By the time this happens, babies have learned much, through observation and practice, about our verbal communication and interaction patterns.
This idea is super important to consider when raising a child. In my past psychology class, I learned how much communication interferes and reflects on the child when they begin learning how to communicate. The way parents interact around their child is super important for the child’s growth.
Looking back to our discussion of connotation, we can see how individuals play a role in how meaning and language are related, since we each bring our own emotional and experiential associations with a word that are often more meaningful than a dictionary definition
This is a very interesting idea to consider when thinking about our relationship with words and phrases. A simple phrase can mean one thing to you and a whole different thing to another person, based on our associations of the terminology. This idea allows me to reflect on past situations where certain phrases shared between people have caused tension, due to differences of interpretation.
If a concept is abstract and the words used to define it are also abstract, then a definition may be useless. Have you ever been caught in a verbal maze as you look up an unfamiliar word, only to find that the definition contains more unfamiliar words?
This is a common issue I find myself stumbling upon when searching up terms I’m unfamiliar with. To solve this issue I search “A simplified definition of ___”, or I often find videos defining the world helpful. Definitions are typically helpful and super convenient in everyday life, but sometimes they can be dull.
Being aware of this indirect relationship between symbol and referent, we can try to compensate for it by getting clarification
It’s important to clarify small misunderstandings in order to reach a conclusion between the issue. Recognizing the issue at hand, and continuing the conversation by providing additional context, allows for a productive conversation for both parties.