Introductory models and basic concepts: meaning

Berlo on Meaning

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People can have similar meanings only to the extent that they have had, or can anticipate having, similar experiences

Since we learn to attach meanings to words as we go through life and these meanings will probably change as a result of our experiences of using them, so there will always be, at least slight, differences in the meanings people have for the same word.

As a person who had to endure school dinners in the 60s, I cannot dissociate the word 'cabbage' from the memory of that revolting food. If someone, particularly a younger person who experienced school dinners where cabbage was not such a vital and regular ingredient, spoke to me about cabbage, they would probably not anticipate my negative reaction.

Berlo's point about 'anticipation' is important, though. We can certainly understand people's stories of experiences they have had and we haven't. To be effective communicators, we have to have the skill of empathy- we have to be able to put ourselves in another person's shoes and see the world from their vantage point. Someone who is a great cabbage-eater may find it difficult to understand why I hate cabbage, but they know what it's like to hate, say, yoghurt - in that way they can come close to imagining my dislike of cabbage.

Without this skill of empathy, it would be very difficult indeed to communicate effectively. But, of course, there are limits. I, for example, cannot, however hard I try, understand how people come to hold and practise religious beliefs. Similarly, I cannot understand how people can respond to paintings. I can come some way towards understanding each - religious people will tell me about 'love', for example, and I have some understanding of that; art-lovers will tell me about 'aesthetic pleasure' and I have some understanding of that. But, clearly, there is a gap in my experience and I simply can't cross that gap to a full understanding of their experience. As a result, their messages about religion and painting will have gaps of meaninglessness in them as far as I am concerned.

Related articles:

Interpersonal Communication: Language

Introduction to semiotics

Semantic differential

Ang on meaning

Baudrillard

Fish on anti-formalism

Fish on interpretive communities