The concept of private languages holds that each person's words are symbols with which he identifies certain of his perceptions. Language operates in the public sphere only so long as the symbols used by a speaker to denote his perceptions roughly correspond to the symbols the listener uses for his perceptions. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein…

Describes language as a vehicle of thought severely limited by auditory, kinesthetic, and visual images, restricted to linear succession, and precariously linked to meaning by standardized labels. (MB)

Author notes that semantics, originally designed as non-Aristotelian discipline, has become anti-Aristotelian. He outlines six significant areas in which almost no difference can be found between Greek philosopher's ideas and those of modern semanticists; for example: words are symbols, not things; meanings lie within persons, not words. (PD)

THE FIELD OF ANALOGIC, OR ICONIC, SIGNS WAS EXPLORED TO (1) DEVELOP AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND (2) PREPARE AN ANALYSIS OF THE SUBJECT AREA. THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY WAS LIMITED TO ONLY THOSE COMPONENTS OF MESSAGES, INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, AND COMMUNICATIVE STIMULI THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED PROPERLY AS ICONIC. THE AUTHOR BASED THE STUDY ON A…

This paper develops a theoretical context for the concept that visual literacy involves a specific type of information processing that has been discussed in the literature on symbolism and epistemology for a number of years. Literacy is discussed first, as a general process of information processing involving the generation of knowledge through…

HOW CHILDREN OF DIFFERENT MENTAL ABILITIES PERCEIVE LEARNING TASKS WAS STUDIED. THREE GROUPS OF 10 CHILDREN EACH (5 BOYS AND 5 GIRLS) WERE THE SUBJECTS OF THIS PROJECT. THE CHILDREN WERE SELECTED SO THAT THE GROUPS WERE HIGHLY SIMILAR IN CHRONOLOGICAL AGE, BUT DIFFERED DISTINCTLY IN IQ. ONE GROUP WAS COMPOSED OF GIFTED CHILDREN FROM A GIVEN SCHOOL…

Oral communication is the primary mode used by members of organizational groups to build and intercommunicate shared cultural myths and values. Verbal communication within organizational groups--businesses, church congregations, nursing teams, and the like--is the foundation of the reality shared by members of the groups. Finding the master…

Effects of varying the complexity of written Chinese characters in a lexical decision task were studied for 40 adult Chinese students. Results suggest that complexity affects reaction time when subjects identify characters they often read. Theoretical implications are discussed in terms of the interaction of basic perceptual processes and…

Visual modes of communication are described in this book, which also attempts to show some of the layers of meaning implicit in visual forms and symbols and something of what these can tell about people in general and their subconscious striving for self-identification. It is composed of a series of selected images--photographs, cartoons,…

This book reports the proceedings of the conference on the role of speech in language, the fifth conference in the "Communicating by Language" Series, sponsored by the Growth and Development Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The focus of the first group of papers is on the development of speech in man and…

Based on the more general principle that all thinking (including reasoning) is basically perceptual in nature, the author proposes that visual perception is not a passive recording of stimulus material but an active concern of the mind. He delineates the task of visually distinguishing changes in size, shape, and position and points out the…