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LANGUAGE AS ABSTRACTION: INDETERMINACY - Coggle Diagram
LANGUAGE AS ABSTRACTION: INDETERMINACY
INDETERMINACY
our mind processes the world through
words
> the literal meaning of words can cause two main problems
REFERENTIAL INDETERMINACY
SEMANTIC INDETERMINACY
language can't be thought as a transparent tool for representing reality
REFERENTIAL INDETERMINACY
owes to the fact that there is
no direct correspondence
between words and referents, but the link between them is
arbitrary
any word could stand for any referent > the words "lie" and "get" are used in many different situations
any portion of external reality could be represented through different words > both "terrorist" and "freedom fighter" refer to the same kind of people, but from two different perceptions
phenomenon found
between languages
> the Italian word "azzurro" and "blu" refer to different colors, whereas in English they are perceived as being two tonalities of the same color (light blue and blue)
STRUCTURAL DIFFERENTIAL MODEL
formulated by linguist Alfred Korzybski
it is possible to identify four main levels of abstracting and representing reality > they can also be classified as PRE-VERBAL and VERBAL
PRE-VERBAL ABSTRACTION
EVENT (OR PROCESS) LEVEL
> is represented by reality as a series of sub-microscopic elements
atoms and cells > reality is made up by this elements, but that's not something that we cannot perceive (too abstract, studied at school) > only perceived by scientists
OBJECT (OR EXPERIENCE) LEVEL
> concerns reality as we experience it through our senses, so that objects can be recognizable
you perceive/recognize objects (mountain, man, sadness, desk) > these are things that we can perceive
VERBAL ABSTRACTION
DESCRIPTIVE LEVEL (NAMING LEVEL)
> consists of the labels and names we use to describe objects that we recognize
when we give them a name we think we know that
it's physiologically there the need to give things a name > the way we use language determines what we are thinking
INFERENCE LEVEL
> produces abstractions of meaning concerning reality on the basis of common knowledge, or meaning relations which are associated to things sharing the same label, rather than being based on our direct experience of them
we give names to things we do no have directly experience with > if a given object is sold as a desk it becomes a desk
GENERALIZATION LEVEL (HYPOCOGNITION/HYPERCOGNITION > hypotheses, assumptions...)
> inferences made upon other inferences (philosophy)
SEMANTIC INDETERMINACY
the semantics of verbal language is also quite
problematic
since language can somehow "distort" reality
we codify a specific referent through a specific word and, by keeping using them to refer to similar things, we corroborate specific concepts
nowadays the terms migrants and and immigrants are generally associated with people moving from extra-EU countries to the EU, rather than simply people moving between the boundaries of the EU
scholars distinguish the concepts of DENOTATION and CONNOTATION
DENOTATION
> the literal meaning of a word (on a dictionary)
CONNOTATION
> the variety of additional meanings that most words carry with them and that can bias our perception of reality
CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS
ATTITUDINAL MEANINGS
> your listener perceives the relationship between the object the speaker is talking about (terrorist vs freedom fighter)
AFFECTIVE MEANINGS
> the way the speaker perceives his interlocutor (sir vs pal)
ASSOCIATIVE MEANINGS
> we assume certain things that are not there (example: baby sitter = young girl, not very rich > we develop this idea of babysitter > there are also men > based on our experience, this is the concept we develop) > (nurse vs male nurse)
SOCIAL MEANINGS
> can affect the perception of your speaker (speaker's provenance) > we develop the sense of the person therefore we believe or not what he's saying
COLLOCATIVE MEANINGS
> there are options that we say because we think they are the most appropriate, without thinking of all the rage of words we know (the grass is greener, you're welcome)
REFLECTED MEANINGS
> an expression contains a word with two different meanings, with one of them being contextually inappropriate ("How was the film?" - "Terrific!": terrific could generate an ironic misunderstanding because of its double meaning of amazing and terrifying)
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
frequently used when we talk
when you want to say something, but you use completely different words > we attach/associate specific meanings/interpretations