Redefining Wernicke's Area: Receptive Language and Discourse Semantics

Journal of Allied Health, Summer 2007 by Tanner, Dennis C

At the third level of semantic decoding, extracting the denotative meaning, the listener associates the individual words with his or her previous experiences. The lexical meaning of each word in Tennyson's ode to sweet sorrow is decoded by the listener in dictionary form; each word's literal meaning is recognized. At this level of decoding the auditory signal, the listener processes objective information from the speaker. The denotation of a word is its explicit primary meaning. Tennyson's verse addresses truth, love, love lost, and sorrow, and the listener denotes their meanings.

Extracting the denotative meaning of a word involves the fundamental symbol-referent relationship. Symbolism is associating the arbitrary relationship of a symbol with its réfèrent. This symbol-referent relationship is the foundation of language and the essence of semantics. Some referents are tangible and concrete, such as "chair." Other referents are intangible and more abstract, such as "love" and "sorrow." However, as Vygotsky13 noted, a word does not denote a single object, but rather a class of objects. The class is a previously agreed-upon set of parameters determined by a language society. With regard to a tangible referent such as "chair," the extension of semantic meaning to the class of objects is sometimes referred to as conceptualizing "chairness." Sternberg and Ben-Zeev12 noted that when a person thinks about the single word "chair," he or she might also conjure the following:

* All of the instances of chairs in existence anywhere

* Instances of chairs that exist only in your imagination

* All the characteristics of chairs

* All the things you may do with chairs

* All the other concepts you may link to chairs (e.g., things you put on chairs or places where you may find chairs).

These are core aspects of symbolism, and Sternberg and Ben-Zeev12 observed that the use of symbols to refer to the world is an economical way to manipulate information.

Although there is no clear boundary between denotation and connotation, extracting connotative implicit meaning, the fourth level of semantic decoding, involves the listener's logical associations with words. Connotations include dictionary meanings of words and also the feelings associated with them. Connotation semantics are implied meanings of words, those logically deduced or induced from the explicit meaning. For example, the word "teacher" may denote a person who imparts information and knowledge in a school setting. The connotation of the word includes what is denoted, but also the emotive reactions of that person logically implied and suggested: a mentor, a disciplinarian, and so forth. It includes the emotional associations with the word "teacher" that are specific and unique to the person's experiences. The mood, emotion, and temperament associated with a word are parts of its connotation.

In Tennyson's verse, the connotation of "sorrow" can include an objective meaning of profound distress associated with loss, but also a listener's specific emotional associations with the word. It may invoke the listener's unique feelings and personal associations with the specific loss of a loved one. A person grieving over a recent lost love will have unique connotations when decoding the word "sorrow," and they may take the form of personal and intimate thoughts and feeling related to the word.