HSS 2102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Linguistics, Firefighter, Relativism
3 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Human language is a system of arbitrary signs and symbols used to communicate thoughts and feelings. Verbal communication is the ways in which we use the words in a language to gener- ate meaning, regardless of our method of communication: language and meaning. No two people share exactly the same meaning of the same word. Even when a single word is used, different people may have different perceptions shaped by their values, experiences, and knowledge. An example of this is the different understandings of the term love ; romantic love, love for family and friends, love for a pet, love for a hobby of sport, etc. Sign: an image that stands for or represents something specific and often looks like or depict the thing it represents (what thought will conjure when looking at the sym- bol) Symbol: an arbitrary collection of sound that in certain combinations stand for concepts (actual word)
