Language In Thought and Action PDF

Preview

Summary

Summary of Chapters in Language in Thought and Action...

Description

Language In Thought and Action Semantics is the study of meaning, especially the relationship between language and meaning (NOT the meaning of words) Exam 1 Preface    

Semantics (X Paragraph 1) Words to Thoughts (X Paragraph 2) Taters….. (X Paragraph 4) Cooperation (xii

Chapter 1: Language and Survival We learn not just from our own experiences, but also from the writings of people who have written down their experiences. “Language is the indispensable mechanism of human life- of life such as ours that is molded, guided, enriched, and made possible by the accumulation of the past experiences of members of our species,” (Hayakawa 8). There are many things I would have never realized if it wasn’t for the nonfiction writings I have read. For example, the autobiography of Jessica Queller and the poetry of Emily Dickenson. In her book, Pretty is What Changes, Jessica Queller writes her experience on removing her breasts in order to defeat her cancer. Emily Dickenson, in her poem of It’s Like the Light, writes about what she has seen and learned as a writer. I would have never understood or seen things the way they did if they had not written down their own perspectives. I cannot learn to be open-minded if I do not know what other ways there are to see one thing.    

Gratis (3, 8) Survival of the Fittest (4) “One reason for Mitt’s Failure…” (11) Last Paragraph (12)

Chapter 2: Symbols “Athletes collect trophies and college students collect membership keys in honorary societies to symbolize victories in their respective fields,” (14). It’s true, us humans do tend to ‘collect’ things that stand for something, although it is not always by our realization. I, for example collect stamped pennies, and my sister collects keychains. Before, it was just because we found them interesting, but really, it stands for where we’ve been, where we’ve gone. These items do, in a way a symbolize the ‘footprints’ of our past. Since I collect these pennies, does that mean these pennies are somehow saying something other than where I’ve been? Do the things that are collected tend to symbolize more than one thing, even if that is not our meaning?  

4 Paragraphs, 4 things, not words (15) No necessary connection… (14, 16, 17, 19)

 

Maps and Territories (19-20) 3 Ways of acquiring false maps ( 21 last paragraph)

Chapter 3: Reports, Inferences, Judgements This is similar to what I said in my first paragraph, when I stated that if I had not read other writings from other people’s experiences, I would very likely be less informed about these experiences. “After listening to [people’s] opinions and the reasons for them, we may leave the discussion slightly wiser, slightly better informed, and perhaps less one-sided than we were before the discussion began,” (29). I do sometimes listen to people’s opinions about other people or about movies or shows and sometimes they manage to make me think a little differently. I guess I could say that other people’s judgement sometimes manage to make me change mine. Sometimes a parent or a sibling would say they didn’t like a friend of mine, and that this friend was taking advantage of me because she, herself was not being an actual friend in return. Then I would think, well, I can’t agree with my family all the time. Then later my opinion might change. Another person who happens to be my friend instead of family may comment on the same person and say the same thing, and then I would change my mind and think, well, if she thinks that, there must be something to what my family’s saying. Then I learned that sometimes people, even families, see things that we, ourselves may be too biased to see until we realize what we’re seeing.    

Reports= Facts (Information) (23) Inferences (Explicit/ Implicit) (24) Judgements (Explicit/ Implicit) (Bottom 25, Top 26) Slanting with only reports (29-30)

Exam 1 Part 1: Write either (a) or (b) to the left of each number. (a) means that based upon what has been covered in class and written in the book so far, the authors and Dr. Burns would agree. (b) means that the authors and Dr. Burns would disagree. 1. When a student says something like, “Taters ain’t doin’ good this year,” a teacher with a semantic orientation would correct the student’s grammar, pronunciation, and diction first and then focus on the truth, the adequacy and the degree of trustworthiness of the students statement. (B) 2. The basic ethical assumption of semantics is that cooperation is preferable to conflict. (A) 3. Words are not really important; what is important is the ideas for which they stand. (B) 4. The author believes that the cultural accomplishments of the ages are given to us gratis, as free gifts from the dead, and good examples of this are air and sunshine. (B) 5. Even though words lead to thoughts and thoughts lead to words, I think our thoughts lead to out words more than our words lead to our thoughts. (B) 6. According to the following quotation, “it would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence,” the people we influence have a big influence over us. (A)

7. To Hayakawa, survival of the fittest should be and is more about conflict and competition than about cooperating and helping others. (B) 8. No more talk! Revolution now! (B) 9. The coordination of effort necessary for the functioning of society is achieved through language, or it is not achieved at all. (A) 10. When the use of language creates or aggravates disagreements and conflicts, there is something linguistically wrong with the speaker, the listener, or both. (A) Part 2: Write T, F, or ? to the left of each number below based on the content of the following. The Story The owner of the Spence Manufacturing Company entered the office of one of his foremen where he found three employees playing cards. One of them was John Korth, brother-in-law of foreman Bob Cady. Bob Cady, incidentally, often worked late. Company rules did not forbid gambling on the premises. The president had expressed himself strongly on the subject. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

In brief, the story is about a company owner who found three men playing cards. ? Company rules did forbid gambling on the premises. F The president entered the office of his foremen. ? Company rules did forbid playing cards on the premises after hours. ? It is not clear whether or not the card players will be punished. T While the card playing took place in Bob Cady’s office, the story does not state whether Cady was present. ? 7. John Korth is Bob Cady’s brother-in-law. T 8. Three employees were gabling in a foreman’s office. ? 9. The president is opposed to gambling on company premises. ? 10. John Korth did not take part in the card game in Bob Cady’s office. ? Part 3: Answer all six of the following. 1. According to Dr. Burns, in out ENG 4010 course, what does the word semantics mean? a. Semantics is the study of meaning, especially the relationship between language and meaning (NOT the meaning of words). 2. Eusocial a. What does eusocial mean? i. Extremely all truistic which means concern for others. b. What influence does it have on survival? i. Eusociality is rare, but is very successful. Ants and honeybees are eusocial. Only 2% of insects are eusocial. Ants survive on cooperation and hard work. Ants cooperate to make societies. Eusociality lets ants survive by cooperating and getting along. 3. Explain the point that there is not necessary connection between a symbol and what it stands for (symbolizes) by referring to

a. Symbols and things symbolized are independent of eachother, we all have a way of feeling as if and sometimes acting as if there were necessary connections. We are so connected to our symbols that it is hard to see it any other way. b. (A) the changing symbolic meaning of the following object or thing, tanned skin, and to i. Tanned skin once indicated a life of farming and hard work, now it symbolizes a life of leisure or a hobby for someone. c. (B) the changing symbolic meaning of a common word or phrase of your choice. i. Pop vs Soda vs Coke ii. People living in other states call pop, soda or some even call any type of pop, coke. To me, coke is a specific brand of pop. 4. What are the meanings of: a. Extensional world i. The world we know or are capable of knowing through our own experience. b. Verbal world i. The world that comes through words c. Where does most of our knowledge come from, which world? i. Verbal 5. What are the three ways of getting false maps of the world in our heads? a. By having them given to us b. By making them up for ourselves by misreading true maps c. By constructing them ourselves by misreading territories. 6. How do you slant something when all you use are true, verifiable facts? a. No judgement being directly stated; one is implied. Even if explicit judgements are kept out of ones writing, implied judgements will get in there. Balance implied favorable and unfavorable judgements against eachother. Slanting gives no explicit judgements, but it differs from reporting in that it deliberately or inadvertently makes judgements inescapable.

Exam 2 Chapter 4: Contexts If my mother had never gestured to the T.V. or to the books or such when she said a word, I would have never learned what the words meant. “We learn the meanings of practically all our words (which are, it will be remembered, merely complicated noises), not from dictionaries, not from definitions, but from hearing these noises as they accompany actual situations in life and learning to associate certain noises with certain situations,” (36). I think everybody learns words better when they hear it associated with something else they know about, because it makes it easier to catch the meaning of the word in which the context is being used. Like when I was a kid, I would ask my friend a question, that she would probably either say, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘maybe’ or ‘I don’t think so’. Her answers were usually the same as mine, so whatever I would answer, she would probably have the same answer. One day when I asked her a question, she used a word I had never heard before. “I doubt it,” she would say. I had never heard the word ‘doubt,’ but I assumed it had to mean ‘I don’t think so,’ because it was what I would have said. Instead of asking her, because I didn’t want her to know she knew a word I didn’t, I would ask her another question. A question I knew she would say she ‘didn’t think so’. She ended up saying the exact same response as the first question, so I figured it meant exactly what I had thought in the first place.   

“…. No word ever has exactly the same meaning twice.” (39) Non-sense vs nonsense (38) Note the frequent use of verbal/physical and intentional/ extensional

Chapter 5: The Double Task of Language There are lots of catchy advertisements that I hear, and even though many of them fail to make me want to buy the product of which they are selling, it still manages to distract me sometimes, when I don’t want to be bothered. “To produce rhythm is to arouse attention and interest; so affective is rhythm, indeed, that it catches our attention even when we do not want our attention distracted,” (Hayakawa 43). Some advertisements, with rhythm or even without, are like the songs you can’t get rid of. Usually it’s because they are either so stupid or so interesting that I think about it for a few seconds. One of the advertisements, ‘Philsbury, home is calling,’ makes me want to buy some so I can make them and eat them. Other advertisements, like ‘Dove for Damages,’ doesn’t make me think about buying the shampoo, but when showing the shampoo on television it had a song to the tune of ‘My favorite Things,’ and I thought it was quite funny that they came up with that. Then there are advertisements like ‘Geico,’ where even though it makes me think about the advertisement, it doesn’t make me want to buy their insurance. In fact it makes me want to throw a rock at whoever came up with the idea to make people do stupid things on the television and say, “It’s so easy, even a caveman can do it.” Uh huh, if it’s so easy wouldn’t they already have plenty of customers? And if they have plenty of customers, why do they need so much advertisement?  

Feelings/ Information (43) Affective/ extensional (Bottom 45)



Inferences/ Semantics/ Informative and affective ( 52-54) o Taboo (46) o Words with built in judgements (bottom 48- top 49)

Chapter 6: The Language of Social Cohesion There have been times when I meet people who I only talk to because they already know I’m listening. I’m deaf/hard of hearing, so if someone is talking, I have to look at them to see if it’s me they’re talking to. After that, they already know I’m paying attention to them. I can’t look away, because I’ll miss what they’re saying and I feel stuck because even though I can’t always hear what they say, I know they expect me to, so I stay there, a mannequin doll. I know if I leave, they won’t understand it’s because I just don’t have the time and energy to try to figure out every word they’re saying. I try not to be rude or to offend them by just ignoring them and leaving. “There are numberless daily situations in which we talk simply because it would be impolite not too,” (53). I’ve tried many times to explain to them, but my words never quite get through, so I try to find a polite way to leave. I’ve already told them I’m deaf and I have a hard time understanding what they’re saying, but they don’t want to listen. So without giving them a chance to say another word I don’t understand before I leave, I simply say, “I gotta go, can’t be late, see you later” and rush the hell out of there. If I didn’t know it was impolite, I would just say, “I told you, I’m deaf/hard of hearing, go away.”   

Presymbolic ( 56, top 1/3 58, 62) Ritual (61) Flat tire (63)

Chapter 7: The Language of Social Control I hate that on the rare times I decide to actually test an advertisement’s truth, I always find that it’s rarely ever true. I once bought a ‘mood ring,’ when I was younger, and I was so excited about having one. I really believed that it would tell me what mood I was in, because I wasn’t always sure. I thought it would teach me what I was feeling; was I ‘angry’ or was I ‘upset?’ I would look at the ring and I would think that I’m content, and then the ring would turn purple and on the little paper that shows me what color equals what moods, I would find it was always wrong. The purple meant you were in love and the yellow meant you were happy. I thought maybe it made a mistake and checked it when I thought my mood should be ‘mad.’ The ring would turn black for a second, which meant ‘mad,’ and then it immediately turned yellow. The ring was just guessing. One day I lost my ring, and I never bothered to look for a new one, because I knew the advertisements would fail to be true. “We rightly object to advertisers who make false or misleading claims and to politicians who ignore their own promises,” (67). Now whenever I see an advertisement, I don’t believe it, unless I see it’s true, and if testing the truth is free.     

Directive (Bottom 65) Important Question (Middle 67) Collective Sanction (Bottom 68) Ritual ( 69-70) Directives and Disillusionment (72-73)

Mathematics of being nice  Evolution is not an argument against God, any more than gravity is. Exam 2: 1. Using examples of your own, explain three different reasons why no word ever has exactly the same meaning twice. CH 4 first highlight a. “no word exactly has the same meaning twice” i. 1. ii. 2 iii. 3 iv. 4 v. 5 2. Ritualistic utterances, which are largely presymbolic, convey very little of what? chapter 6 pg 61 a. Information 3. Rewrite the following questions to make them verifiable and factual: Is the University of Michigan better than Michigan State University? Are businesspeople more successful than doctors? a. Does the University of Michigan’s football team have a better record than Michigan State University’s football team? b. Do businesspeople make more money than doctors? 4. Briefly explain the following quotation from “The mathematics of being nice”: “Evolution is not an argument against God, any more than gravity is.” a. Evolution is part of the physical universe and so is gravity. b. If it exists in the world, why would that mean there is no God? 5. Give a clear example of your own showing how affective connotations can be changes while extensional meanings remain the same. Chapter 5 a. The score stays the same b. If you describe it differently, it changes. c. 6. What is the difference between a directive statement with collective sanction and a directive statement without collective sanction? a. With: you do as directed for the benefit of others b. Without: are you doing it for the effect of yourself 7. Give an example of your own of a directive statement with and without collective sanction. Ch 7 a. With: give to the food bank to help intercity kids b. Without: 8. Is this statement, “Police officers protect and serve,” a directive or an informative statement? Briefly explain. ch 7 pg 72 a. Directive, because it is a goal.

9. Explain and give an example of your own reading into directives promises they do not make. Ch 7 a. Directive promises are promises when you do as direct; for example, when I was young, my mom 10. According to our Hayakawa, what do people usually mean when they say they are “telling it like it is”? ch 5 pg. 52 a. Such people usually mean calling anything or anyone by the term which has the strongest most disagreeable affective connotations. b. Sometimes it is often necessary to violate verbal taboos as an aid to clearer thinking, but, more often to insist upon “telling it like it is” is to provide our minds with a greased runway down which we may slide back into unexamined and reactive patterns of evaluation and behavior. c. It’s a cover up for saying something rude.

Exam 3 College Thinking Prologue SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER Chapter 8: How We Know What We Know When people try to explain a definition to me, I don’t always understand what they are explaining. If I asked them what an ‘angle’ was, they could say, ‘angles can be acute or obtuse,’ or that ‘if you look this way, or that way you get a different angle then you would the other way.’ Those types of definitions have never helped me, they would just confuse me more. “Definitions, contrary to popular opinion, tell us nothing about things,” (87). The definitions I get aren’t always clear, especially if I don’t see what they are talking about. I prefer it when someone says, “Well, look at the triangle there, or the rectangle here,” they have angles. When they point out a couple or so items that have angles and show it to me, I can see the similarities and realize what they must mean by ‘angles’. Telling me means nothing to me if you can’t show me what it is you may be talking about.  Bessie, the Cow  Bessie is a dynamic process and not a static object. Therefore she is forever changing. (Language is forever changing).  The Process of Abstracting  The object of our experience, then, is not the "thing itself," but an interaction between our nervous system (with all their imperfections) and something outside them.  At the lowest abstraction Bessie is unique because there is only one of her.  When we move up the abstraction ladder we forget generalize while forgetting the differences of the prior analysis. Ex) Bessie is a Cow and so is Joe, but Joe may have blue eyes instead of Brown like Bessie. We abstract by saying they are both cows  Why we must abstract  It makes discussion possible  On Definitions  Definitions should be understood as statements about language. Definitions should not be a rulebook on language but a history book.  Let’s Define our Terms  The only way to avoid the snarl is to keep definitions to a minimum and point to extensional levels whenever necessary.  Operational Definitions  The definition is reliant upon a corresponding set of operations. Ex) Length is defined by the operation of measuring based on a fixed unit.  Chasing once self in ve...