Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Say What You Mean: Confronting Ambiguity In Language, Truman Ryan Keys

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The GIFTS activity involves the juxtaposition of denotative and connotative meanings of the same word in order to demonstrate how complex decoding the code and assigning the encoder’s intended meaning to a word can be. Students are randomly put into groups. Students are given the word “dog” and each group uses a dictionary to provide its denotation. Then each group has to generate connotations, cultural or slang meanings for the word “dog.” The class discusses the difference between the two types of meaning, and what impact if any this difference has on interpersonal communication. Then each group chooses a word, …