Learning Objectives

1.

Define Language. Language is a unified system of symbols that permits a sharing of meaning. Language allows minds to meet, merge, and mesh. When we make sense out of people's messages, we learn to understand people.

2.

Describe and explain the triangle of meaning. There is no direct relationship between words and things, as Ogden and Richard's triangle of meaning illustrates. Words don't "mean"; people give meaning to words.

3.

Distinguish between connotative and denotative meaning. A serious barrier to communication occurs when we forget the fact that words have both generally agreed-to denotative (objective, or dictionary) meanings and highly individualized connotative (subjective, or personal) meanings. As a result, different people give different meanings to the same words.

4.

Discuss how culture and gender influence language use. In addition, culture and gender influence the ways men and women experience, process, and use language. In part, because language and perception are intertwined, language use varies from culture to culture. Words change over time and from place to place according to individual experience. Language also influences the attitudes we hold about males and females, as well as how males and females perceive each other.

5.

Provide examples of bypassing, and intensional and extensional orientation. Among the communication problems that result from changes in meaning are bypassing (when people think they understand each other but in fact do not) and mistaking a label for the thing itself (taking an intensional rather than an extensional orientation).

6.

Identify two strategies to improve oral languages abilities. There are two strategies we can use to improve our oral language abilities. First, we can use common sense to recognize that certain styles of language are appropriate at certain times and in certain places. Second, we can seek to make ourselves as clear as possible by selecting words with meaning for our listeners, taking account of their educational level and the sublanguages they understand.

7.

Explain how technology is affecting language use. Technology is also influencing language use. How we communicate online frequently differs from how we communicate in person. Some believe the Internet is invigorating language, while others believe it is stripping language of its expressive value.

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