I found intention and context to be the most interesting and important concepts when it comes to language and meaning because it makes the most sense. Intention is one of the most important parts of communicating and the use of language. When reading, leaving the meaning up to interpretation by the reader seems to be counterproductive as it leaves many with more confusion rather than clarity in an answer, after all this is why we choose to read isn’t it? We search for an answer or a satisfaction to our curiosity and without direction this can’t be achieved. And with context, language has no meaning. There is no ground to stand on or point in space to start without some sort pre-existing viewpoint, biased or unbiased, objective or subjective

In chapter 4 of “Literature, meaning, and interpretation” by Johnathan Culler, the relationship between language and meaning is that language is when we use language to express our feelings and thoughts, and meaning is to provide largely by context and experience. This means that meaning is basically a message of something that someone expresses about something or anybody. Also, what I found more interesting regarding the relationship between language and meaning is “Language and Thought” because it talked about various ways language has an impact on everything. He said that “Different languages divide up the word differently.” This means that the language we use influences our surroundings. Another thing that caught my attention is the determination of our thoughts based on the language we speak because as English is my second language some words are written the same, but the structure and rules are entirely different in the way that the sentences are written, and the way that most of them are expressed may not have the same feeling when I say it in my native language (Spanish) than when I say it in English.

“Well there is a difference between asking about the meaning of a text (the poem as a whole) and measure of the word”

The reason I choose that from the text because it stuck out to me and I thought about it because it’s very true. When I took remedial classes we’ve done a lot of readings regarding poem which in fact I felt that it was difficult trying to break the meaning down of them due to it someone personal feelings. After I finally understood how to break down poems to understand them it became better especially the ones that were a little bit longer those were bigger tasks. In the reading, culler did mention that some poems have a rhyme to it or a different flow I would say myself watch you catch the flow of the poem it will come a little different on how you would catch the drift of the direction the poem may go.

In “Literature, Meaning, and Interpretation,” Culler discusses the relationship between language and meaning, how language produces meaning. What is one idea from this chapter that strikes you as interesting regarding the relationship between language and meaning?

– In chapter 4 “ Literature, Meaning, and Interpretation”, Culler discusses that language has a big impact on society and the relationship between language has the same meaning but different pronunciations. One idea from this chapter that strikes me is that language is not a ‘Nomenclature’ that provides labels for pre-existing categories; it generates its own categories, and many languages relate to one another because of how they use the same vocabulary or pronunciations.

 literature opens our eyes and makes us see more than just what the front door shows. It helps us realize the wide world outside, surrounding us. With this, we begin to learn, ask questions, and build our intuitions and instincts. We expand our minds. Literature means interpretation according to Jonathan Culler. Language expresses that existing idea by culler theory. Every language has its own influence and action of its speakers. The important point is when anyone has learned a new language is stuck in many ways. Culler states three different dimensions there are the meaning of the world. Culler states that the meaning of work is that the accomplished what the writer thinks during the process of writing and what the writer’s thinking at some moment in writing. It is about what people understand in the text. Culler says meaning is context bound but context is boundless. People’s cognition of such a symbol is often related to their experience or education , because people’s cognition of words is endowed with meaning. Language has certain limitations on the author’s way of expression that are limited by the rigidity of language. When reading literary works, the most important thing is how the author analyzes the situation.Talking about the use of language, two things are important – Displacement and Open-endedness. literature sources from way back in history to give them at least some examples of language of that time. A single literary source, such as an old epic, will not show every peculiarity of the language used, both written and spoken, at that time, but it is at least something to start with when you’re trying to find out what the language was like back in those days.

In this chapter, the idea I found the most interesting about the relationship between language and meaning is how context can shape the meaning of a piece of literature by looking at what time period it was written in and analyzing how people in this era were and how things were back then. But even context itself can be limitless, with famous pieces of text and their meaning changing as time goes on.

One example that I can think of that happened fairly recently is with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In the books, the bankers of the wizard world are controlled mostly by goblins. Back when these books were still being released, many people glossed over it as a fantasy thing. But after the recent controversies with JK Rowling and her extreme opinions, upon looking at the books with this in mind brings a different meaning to these goblins. In the books, they are described as goblins with “hooked noses” and “with a distrust for anyone else but their own kind”, which sounds extremely similar to racist caricatures of Jewish people.

After reading chapter 4 in “Literature, Meaning, and Interpretation” by Jonathan Culler, I found the point that he explain the relationship between people and language is interesting. I like what he said “the story one can tell about a given work depends upon what theorists have called the reader’s ‘horizon of expectactions’ “. It means the book’s author try to use his/her works express some message, it can be the meaning of language, and which it also usually influenced by their environment, like government. However, the most interesting point is people got  different thinking caused by their different education and different belief  in the “interactive” between them and the language.  This thinking may cause people improve themselves, for example, my first languare is chinese, so when I learning english, I usually think about “why this word meaning that ?”, it may encourage me to know the word’s background.  I think this also is the reason why there are so much words from other culture in much language, assimilate and create.