Chapter 4
Language and Meaning: Helping Minds Meet
ABOUT CHAPTER 4
In this chapter you introduce your students to the concept of language as a system of symbols
that permits us to share meanings. They have an opportunity to consider Ogden and Richards’
“triangle of meaning,” and they should come to understand that words do not mean anything—
meanings are in people. You can take time to explore how the meanings of certain words have
changed in the students’ own lifetimes. Students are also introduced to bypassing and to
intentional versus extensional orientation.
To improve their own use of language, students are urged to use common sense, and to recognize
that certain styles of language are appropriate at certain times and in certain places. They can
make themselves as clear as possible by choosing words that have specific meanings for their
listeners, taking into account the listeners’ age, education, and sublanguages. Be sure to examine
the Additional Skill Builders provided here which offer motivational activities to enhance your
students’ understanding of the complexities of language.
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND CONTENT
Learning Outcomes and Content Activities and Resources
LO 1: Define language and explain the
triangle of meaning
In the Text:
Pages 79-80
Triangle of Meaning
Review, Reflect & Apply
In the Instructor’s Manual:
4.1 Skill Builder: Logos and Meaning
4.6 Skill Builder: Talking Rocks
4.7 Skill Builder: Create a Word
4.16 Skill Builder: Triangle of Meaning at
Work
OLC: Self-Inventory
LO 2: Explain the factors at work in the
communication of meaning
In the Text:
Pages 80-84
Ethics and Communication: Looking at
Language
Cartoon Discussion Starter: Mom
Cartoon Discussion Starter: Waxing
Skill Builder: Time Capsule
In the Instructor’s Manual:
4.17 Skill Builder: Generations
4.18: Skill Builder: Bypassing
4.20: Orientation
Discussion Starters
LO 3: Identify problems with meaning
including patterns of miscommunication.
In the Text:
Pages 85-88
Review, Reflect & Apply
Recall
Understand
Analyze
Apply
In the Instructor’s Manual
Discussion Starters
4.2 Skill Builder: Meaning and Place
4.19 Skill Builder: Gasoline Drums
LO 4: Discuss the relationship between
culture and language.
In the Text:
Pages 88-94
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Remember
Apply
Create
Exploring Diversity: Walk in My
Moccasins
In the Instructor’s Manual
Discussion Starters
4.3 Skill Builder: Meaning and Culture
4.4 Skill Builder: Some Time Ago
4.5 Skill Builder: Word Color
4.6 Skill Builder: Youth Speak
4.7 Skill Builder: Political Speak
4.10 Skill Builder: Culture Talks
4.13 Skill Builder: Language in Thought
4.14 Skill Builder: What’s Said?
4.15 Skill Builder: Language in Action
4.21 Skill Builder: Translation
4.22 Skill Builder: Culture Talks
LO 5: Discuss the relationship between
gender and language.
In the Text:
Pages 94-96
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Understand
Apply
Evaluate
Create
Media Wise: What Words Do We
Remember?
Cartoon Discussion Starter: What Guys
Say
In the Instructor’s Manual:
Discussion Starters
4.23 Gender and Language
LO 6: Explain how power and incivility
affect language use.
In the Text:
Pages 97-99
Review, Reflect & Apply
Understand
Evaluate
Create
In the Instructor’s Manual
Discussion Starters
4.12 Skill Builder: The “N” Word
Worksheet for Semantic Differential Scales
4.24 Skill Builder: Generation Text
LO 7: Analyze how technology influences
language use.
In the Text:
Pages 100-101
Review, Reflect & Apply
Apply
Analyze
Create
In the Instructor’s Manual
Discussion Starters
4.24 Skill Builder: Generation Text
4.25 Tech Language
LO 8: Apply techniques for improving
language skills
In the Text:
Pages 101-103
In the Instructor’s Manual
4.26 Skill Builder: Service Learning
4.27 Skill Builder: Listen/View
Self Analysis Scale
Additional Activities On the Online Learning Center (OLC):
Key Term Flashcards
Self-Quizzes
Key Term Crosswords
Self Quizzes
PowerPoint Files (Teacher Area of OLC)
LESSON OUTLINE FOR CHAPTER 4
I. What Language Is
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
II. How Language Works: Words, Things, and Thoughts
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
III. What Language Means
A. Word Barriers
B. Denotations and Connotations
1. Meaning and time
2. Meaning and place
3. Meaning and culture
4. Meaning and gender
5. Meaning and power
6. Meaning and experience
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
IV. Culture and Language
A. Culture Influences the Words Used
B. Cultural Differences Can Lead to Confused Translations
C. Culture Influences Communication Style
D. Prejudiced Talk
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
V. Gender and language
A. Sexism and Language
B. Gender and Speech Style
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
VI. Language and Power
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
VII. Problems with Meaning: Patterns of Miscommunication
A. Bypassing: Confusing meanings
B. Labeling: Confusing Words and Things
C. Evasive and Emotive Language
D. Politically Correct Language
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
VIII. Thinking Critically about Language: How to Make Language Work for You
A. A Call for Common Sense
B. A Call for Clarity
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
IX. Technology and Language Use
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
X. Profanity and Obscenity
A. Incivility
B. Coarsening of the Language
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
XI. Guidelines for Developing Language Use
A. Identify how labels affect your behavior
B. Identify how the words you use affect your feelings and attitudes
C. Identify how experience can affect meaning
D. Be sure that meanings are shared
Incorporate some activities from the text and instructor’s manual.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Consider one or two words that have a special meaning for you. Why do you feel that
few, if any, other people would give these words the same meanings you have developed
for them?
2. Would you like to live in a world without words? Why or why not?
3. Discuss an incident in which you used a word in one sense and another person thought
you meant something entirely different. How did this misunderstanding affect your
relationship at that moment?
4. Compile a list of language differences that you think exist between men and women.
Why do you think they exist?
5. Some people think that in order to succeed in business, women should have a better
understanding of sports and sports jargon than men. Do you see any validity in this point
of view?
6. The chemical formula for aspirin is the same in any brand of aspirin. Why do you
suppose most people buy brand-name rather than generic aspirin?
7. Discuss John Condon’s comment, “Learning to use language intelligently begins by
learning not to be used by language.” Do you think this is true? Why or why not?
MORE DISCUSSION STARTERS
1. Some cultures encourage minimal verbal communication. A Japanese proverb says, “By
your mouth you shall perish.” What do you think this proverb means?
2. Do different generations and different regions of the country have different meanings for
the same words or different words for the same thing?
3. What is in a name? Is who you are affected by the names you are called? Do the names of
your friends affect your opinions of them?
4. Would you mind if your instructor called you a number, or a nick-number rather than
your name? Does changing your name change your identity?
5. What differences do you believe exist between men and women’s use of language? Why
do you think these differences have developed?
6. Has indirectness ever caused problems for you? What prevented you or the person you
were speaking with from being more direct?
7. Think of instances when bypassing caused problems for you.
8. What’s in a name? Is who you are affected by what you are called? Do the names of your
friends affect your opinions of them?
9. Some observes say that the ambiguous nature of rap reveals hat rappers are using a coded
language so that they can better juggle multiple constituencies. What do you think? Can
you provide an example of how rappers redefine words in their work?
10. What kind of language do you find personally offensive? How does your language use
change from person to person? Would you feel comfortable using obscenities with any of
the following people: your best friend, your instructor, your employer, your grandmother?
Why or why not?
11. Jargon functions as shorthand for people who understand the use. In the war in Iraq,
weapons of mass destruction were referred to in military briefings for the press and
public as WMDs. Have you understood this use?
12. Educators believe that we should know where to draw the line between formal and
conversational writing. Unthinking, “generation next” members mix rapid-fire Internet
English and schoolwork. Do you ever do this?
13. Why has text messaging become so popular? It appears that people longing for private
conversations enjoy communicating silently, especially in public places. Many of these
individuals use text messaging while at the movies, at sporting events, or while
commuting. Are you one of them?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES AND SKILL BUILDERS
4.1 SKILL BUILDER: Logos and Meaning
Have students bring in corporate logos. Work in teams to categorize the logos, and be prepared to
report your findings to the class in consideration of the following questions.
1. In what ways have corporations created a language for their products?
2. In what ways do corporations ensure that millions of people are able to recall their
language or brand?
3. Which of the logos your team brought into class is most effective? Least effective?
Why?
4.2 SKILL BUILDER: Meaning and Place
The text discusses regional word usage, and provides some examples. Ask students to work in
groups and brainstorm additional examples of regionalisms from their own areas of the country,
or even from their own neighborhoods.
4.3 SKILL BUILDER: Meaning and Culture
In our discussion of cultural differences and language, we note that a culture will have many
words to describe an important concept. We use money as an example of such a concept in the
United States. What other examples from U.S. society can your students cite?
4.4 SKILL BUILDER: Some Time Ago
The purpose of this exercise is to let your students experience the desire and the need to
communicate as well as the frustration of having to communicate under certain restrictions.
1. To begin, choose one of the following topics to discuss with another person.
Television
Beauty
Education
Politics
Cruelty to animals
Lifestyles
2. Next, communicate your ideas to your partner using only bodily action. You may not use
sounds or words, but you are allowed to draw pictures or sketches or to point to objects.
You will have approximately 10 minutes to attempt to communicate your ideas in this
manner.
3. Next, you may incorporate sounds such as whining, growling, and laughing. You will
have about 10 minutes for this phase.
4. Finally, you may use all means of communication: nonverbal, vocal, and verbal. Take
another 10 minutes to express your ideas free of any restrictions.
5. After completing this exercise, describe how you felt during each of the three stages. To
what extent were you and your partner able to share meaning and understand one another
during each phase? Do you consider language an important aspect of your ability to
communicate with other people? Why or why not?
4.5 SKILL BUILDER: Word Color
Before starting this exercise, write the following sentences on cards. Then place the cards in a
container.
She is thin.
She is good –looking
She is fat.
She is rich.
He is smart.
He is old.
He is firm.
She is tired.
He is cheap.
1. Divide the class into teams of three to four members. Select a card from the container, and
write the sentence on the board.
2. Give the teams 60 seconds to generate a list of as many substitutes for the italicized word as
possible. These substitutes should represent shading, colorations, or nuances that modify the
meaning of the sentence. For example, the sentence “He is cheap” could become “He is
thrifty,” “He is stingy,” or “He is a miser.” Results should be reported to the class.
4.6 SKILL BUILDER: Talking Rocks
What would the world be like without language? You can let students explore this question by
adapting Robert Vernon’s simulation Talking Rocks for your class. The exercise provides a
message that each team must leave for the teams that follow. In order to use the message, the
other team must draw what it means. The sketches that result have a feeling of cave paintings
and can inspire an interesting discussion of the real need for language in order to facilitate
understanding.
Talking Rocks is available from Simile II, 218 Twelfth Street, P.O. Box 910, Del Mar, CA 92014.
Although Vernon suggests a two-to-three-hour simulation, we have found that the point can be
made easily in a 15-minute exercise at the beginning of your unit on language.
4.7 SKILL BUILDER: Create a Word
Ask groups of students to put the first letters of their last names together to create a word. (They
may have to add vowels to create something that can be pronounced.)
Next, they should assign a meaning to the word and use the word in a sentence. Then, their
assignment is to use the word with people outside the class. During the next class session,
discuss how they felt introducing their new word. Did others accept the word? Did they question
it? What does it take to introduce a new word into our language? Does it take more than just the
members of a speech class? If so, why?
4.8 SKILL BUILDER: Youthspeak
Have students work in teams to gather as many examples as possible of current language young
people use in your area. Ask the teams to report to the class.