Читать книгу The Communication Playbook - Teri Kwal Gamble - Страница 174

Language fulfills its potential only when we use it correctly. The triangle of meaning developed by two communication theorists—C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards—helps explain how language works (Figure 4.1).⁵

Figure 4.1 The Triangle of Meaning

In Ogden and Richards’s triangle of meaning, the three points are thought, word, and thing. The broken line connecting word (a symbol) and thing (a referent or stimulus) indicates that the word is not the thing and that there is no direct connection between the two. Thus, when we use words, we need to remind ourselves that the only relationships between the words we use and the things they represent are those that exist in people’s thoughts (including, of course, our own).

Frequently, even the existence of an image or a physical object does not establish meaning. Some time ago, a public service commercial depicting a rat and a child living in a tenement was shown on television. The child was seen beckoning to the rat as she repeated, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.” Although this example may seem bizarre, its meaning is clear: It is possible for us to look at the very same object but give it very different meanings. This is because the meaning of anything is inside each person who experiences it.⁶ If we are to be successful at communicating, we should understand the relationships that exist between words and people’s thoughts and their reactions.⁷