Blog Post #3

In chapter 4 “Language, meaning, and interpretation” Culler describes three different dimensions or levels of meaning. For example, the meaning of a word, of an utterance, and of a text. One of the most interesting parts of this chapter is when Culler explains how language and thought are related. Culler uses one example of thought and language when saying “language just provides names for thoughts that exist independently”. This intrigued me because I never thought of language as any deeper than just a means of communication. Culler later says that some languages such as English can’t express a conception of time due to the restrictions from our language. Culler goes on to say “There seems no way of demonstrating that there are thoughts of one language that can’t be thought or expressed in another” which is true, in Spanish, there aren’t any gender-neutral way to address someone, unlike English. As years go by languages like Spanish adapt to changes and create new words to describe things like gender.