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Semantics: Three Key
Points: How We Think About Words
People think about words in three ways: cognitively, linguistically, and experientially. What does this mean?
Cognitively: When we encounter a word, we go through a “mental categorization” of what that word might mean. Our brain does some interesting things to help us conjure up a picture of or an association with that word.
Linguistically: When we encounter a word, we also consider the word order (syntax). Consider these two sentences: (1) The bully hung the boys out to dry. (2) The boys hung the bully out to dry. Both sentences include the same eight words, but the context and syntax (bully as subject versus boys as subject) might affect someone’s interpretation of the sentence’s overall meaning.
Experientially: When we encounter a word, the way in which we understand the word depends largely on our life’s experiences – cultural and otherwise. The above example about a bully would mean very little to someone who had never encountered a bully or the phrase “hang out to dry.”
All of these ways of thinking about words will come into play with ELLs.
Source: Curzan & Adams (2012), pp. 205-207.
People think about words in three ways: cognitively, linguistically, and experientially. What does this mean?
Cognitively: When we encounter a word, we go through a “mental categorization” of what that word might mean. Our brain does some interesting things to help us conjure up a picture of or an association with that word.
Linguistically: When we encounter a word, we also consider the word order (syntax). Consider these two sentences: (1) The bully hung the boys out to dry. (2) The boys hung the bully out to dry. Both sentences include the same eight words, but the context and syntax (bully as subject versus boys as subject) might affect someone’s interpretation of the sentence’s overall meaning.
Experientially: When we encounter a word, the way in which we understand the word depends largely on our life’s experiences – cultural and otherwise. The above example about a bully would mean very little to someone who had never encountered a bully or the phrase “hang out to dry.”
All of these ways of thinking about words will come into play with ELLs.
Source: Curzan & Adams (2012), pp. 205-207.