COMM 1023 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Dysphemism, Euphemism
16 Dec 2017
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Dialect: language choice of people of a given region. Words are symbols: arbitrary: no inherent connection between an object/idea and the word that represents it, ambiguous: multiple meanings. Words are either: concrete: words that represent tangible objects, abstract: words that represent ideas, concrete words are less ambiguous. Meanings: denotative: (more) objective - dictionary meaning, connotative: (more) subjective - personal meaning. Meanings change: example: cool , dictionaries describe rather than prescribe language, they are simply a mirror, they tell us how we use words, meaning, therefore, is ultimately determined by people, not by words alone. Sapir-whorf hypothesis: this suggests that the language we use to some extent determines or at least in uences the way in which we view and think about the world. This simply means that our thoughts are a ected by or in uenced by our language. Hybels and weaver 2012: the words you choose will in uence your own interpretation, in uence of language , examples.
