Communication, Meaning and Misconceptions
eBook - ePub

Communication, Meaning and Misconceptions

How to Help, Heal and Hurt with Language

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Communication, Meaning and Misconceptions

How to Help, Heal and Hurt with Language

About this book

This book covers several related topics anchored in the idea of how meaning is created. The central focus in the book is, however, on how language awareness may help us communicate smoothly and solve social problems. The book takes up language misconceptions and their social significance, and promotes the view that regarding meaning (and language in general) as open and flexible, rather than closed and rigid, may lead to critical thinking, innovation, and creativity. The book covers topics such as words and things, words and emotions, fake news and hate speech, and it has been written in the form of short informal dialogues to engage readers and make linguistic concepts accessible. 

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Yes, you can access Communication, Meaning and Misconceptions by Karol Janicki in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Professional Development. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Front Matter
  3. 1. Why Talk About Language?
  4. 2. Things and What You Call Them: Are You Talking About Words or Animals?
  5. 3. Do Not Take Words Too Seriously: Shouldn’t We Really?
  6. 4. What Does the Word Really Mean? Look It up in the Dictionary!
  7. 5. Meaning Is Imprecise: It Will Always Be So!
  8. 6. Define Wisely or Widely but not Wildly: And Don’t Complain!
  9. 7. Words Are Symbols not Signals—Help and ‘HELP!’
  10. 8. Classifications Cannot Be Right or Wrong—Bach in Brazil
  11. 9. Words and Emotions: ‘THIS DRIVES ME NUTS’
  12. 10. Framing: Calling a Dog an Animal Friend
  13. 11. Descriptions, Inferences and Evaluations: How Do You Know This Film is Wonderful?
  14. 12. The Dangerous Verb ‘to be’: He Lied But He Is Not a Liar
  15. 13. Linguistic Freedom, Justice, Democracy and Inequality: Do We Need a Standard?
  16. 14. On the Ladder of Abstraction: About Houses and Structures
  17. 15. Hate Speech: “He Should Be Shot”
  18. 16. Fake News: “Fierce Clashes in Peru”
  19. 17. Miscellaneous: A Little More for Doctors, Lawyers and Others
  20. 18. Poor Whoopi Goldberg
  21. 19. Conclusion: Beware of Language
  22. Back Matter