distinction. Words are spoken sounds or the written representations of sounds that we have agreed will stand for something else. By mutual consent, we can make anything stand for anything.
The process of communication involves using words to help create meanings and expectations. However, as important as words are in representing and describing objects and ideas, meaning is not stamped on them. Meanings are in people, not in words. The goal when communicating is to have our meanings overlap, so that we can make sense out of and understand each other’s messages.
The Triangle of Meaning
Language fulfills its potential only when we use it correctly. The triangle of meaning developed by two communication theorists—C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards—helps explain how language works (Figure 4.1).5
Figure 4.1 The Triangle of Meaning
In Ogden and Richards’s triangle of meaning, the three points are thought, word, and thing. The broken line connecting word (a symbol) and thing (a referent or stimulus) indicates that the word is not the thing and that there is no direct connection between the two. Thus, when we use words, we need to remind ourselves that the only relationships between the words we use and the things they represent are those that exist in people’s thoughts (including, of course, our own).
Frequently, even the existence of an image or a physical object does not establish meaning. Some time ago, a public service commercial depicting a rat and a child living in a tenement was shown on television. The child was seen beckoning to the rat as she repeated, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.” Although this example may seem bizarre, its meaning is clear: It is possible for us to look at the very same object but give it very different meanings. This is because the meaning of anything is inside each person who experiences it.6 If we are to be successful at communicating, we should understand the relationships that exist between words and people’s thoughts and their reactions.7
Problems with the Communication of Meaning
The communication of meaning is a key function of language. The factors identified in this section relate to problems we may have when attempting to share meaning.
Ethics and Communication
Looking at Language
The following is a joke that language scholars share:
Q: What do you call a person who speaks three languages?
A: Trilingual
Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
A: Bilingual
Q: What do you call a person who speaks one language?
A: American
1 In the book Language Shock, author Michael Agar notes that a commonly held stereotype is that Americans find it particularly difficult to enter into the world that goes with another language because it requires them to adopt another point of view, another way of perceiving. To combat this stereotype and change the way Americans look at the world and at themselves, should they have to learn another language? Why or why not? And if they should, which one(s) do you suggest they learn and why?
2 According to Steven Pinker, a linguist and author of The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature, whatever language we do speak is the joint creation of millions. Pinker tells us language works because it reflects the world as we jointly experience it. Language does not just convey reality; it also has social functions. Pinker explains that because of our concern for our relationships, we frequently fail to say what we actually mean, opting to use indirect or ambiguous speech instead.
In your opinion, is it ethical to conceal words under veils of politeness and innuendo? Is it ethical to be calculatingly ambiguous? Would you, for example, use indirect speech to help another person save face? Would you use it to negotiate an agreement or treaty? Are some things better left unsaid?
Understanding Meaning’s Meaning
In talking to others, we often assume too quickly that they understand what we mean. There are many reasons, however, we may not be understood as we want to be. Simply put, the words we use can create barriers to understanding. In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty and Alice have the following conversation:
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiles contemptuously, “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant, ‘There’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘A nice knock-down argument,’” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
When presented with the word “bark,” are you more likely to picture a dog or a tree?
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We can make words mean whatever we want them to mean. Nothing stops us—except our desire to share meaning with others.
Meanings are Both Denotative and Connotative
We may experience a problem in communication if we consider only our own meaning for a word. Although we know what we mean, the crucial question is: What do our words bring to mind for those with whom we are communicating?
When we think about what language means, we must think in terms of both denotative (objective or dictionary) meaning and connotative (subjective or personal) meaning. Although each word has a dictionary definition, your own experiences influence the meanings you assign to words. That is, your connotative meanings vary according to your own feelings for the object or concept you are considering.
Meaning is Dated
Every noteworthy event, particularly catastrophes, catapults words into everyday speech and dictionaries. September 11, 2001, was no exception. When the American Dialect Society met to decide the top or newly reconditioned words of the year, “9/11” was voted the expression most likely to last.
Not all words’ meanings persist, however. For example, in the 1940s, if you were well dressed, people might say you looked spiffy. In the 1960s, they might say you looked swell. A few years ago, they might say, “You’re on fleek.” What we used to refer to as awesome now is termed dope.8 Words lose their luster for other reasons too. For example, at Princeton
