Words Like Silver Fish : The Affective Component of Sound in Meaning  

Oleh:

Mahir, Mary

Jenis: Article from Bulletin/Magazine
Dalam koleksi: ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM (http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives.html) vol. 33 no. 3 (Jul. 1995), page 2.
Fulltext: Words Like Silver Fish The Affective Component of Sound in Meaning.pdf (257.39KB)

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Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: EE34.7 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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When we teach meaning in language, we usually resort to the solid security offered by the authority of the dictionary. But the assistance that dictionaries-even the best of them-afford us is retarded by the dual nature of semantics: the meaning and the meaning-potential of words. The former with its clearly demarcated boundaries and concrete nature poses little problem for the lexicographer; but the nebulous quality of the latter is harder to crystallize in clearcut definition, simply because meaning-potential stems from an amalgamation of cultural, experiential, and sensory imprints gathered over a lifetime and varies from individual to individual. The mysterious power that words have cannot be attributed solely to their meaning, since they move us by their sound, texture, shape, colour, and even taste. The following extract from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass is an illustration of the truth that linguistic meaning is frequently dependent on a complex wealth of sensory details. "Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe." "That's enough to begin with," Humpty Dumpty interrupted. "There are plenty of hard words there. Brillig means four o'clock in the afternoon-the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.

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