Symbolic Nature of Language

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symbolic nature of language. | | The Symbolic Nature of Language. In this topic, you will examine languages as collections of words, which are symbolic, abstract, and, often arbitrary, representations of phenomena. | Let’s consider the origin of the word malaria, which is of medieval Italian origin. The word is made of two combined words “mal” meaning bad, and “aria” meaning air, reflecting the belief that sickness was caused by bad air. This makes sense considering malaria is transmitted through mosquitos, which are common in swamps that smell foul. But why does the Italian “mal” mean bad? You might say that it is because Italian is a romance language and mal comes from the Latin “malus.” But the point is that there is not any more reason for “mal” to mean bad than for it to mean “good” or even “apple” or “book.” As symbols, words do not have an inherent meaning. They are arbitrary, ambiguous, abstract representations of phenomena. Let’s explore each of these in detail. | Words have no intrinsic connection to what they represent. We could easily substitute another symbol to represent the same phenomena. The meaning of a word is a social construction by members of a group. This allows for the meaning of words to shift over time or even be newly created. For example, in the last fifteen years, the term, “googling,” has become socially acceptable among Internet users as a verb that means searching for information. | Because many words can have different meanings for different groups of people, they can often be considered more ambiguous than clear. For example, if a person says, “I had a flat on Main Street,” a Canadian might think the person had a flat tire. However, for a British person, the word flat is used to describe a person’s apartment home. In general, the meaning of a word for a specific group of people is considered socially acceptable for all
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