The Nature of Language

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Language is Symbolic

Language is a collection of symbols governed by rules and used to convey messages between individuals.

Words are arbitary constructions that people agree upon.

Peace in Arabic, Chinese and Hebrew

These symbols are arbitary

Chinese for crisis includes the meaning of opportunity

The naming process operates every situation. You swallow saliva all day, but you would not drink you own spit. What is the difference? The word changes the meaning from normal to disgusting. The labels we give people determine how we treat them:

good looking	overweight
straight	gay
spiritual	fundamentalist
conservative	liberal
freedom fighter	terrorist

Meanings Are in People, Not Words

Describe the following symbols

Patiotism, symbol of a nation?

Symbol of Jesus and peace

NIGGARDLY

JEW you down

BLACK HUMOR

DUMB BLONDE

Ogden & Richards Triangle of Meaning

The broken line indicates that there is an indirect relationship between a word and the thing it represents.

A problem arises when anyone assumes that the words mean the same thing.

Linguistic Tyranny

Successful communication necessarily means that we paraphrase, we negotiate meanings.

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Language is Rule-Governed

Rules
Phonological	how words are pronounced	Champagne, double, occasion In French & English, these words have the same spelling but they are pronounced differently
Syntactic	words contain vowels	the proper order of words in a sentence
Semantic	the exact meaning of words	C_A_T or D_O_G
Pragmatic	how we use language	governs interpretation based on context

Sources of Miscommunication

Nature | Perception | Languages |Listening | Modalities

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