociability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v80J9E11tlk

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: “Language shapes reality.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df25r8pcuI8

Words are arbitrary: They have NO inherent meaning They have only the meanings people give them…

Denotative meaning: the dictionary meaning of a world

Connotative meaning: individualized or personalized meaning

avoid these when you speak:grammatical errorsSlangClichésEuphemismProfanityJargonRegionalism sexist/racist/heterosexist/ageist languages

Slang, ClichéSlang: informal, casual street language

Cliché: overused expression that lost originality

Profanity: language that is disrespectful of sacred things

http://www.worldmag.com/2011/11/profanity_and_art

Euphemism:avoiding language that would be offensive in a social setting (not necessary to be avoided)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNk_kzQCclo

Jargon, Regionalism Jargon: language particular to a specific profession Regionalism: words and phrases specific to a region

Technical Jargon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW2LvQUcwqc

Regionalism, and why it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8TWfuOiNzE

Descriptiveness and Paraphrasing

Descriptiveness: instead of judging it, we describe the observed

behavior or phenomena

Paraphrasing is restating the content of the message by rephrasing

Operational definition identifying something by describing ◦how it works◦how it is made◦what it consist

Confusion can arise…

If you suspect someone might misunderstand your terminology, you must define the term.

Define potentially confusing words when you speak. It is recommended to use concrete language rather than vague or abstract when you speak.

Dating & Frozen evaluationDating: specify when you made the observation since everything changes over time.Frozen evaluation: in which you don’t allow your assessment to change over time.

Dating is the opposite of frozen evaluation.

Observation & Inferences Observation: descriptions of what is sensed Inferences: conclusions drawn from observations