Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Possesing the Correct Tool to Open a Cotnainer

Everyday we are being bombarded with some form of communication without even realizing it. Communication is always occurring whether we are hanging out with friends, texting somebody or even sitting at home alone watching television. Shannon and Weaver’s transmissive model of communication is a good basis to start with to describe communication but it is too simple to truly understand the process of communication.

Michael Reddy’s conduit metaphor for communication was quite interesting. He relates ideas to objects and words as containers to carry them. Chandler adds that meaning only arises when the listener makes sense of what they hear. This conflict occurs every time people who speak two different languages try to communicate. If I look at an apple, that figure is now an idea in my head. When I give it a name, “apple,” I am using a container that I can pass on to another person so they can understand my idea. If I were to communicate to a French-speaking man or women, they would be unable to open my container. To them that idea would be placed in a “pomme” container. Without the proper means of interpretation, words are meaningless.

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