Tài liệu Essential guide to writing part 17 docx

MEANING 253Telic Modes of Meaning Finally, we shall discuss the point with which we began—the purpose a word is chosen to serve.. This aspect we shall call the "telic mode" of meaning, f

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charged in such a context More positive would be "a stout [or plump] man with rosy cheeks."

Levels of Usage

Levels of usage refers to the kind of situation in which a word

is normally used Most words suit all occasions Some, how-ever, are restricted to formal, literary contexts, and others to informal, colloquial ones Consider three verbs which

roughly mean the same thing: exacerbate, annoy, bug Talking

among your friends, you would not be likely to say, "That person really exacerbated me." On the other hand, describing

a historical episode you wouldn't (or shouldn't) write, "The Spartan demands bugged the Athenians." But you could use

annoy on both occasions, without arousing derision in either

friends or readers of your work

The three words differ considerably in their levels of usage

Exacerbate is a literary word, appropriate to formal occasions Bug (in this sense) is a colloquial, even slang, term appropriate

to speech and very informal writing Annoy is an all-purpose

word, suitable for any occasion When in the next chapter we discuss the practical problem of appropriateness, we shall use

the labels formal, informal, and general to distinguish these

broad levels of usage

From the more theoretical viewpoint we are taking here,

we may think of level of usage as a peripheral part of a word's connotation As with connotation in general, it is not easy to look up the level of usage of any particular word Dictionaries label an occasional term "colloquial" or "slang," but not in

every case; and they do not label formal words like exacerbate

at all You have to depend on your own knowledge as a guide

In recent years the line between formal and informal usage has blurred considerably (though not enough for Spartans to bug Athenians) The distinction still exists, however, and careful writers pay attention to it

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Telic Modes of Meaning

Finally, we shall discuss the point with which we began—the purpose a word is chosen to serve This aspect we shall call

the "telic mode" of meaning, from the Greek word telos, meaning "end," and the Latin modus, meaning "manner."

Though the phrase sounds forbidding, it is a useful brief label for an obvious but important fact: that part of a word's mean-ing is the purpose it is expected to fulfill, and that words may serve different purposes

To get a bit further into this matter it will help to look at

a well-known diagram called the "communication triangle":

The diagram simply clarifies the fact that any act of com-munication involves three things: someone who cates (for our purposes, a writer); something the communi-cation is about (the topic); and someone to whom the communication is made (the reader) The broken lines join-ing these elements indicate an indirect relationship between them

It is indirect because it must be mediated by words Di-rectly, each corner of the triangle connects only to words The writer selects them, the reader interprets them, and the topic

is expressed by them Words thus occupy a central, essential, mediating position in the triangle:

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In selecting his or her words, a writer may be concerned primarily with any of the three areas of the triangle: writer-topic, writer-reader, or reader-topic These areas correspond

to the three "telic modes" of meaning We shall call them respectively: "referential," "interpersonal," and "directive."

The Referential Mode

Referential meaning connects writer and topic In this mode the writer chooses words for the exactness and economy with which they signify, or refer to, what he or she observes, knows, thinks, feels—in short, what is in his or her mind Most writing involves chiefly this mode of meaning Here are three examples:

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Mary [Queen of Scots] had returned to Scotland in 1561, a young widow of nineteen, after an absence of thirteen years in

France D Harris Willson

The principle of verification is supposed to furnish a criterion by which it can be determined whether or not a sentence is literally mean i ngfUI Alfred Jules Ayer

Calculus is a lousy subject student

In all these cases the writers select words for their refer-ential value, to make clear what is in their minds The histo-rian, aiming to be factually accurate, and the philosopher, aiming to be conceptually exact, chose diction on the basis of denotation: "in 1561," "a young widow of nineteen," "veri-fication," "criterion." The student, expressing how he feels, selects "lousy" for its connotation; and while it would be more difficult to unravel all the implications of "lousy" than

to explain the meanings of "widow" or "criterion," the word

is exactly right

In each case, of course, the diction will affect readers' at-titudes toward both subject and writer, and to that degree the words will operate in the interpretive and interpersonal modes Ayer's abstract diction may well bore people unin-terested in philosophy, for instance A mathematician, de-pending on his sense of humor, might be amused or annoyed

by the student's characterization of calculus But although such spillover effects are very real, the fact remains that in all these examples the diction aims at referential accuracy and operates primarily in that mode of meaning

The Interpersonal Mode

We choose words chiefly for their referential meanings Those words, however, will also affect the link between readers and you It follows that you should select even referential diction with an eye on the reader You must consider what readers know and do not know, how they resemble you and how For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

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they differ, what degree of formality or informality you wish

to establish with them Such considerations may lead you, for example, to look for an easier word even though it is a bit less exact than a technical term

But beyond showing a general concern for readers in choosing the words with which you discuss your topic, you may also wish occasionally to include words that will directly affect the readers' attitude toward you Now you are in the interpersonal mode of meaning

First, certain expressions create a favorable image of your-self Inevitably you exist in your words—whether you wish

to or not—as an unseen presence, a hidden voice of which readers are aware, sometimes dimly, sometimes with acute

consciousness, and which we call the persona (see page 58).

Since a persona is inevitable, you had better strive for an at-tractive one Modesty, for instance, is generally a virtue in a

writer An occasional expression like I think, it seems to me,

to my mind suggests to readers that here is a modest writer,

undogmatic, aware of his or her fallibility The following pas-sages illustrate such interpersonal diction (the italics are added):

What, then, can one learn from [Samuel] Johnson in general? First,

I think, the inestimable value of individuality F L Lucas

Whether this slowing-down of traffic w i l l cause a great or a small

loss of national income is, / am told, a point on which expert

econ-omists are not agreed Max Beerbohm

That this is so can hardly be proved, but it is, / should claim, a

fact J L Austin

Such personal disclaimers are not always a virtue At times modesty may strike a note that is weak or false At times a subject may demand an impersonal point of view, making the

use of /, my, me impossible Even when modesty is called for and a personal point of view is possible, a few I thinks and in

my opinions go a long way Used in every second or third

sentence they may well draw too much attention and annoy the reader Still, occasionally acknowledging your limitations

is one way of creating a favorable impression upon readers Beyond suggesting a diffident, nonassertive persona, you can also use words in the interpersonal mode which gra-ciously acknowledge your readers' presence Without being insincere or obsequious you can draw readers into your ex-position so that they seem to share more directly in your ideas

and feelings The judicious use of we, our, us, for instance,

implies a common ground of knowledge and values, subtly flattering to readers (again, in the examples that follow italics are added):

Let us define a plot E M Forster

No doubt, if one has more than one self (like most of us), it had

better be one's better self that one tries to become F L Lucas When we look more closely at this craft of philosophic expression,

we find to our relief that it is less exacting than the art of the true

man of letters Brand Blanshard

Any words, then, that refer to the writer in the role of writer or to the reader in the role of reader operate in the interpersonal mode of meaning To the degree that such words create an attractive image of the former and graciously acknowledge the latter, they will add to the effectiveness of any piece of writing In exposition, however, such diction, while important, necessarily remains infrequent

The Directive Mode of Meaning

The last of the three modes of meaning relates to the reader-topic side of the communication triangle Here you select words primarily for their value in assisting readers to under-stand or feel about the topic Underunder-standing and feeling are quite different responses: the first a function of intelligence, the other of emotion Words concerned with facilitating For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

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understanding we shall call constructive diction; word in-tended to evoke emotion, emotive diction.

Constructive diction includes the various connectives and signposts which clarify the organization of a composition and

the flow of its ideas: however, even so, on the other hand, for

example, in the next chapter, and so on While such words

and phrases indicate real connections within the topic, their essential function is to help readers follow the construction

of thought

How much constructive diction you include in a compo-sition depends both upon the amount of help you think read-ers need and upon your own preferences for spelling out log-ical relationships or leaving them implicit You can overuse such diction, boring or even annoying readers with too many

howevers and there/ores Most people, however, are more

likely to err on the other side, giving readers too little help The other kind of interpretive diction aims at feeling In emotive diction, connotations play a major role, especially those carrying strong negative or positive charges Examples

abound in advertising copy The word Brut on a man's

co-logne tells us nothing referential, nothing about the product

Brut aims at our emotions Cleverly combining strong macho

connotations with others of sophistication and elegance, the name is intended to overcome masculine resistance to toilet-ries as "sissy" (or perhaps to appeal to women, who buy most

of these products for their men).3

Emotionally loaded diction is also the stock-in-trade of the

political propagandist The Marxist who writes of "the

bour-geois lust for personal liberty" uses bourbour-geois (a leftist sneer

word for all things pertaining to capitalism) and lust for their

capacity to arouse disapproval in a socialist audience

Simi-larly the conservative who complains of "pinko liberals in

Washington" employs rightist sneer words Diction may also

3 The sophistication and elegance derive from the French word

brut—mean-ing "dry, unsweet"—which appears on fine champagne labels The macho

connotation follows from the fact that brut is pronounced "brute."

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be loaded positively, calling forth feelings of affection and

approval: "grass-roots Americanism," "old-fashioned flavor,"

"an ancient and glorious tradition."

There is nothing wrong in trying to arouse the emotions

of readers It is the purpose for which the emotion is evoked that may be reprehensible, or admirable The devil's advocate uses loaded diction, and so do the angels

Many words operate in both the referential and directive modes simultaneously In fact, it is not always easy to know which mode is paramount in particular cases Both Marxist

and conservative, for example, may believe that bourgeois and

pinko really denote facts Still, most of us feel that such words

are largely empty of reference and have their meaning chiefly

in their emotive force On the other hand, some words work effectively in both modes, like those italicized in the following passage (the author is describing some fellow passengers on a bus tour of Sicily):

Immediately next to me was an aggrieved French couple with a

small child who looked around with a rat-like malevolence He had the same face as his father They looked like very cheap microscopes Lawrence Durrell

Rat-like and cheap microscopes have genuine reference; they

would help an illustrator drawing a picture of this father and son At the same time the words arouse the emotional re-sponse that Durrell wants in the reader

Conclusion

The relative importance of the three modes of meaning varies considerably from one kind of writing to another Scholarly and scientific papers, for example, make the writer-topic axis paramount; advertising and political propaganda use that of reader-topic; applications for jobs and letters of appeal, for example, lie along the writer-reader axis We can suggest such differences in emphasis in our triangular diagram by moving For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

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the circles representing words from the center of the triangle toward one or another of its sides Some of the examples we have used might be visualized like this:

Some expressions (in 1561, for instance) are chosen solely

for reference, that is to explain the topic; a few solely to

in-fluence readers' feelings about the topic (Brut) Other words

function in two areas of meaning: either primarily within one

but extending partially into another (pinko, bourgeois, I think,

young widow), or more evenly balanced (rat-like).

But whether designed to serve a single end or several, dic-tion succeeds only to the degree that it does in fact serve an end—enabling readers to comprehend your observations, ideas, feelings, and affecting their responses both to the topic and to you in ways that you wish To the degree that it fails

to achieve your purpose, your diction fails entirely.4

4 A purpose itself may be silly or stupid, of course, but then the fault lies in the writer's conception—what he or she wants to say—not in the diction— how it is said Writers may use words well by a happy chance, that is, without really understanding their effect, and thus achieve a purpose they are blind to But lucky prose is rare The general truth holds: good diction is diction chosen

to achieve a conscious purpose.

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You must, finally, realize that words inherently have mean-ing in some or in all of the modes we have enumerated If you

do not choose words wisely, words will, in effect, choose you, saying things about the topic you do not intend and affecting readers in ways you do not want

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