COMS 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: General Semantics, Dramatism, Rhetoric
11 Jul 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Hissing cat is a signal of being uncomfortable. 3 qualities of symbols: arbitrary- there is no reason why we have chosen the particular set of words to express. We could have chosen any sets of words or sound to do so: abstract- symbols are not concrete; not tangible; not something we can pick up and hold onto. They represent something but they are not the thing: ambiguous- meaning of symbols can be unclear and variable. Meanings are in people rather than in words. People bring their values, ideologies in the words: intentional orientations way we personally attribute meaning to a particular symbol. Based on our background and values we will have particular meaning with particular symbols. Red flower> love (usually) but if i have a bad feeling attach with it, it will be hurtful to me: extensional orientations- attention to distinguish phenomena outside us, shred meaning s between people.
