LANGUAGE

WORDS 

Language is a unique invention of mankind where words create both surface meaning and deep feeling which we call denotation and connotation respectively.  Sometimes a word may denote one thing but connote something entirely different. A red rose may just be a flower but when placed in the hair of someone may stand for love. In modern terminology we call it interpretation and interpretation often relies on a context. A context would imply the surrounding meaning and the possible links of one word with other words. Language not only creates meaning but also shapes it through its form and content.  Its content contains meaning, while its form gives rise to shapes and sounds. The way meaning unfolds is called structure. This aspect of language can compel or persuade us and often falls in the realm of rhetoric.

LOGOCENTRISM

We invariably assume that when we use a language we are able to communicate our meaning to the other. This assumption need not be always true. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail. Language is loaded with meaning, conceptions and misconceptions.  We somehow believe that language possesses an exactitude that other communicative modes do not. But nothing can be further from the truth. Language is perhaps the most inexact means of communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings. Also there is great scope for misrepresenting ideas. The shifting and evolving nature of meaning in sentences and their context invariably creates misunderstanding even when the cultural context is shared between speakers. Derrida believes that ideas do not exist outside language. Words refer only to other words, not to things, thoughts or feelings. He is one of the poststructuralists who playfully attacks logocentrism, a method of literary analysis where language is seen as the fundamental expression of external reality.  

DENOTATION/CONNOTATION

Cultural intentions, the logic of subject centered reason in language, and ambiguity can create multiple meanings making statements potentially volatile or fuzzy. Obviously words function as both denotation and connotation, that is, they denote an apparent surface meaning and they connote an aura of implied meaning. Both make up the identity and personality of words and the user is free to choose either the connotation or the denotation of words. Generally speaking denotation is used for scientific prose while connotation for emotive prose for example in poetry. 

Literature, dramatic and visual arts invariably employ figures of speech, imagery, metaphor, synesthesia, metonymy, hyperbole and symbolism, all termed as figurative language, to communicate their experiences. Synesthesia has two meanings. Physiologically it implies sensation felt in one part of the body when another part is stimulated. Psychologically it means a process in which one type of stimulus produces a secondary, subjective sensation, as when some color evokes a specific smell. Metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing is used in place of that of another associated with or suggested by it, for example we may use “10 Downing Street” for “the British Prime Minister.”

The use of figurative language is not restricted to arts or media. Politicians, statesmen, businessmen, advertisers and sports managers all use figurative language, some use it dexterously and some ineptly. When we understand the figures of speech they employ we can not only understand what they are saying but also what they are not saying or hiding. This understanding helps us to recognize propaganda, prejudice, power and coercion exercised through the medium of language.

LINGUISTIC MEANING

Modern theorists such as Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jacques Lacan, have unmasked the inner contradictions and production of linguistic meaning and the role it plays in shaping individual consciousness. Literature, television, advertising, popular music, political and historical documents, maps and census all function as powerful discourses that the deconstructive methodology attempts to understand. Local narratives, grand universal narratives, meta-narratives and proto-narratives all employ language to create their own histories and versions of reality. The imagined nature of reality and the concept of nation and individual is a function of modern print capitalism ably demonstrated by Benedict Anderson in Imagined Communities.  Figures of speech or tropes employ shifting meanings that hide intentions to dominate or exploit. We employ the tropes of image, symbol, metaphor and irony to describe, compare and contrast what we wish to tell.

IMAGERY, SYMBOLISM, METAPHOR

 Imagery invariably creates a mental picture of something, which is visual, auditory, spatial, tactile, temporal or archetypal. Mathew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach” provides many examples of these images. We can see the “calm” sea and also the “alarms of struggle and flight” where ignorant armies clash by night. The poem reflects a cosmic anxiety and attempt to see big global patterns.

Symbolism uses words to suggest an area of meaning beyond itself. Though the flag is just apiece of cloth but it symbolizes a country with all its dreams and aspirations. The piece of cloth is imbued with symbolic meaning and destruction of the cloth can be seen as an insult to the nation. Carl Jung defines a symbol as "a term, a name, or even a picture that may be familiar in daily life, yet that possesses specific connotations in addition to its conventional and obvious meaning. It implies something vague, unknown, or hidden from us." National iconography constructs the identity of a nation through these means. Religious or cultural icons also function in similar fashion.

Metaphors employ words or pictures to compare them to something else. When politicians become pigs they are represented as greedy and selfish; but when they become vultures they are preying on their innocent citizens. The use of words such as “like” or “as” illustrates a comparison and function as similes. Generally speaking similes are logically true comparisons while metaphors are false comparisons. Surprisingly in everyday speech we use metaphors more frequently than similes.  

IRONY

Irony emphasizes what we want to say by saying the very opposite. In that sense ironic statements function like metaphors. A father might call his 4-year old son “A Big Chap” or a married daughter a “little girl.” When I nip the bumper of another car the somewhat irate driver might stop in front and tell me, “Nice driving mister,” he is not complimenting me on my driving but pointing out my carelessness. He assumes that I understand the ironic import of his statement from the context in which it is spoken. Irony functions within a context.

 © Mukesh Williams 2012