Language Notes 12-18-08

Please post the following definitions by December 23. In your description of the term, please DEFINE it and the provide an EXAMPLE from class.

1. The Three Components of Language are 1) governing rules (i.e. grammar -punctuation/noun before verb- or vocabulary),
2) intention (not just unintentional communication such as yawning without realizing it), and 3) open-endedness and
creativity (words can be changed or created, such as Shakespeare's "obscene").

Theories of Meaning
2. Definition Theory
By defining something in words, such as a trangle, you should be able to distinguish it from anything else and/or draw it (like the triangle-the way it is defined, it could not possibly be drawn as anything else).
3. Denotation Theory
Drawing meaning from a meaningless word, usually based on context. An example of this is "France", just a meaningless assembly of letters or sounds, but from it we denote 'a country in western Europe between Spain and Germany on the Atlantic...'
4. Image Theory
There is a mental image brought to mind for each word, but some do not create a specific image if they are vague words or words that don't have tanglibe meanings, such as "freedom" or even "tree" - there is not really one specific image that most people's minds create upon hearing those words.

Problems with Language
5. Vagueness
The quality of a word which has no precise meaning, but is useful since we don't usually NEED to know all the specifics to get through the day (i.e. "slow").
6. Ambiguity
A word or phrase can have more than one meaning (i.e. "plane" or "mean").

7. Secondary Meaning (i.e. Denotation, Connotation and Euphemisms)
Denotation is the primary meaning of a word such as "death"="non-living".
Connotation is the web of associations and/or emotions that surround a word such as the sadness, anger, grief, and fear that we naturally feel when the word "death" is mentioned.
Euphemisms are words or phrases used in place of words with harsh negative connotations, such as how we say "passed on" instead of "died" to soften the blow.
8. Metaphor
A direct comparison of 2 words without using "like" or "as" such as when you say "Mike is a pillar in the community." (Mike and pillar are being compared but not literally).
9. Irony
Using one word or phrase but meaning another/not "face" meaning. "Great Weather!" could mean 'ugh this weather stinks!'

(I don't think we have gotten this far yet in class)
Problems with Translation
10. Untranslatable Words
11. Idioms

12. Labels
13. Stereotypes
14. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Emotionally Laden Language
15. Emotive Meaning
16. Weasel Words
17. Grammar
18. Revealing and Concealing