What is language?
1. Rule based
2. Intended
3. Creative and open ended
1. the rules of language (grammar) fall under syntax; there is
particular order to the pattern of words and we, for the most part,
agree upon these rules/patterns.
Vocabulary is also ordered in that there is general
agreement as to what words mean what. Think of words as
noises; we agree those particular noises mean particular things.
language is a form of communication BUT not all communication
is language.
2.
yawn – deliberate/natural
Each is body language, but which is intentional? The intentional
one is language
3.
rules of grammar and vocabulary allow us to create almost an infinite
number of grammatically correct sentences, which allow us to create
something novel/not previously stated.
What words have been introduced/invented in your lifetime?
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/dictionaries/pdfs/21stc-vocab.pdf
http://all-funny.info/new-words-for-the-21st-century-2
cyberbullying
denialist
domestic goddess
jeggings:
mankini:. (mankinis)
retweet:
sexting:
slow food:
upcycle:.
woot:
The problem with meaning
It is very important that you learn about traxoline.
Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It is montilled in
Ceristanna. The Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts of
fevon and then brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline
may well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the
future because of our zionter lescelidge.
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete
sentences
1. What is traxoline?
2. Where is traxoline montilled?
3. How is traxoline quaselled?
4. Why is it important to know about traxoline?
Role of meaning of key words: without meaning, you
cannot determine whether sentences/statements are
true or false.
Inherent to meaning is paradox; ambiguity
Definition theory:
Define each of the following:
Triangle
Table
Love
Explain ‘red.’
Now, explain ‘red’ to someone who has never seen colour.
Criticism: most definitions are vague and imprecise; they only
explain the meaning of words by way of…other words.
Denotation theory: A meaningful word stands for
something. A meaningless words does not. Consider
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll:
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Criticism: Denotation works well for concrete
words…Newfoundland…Ms Heneghan…but it falls
short when it deals with abstract words, such as
love, or grief, or freedom, or wisdom…words that
do not represent any ONE thing,
Image Theory: The meaning of a word is based
on the image it stands for, and you know the
meaning of the word when you have the
appropriate image in your mind,
So…what does freedom mean to you? What
does it look like? What is your concept of it?
Speaking English….what do you conceive
that to be when it is someone speaking English
instead of a parrot speaking English? What
would be the difference?
Criticism: If meaning is in the mind, we have
no way of knowing that anyone understands
the meaning of a word the same way we do.
Differences between: concrete and abstract
Denotative and connotative
Literal and figurative
What does the following mean?
We like to talk in parables and in hints and in indirections
- whether from diffidence or from some other instinct.
Robert Frost
Problematic Meaning
Vagueness
Ambiguity:
Secondary meaning: connotation v denotation; euphemism
cyberbullying: n. the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending
messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.
denialist: n. a person who refuses to admit the truth of a concept or proposition that is supported
by the majority of scientific or historical evidence.
domestic goddess: n. informal a woman with exceptional domestic skills, especially cookery.
jeggings: pl. n. tight-fitting stretch trousers for women, styled to resemble a pair of denim jeans.
mankini: n. (pl. mankinis) a brief one-piece bathing garment for men, with a T-back.
retweet: v. (on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by
another user). n. a reposted or forwarded message on Twitter.
sexting: n. informal the sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone.
slow food: n. food that is carefully produced or prepared in accordance with local culinary
traditions.
upcycle: v. reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher
quality or value than the original.
woot: exclam. informal (especially in electronic communication) used to express elation,
enthusiasm, or triumph.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59YN8_lg6U&safety_mode=true&safe=active&persist_safety_mode=1
You have a great need for other people to like and
admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of
yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity
which you have not turned to your advantage. While
you have some personality weaknesses, you are
generally able to compensate for them. You are
disciplined and self-controlled outside; you tend to be
worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have
serious doubts as to whether you have made the right
decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain
amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied
when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You
pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not
accept others' statements without satisfactory proof.
You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing
yourself to others. At times you are extroverted,
affable, sociable, while at other times you are
introverted, wary, reserved. Some of your aspirations
tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your
major goals in life.
How well does this profile describe you?
Quite Strong
Strong
Average
Weak
Quite Weak
Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as
ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the
medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality
essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving
specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a
large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever
sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different
societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached... We see and
hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community
predispose certain choices of interpretation.
Basically…where we live influences our interpretations (Sapir, 1929) and language determines how we
experience reality. We can think and see only what our language allows us to…
What became known as Sapir-Whorf hypothesis can be disputed…
1. Babies can think without benefit of language.
For example: investigate Daniel Dennett’s writings about language and intelligence and Alison Gopnik’s
TED talk about babies…
2.
Some creative people say that language plays a secondary role in their thinking; they think in
images:
Einstein only employed words or other symbols (presumably mathematical) -- in what he explicitly
called a secondary translation step -- after he was able to solve his problems through the formal
manipulation of internally imagined images, feelings, and architectures. "I very rarely think in words
at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterwards," he wrote (Wertheimer,
1959, 213; Pais, 1982).
Einstein expanded on this theme in a letter to fellow mathematician Jacques Hadamard, writing that
"[t]he words of the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my
mechanism of thought. The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain
signs and more or less clear images which can be 'voluntarily' reproduced and combined.... The
above mentioned elements are, in my case of visual and some of a muscular type.... Conventional
words or other signs [presumably mathematical ones] have to be sought for laboriously only in a
secondary stage, when the associative play already referred to is sufficiently established and can be
reproduced at will" (Hadamard, 1945, 142-3).
3. We often hunt (metaphoric) for the correct words but end up saying something like, That is not
what I meant. What does this, our searching for words, imply…which comes first, the chicken or
the egg, if the chicken is thought or the chicken is language…you get what I mean, maybe?
4. If language determines thought, then how is it new words are ‘invented?’ I don’t know, so I
Googled it?! YOLO.
Meaning as Know-How
We rarely say EXACTLY what we mean:
1. vagueness (55)
2. ambiguity:
Refuse to be put in the basket.
Visiting relatives can be boring.
I didn’t sleep with my spouse before we were
married. Did you?
3. secondary
euphemisms)
meaning
(connotations
and
slender
skinny
thin
stubborn
steadfast
firm
praise
flatter
commend
energetic
spirited
frenzied
4. metaphor:
No man is an island entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main; if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory
were, as well as any manner of thy friends or
of thine own were; any man's death
diminishes me, because I am involved in
mankind.
And therefore never send to know for
whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
5. irony
Language is ambiguous: all the others fall under the
umbrella of ambiguity.
We need to take context into consideration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nb4k1QgVE&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe
=active
http://www.theloop.ca/news/all/article//a/2293111/Coca-Cola-TV-spot-addressing-obesitynow-airing-in-Canada
Then there are the issues with translation:
Some words are untranslatable
Problems with idioms (colloquial expression and its
meaning cannot be found from the words it
contains: think metaphor and hyperbole; he was
born with a silver spoon in his mouth or with a
horseshoe up his…)
Problems with context (relationship with other
words)
Translation: requires faithfulness; comprehensibility
and ability to be translated back…
Countering Sapir Whorf;
1. babies and animals are able to think without
language. Five month old can do mental arithmetic.
2. some people claim that their ideas come first to
them in images:
Einstein wrote:
“The words of the language as they are
written or spoken do not seem to play
any role in my mechanism of thought.
The psychical entities which seem to
serve as elements of thought are certain
signs and more or less clear images
which . . . are in my case of visual and
some of muscular type. [These
elements take part in] a rather vague
play… in which they can be voluntarily
reproduced
and
combined…
Conventional words or other signs have
to be sought for laboriously only in a
secondary stage. This combinatory play
seems to be the essential feature in
productive thought, before there is any
connection with logical construction in
words or other kinds of sign which can
be communicated to others . . . In a
stage where words intervene at all, they
are, in my case, purely auditive, but they
interfere only in a secondary stage.”
Hare Brain, p. 56.
3. We sometimes struggle to find the ‘right words’
to express thoughts that feel as if they are already
there.
And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquished one delight
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born Day
Is lovely yet;
The Clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
How often have you said: “That’s not what I meant to
say.”
4. If language determines thought, then how can it evolve
(how can new words enter into a language…in the
beginning was the Word….
) Which came first the
chicken or the word for chicken?
However…complex thinking does seem to be closely
related to language.
Hard to have abstract ideas with appropriate vocabulary:
Finally: language and values
What is gossip? What – if any – is its purpose?
What is the kind of language (value) we apply when we
gossip?
What are the next two tiers after first class on planes?
Why?
Language is used to influence and persuade;
1. Emotionally laden language…
“I’m very upset…”
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives
/2013/05/20130521-095404.html
What, if any, is the difference between free speech and
hate speech?
2. Weasel words
Gawker’s motto is Today’s gossip is…
http://therxreview.com/coca-colas-new-ad-stirscontroversy/
Common Reasons Why Euphemisms are Used
1. To make difficult or emotional situations more tolerable:
("the loved one" vs "body," "cadaver," "corpse," etc.)
2. To deceive (conceal the truth); ("culturally-deprived
area" vs "slum":
"air support missions" vs "aerial bombardment")
3. To lend "status": ("sanitary engineer" vs "janitor,
garbageman";
"senior citizen" vs "retiree")
4. To lend "social acceptability": ("motion discomfort bag"
vs "vomit sack";
"recycling center" or "waste management center" vs
"dump")
5. Advertising; appeals to vanity: ("husky" or "pretty-plus"
sizes vs "overly large" [plump, fat] sizes), etc.
6. Political 'Propaganda': "the evil empire", "axis of evil",
etc.
(language intended to 'demonize' a perceived
opponent)
7. Inadvertent "technicalization" of language by engineers,
sociologists, administrators, etc.
(cf. "receiving waters" or "effluent" [of a sewage
treatment plant])
8. Or, avoidance (cf. Finnish kontio, otso, vs. karhu),
political correctness, etc.
p. 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=h6
z3GVb3uIo&NR=1&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_
mode=1&safe=active
3. Revealing and concealing: to conceal certain aspects of
reality:
4. Grammar: the active versus the passive.
Many houses were destroyed.
We destroyed many houses.
When you hear or read or observe something, how do you know what it means?
Where does meaning "come from"?
What does "meaning" mean?
How can you tell what something "is" or whether it is?
Where do words come from?
Where do symbols come from?
Why do symbols change?
Where does knowledge come from?
What do you think are some of man's most important ideas?
Where did they come from? Why? How? Now what?
What's a "good idea"?
How do you know when a good or live idea becomes a bad or dead idea?
Which of man's ideas would we be better off forgetting? How do you decide?
What is "progress"?
What is "change"?
What are the most obvious causes of change?
What are the least apparent?
What conditions are necessary in order for change to occur?
What kinds of change are going on right now?
Which are important?
How are they similar or different from other changes that have occurred?
What are the relationships between new ideas and change?
Where do new ideas come from? How come? So what?
If you wanted to stop one of the changes going on right now (pick one), how would you go about it?
What consequences would you have to consider?
Of the important changes going on in our society, which should be considered and which resisted? Why?
How?
What are the most important changes that have occurred in the past ten years? twenty years? fifty
years? In the last year? In the last six months? Last month?
What will be the most important changes next month? Next year? Next decade? How can you tell? So
what?
What would you change if you could?
How might you go about it?
Of those changes which are about to occur, which would you stop, if you could? Why? How? So what?