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Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 12133 from 2003/5/22
From: Germany
> The meaning of one word in a sentence cannot always be dissected
This doesn't change the fact that each and every word in a sentence has a specific meaning, put into it at the time of writing by the author, who uses language to encode a certain mental concept or combinations thereof. Thus, every word of Velcro_SP's sentence
"It is a substantial mistake to inform MZ readers that the "CherryPad 2" has been reviewed, when not only hasn't it been reviewed, but it hasn't been sold"
has a meaning put into it by him, including the word "when". Now if we try to decode the semantic function of this word, which in this sentence obviously connects two other mental concepts into a larger one, we can of course only interpret as for knowing for sure we'd have had to read his mind at the time he conceived that sentence. So reading and trying to make sense of what's written is always an act of interpretation. My interpretation of the usage of the word "when" in Velcro_SP's sentence has been that it is meant by him to initiate a justification of what precedes that word. With this interpretation there *is* a logical contradiction to what he wrote 2.5 days later, I think even you don't deny that. That's why I interpreted his latter statement as an implicit retraction of the former, caused by a positive thought process, in order to avoid a state of cognitive dissonance. He then said it was not meant as a retraction by him but left me in the dark regarding the meaning of his former statement.
Of course my interpretation of the meaning of the word "when" in this sentence could be far off of the mental concept Velcro_SP attempted to put into it, making it hard for me to decode his message. So I sought for the opinion of a native English speaker for the simple fact that native speakers of the same language usually have a better understanding of which mental concepts are usually put into certain words in specific contexts than non-native speakers. Of course there's also no definite *knowing* in that because language is arbitrary, and the fact alone that Velcro_SP is US-American could make it hard for native English speakers from other parts of the world to give a meaningful opinion as language can't be kept from diversifying when it develops in separate locations.
Nonetheless, HenryCase was kind enough to step forward and give his opinion on the matter (#177). First he said in his opinion my interpretation of "when" in this context as initiating a justification of what precedes that word was wrong and that he understands it as meaning "look at it like this". When I said that this kind of semantic connection between the two phrases doesn't make sense to me he suddenly changed his presented opinion and said that there might be a "mistake" in what Velcro_SP wrote (#183) and even later that "Velcro_SP didn't word what he wanted to say perfectly" (#185). HenryCase didn't get any more specific with that, though. So in the end I think you can see how this didn't help me at all with my question.
My question still stands: What semantic concept could Velcro_SP have attempted to put into the word "when" so that the sentence doesn't lead to a logical contradiction to what he wrote 2.5 days later? What's your opinion on this as a native English speaker, amigadave?
> in the way it appears A_W is attempting to do
I'm afraid you have not understood what I'm attempting to do. Please read above so that you can see what it really is about.
> to justify his opinion of Velcro_SP's statements.
It's not about justification but about the attempt to decode the meaning of a certain sentence in a way that we can get an idea of the mental concept that the author had in mind when writing that sentence. Can you help here, amigadave?
> As a Native English speaker, I understand Velcro_SP's statements [...] and
> their meanings, without any difficulty.
That's fantastic, you might be just the right person to help me here. So what is it you understand of the following sentence?
"It is a substantial mistake to inform MZ readers that the "CherryPad 2" has been reviewed, when not only hasn't it been reviewed, but it hasn't been sold"
Could you please paraphrase that sentence in a way that resembles your understanding of it using as less original words as possible?
> I also understand how reading Velcro_SP's statements could be taken the
> wrong way by [...] even many native English speakers.
Interesting. Could you please give examples of such wrong understandings of Velcro_SP's sentence in question? I'm really eager to know the ambiguities that could be seen in this sentence from the view of a native English speaker like you.
> Much can be mistaken between spoken and written English.
Yes, of course, but as it's all written English here on MZ this couldn't be the cause for any misunderstanding here, could it?
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