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"We're about to close the shop."
Semantics is just the technical term for studying the meaning of words, and pragmatics is just the technical term for interpreting meaning in context. With that in mind, let’s see how this works when applied to real life. Take the statement, “We’re about to close the shop.” The word “close” has several meanings; I’m sure you can think of a few. But in this sentence, what does it mean? Yeah, we all know, don’t we? In this context, we understand that we’re talking about “to stop the business/operation of.” That was easy. But now let’s look at the whole sentence (rather than just one word), and place that whole sentence in a context. If you’re the manager making this announcement on the store intercom, what will you think if you’re an employee? What will you think if you’re a customer? The employee knows to grab for the mop or go after any other closing procedures. The customer doesn’t even think about looking for a mop. He knows to finish his shopping and make his way to the front because the underlying message is “please leave the store.” Now let’s change the scenario a bit. Your friend works at the shop, and you’re meeting him there. The two of you will leave from there to go to dinner. You pull into the parking lot and enter the shop, all ready to go. Your friend tells you, “We’re about to close the shop.” What does your friend mean? Well, you know your friend will be with you shortly; he only needs to wrap up things and then he’ll be right there. So his underlying message is, “Please don’t leave.” How can this happen, that the exact same statement can mean both “leave” and “don’t leave”? We’re constantly interpreting meaning and creating secondary messages based on context. And when we do this, we usually don’t even realize it. We make many inferences and conclusions without being aware of the cognitive processes behind it. This is a phenomenon in all languages around the world. And since these underlying messages are understood (and created) only when reading “between the lines”, they are not obvious to someone from another culture who wasn’t raised to pick up on those invisible cues. You see, the only reason you understood the underlying meanings and messages about closing the shop was because of your familiarity with what happens when stores close. So when we’re learning other languages, it might be easy enough to learn a dictionary definition of a word, but deciphering what it means in context and what all the “hidden” messages are (and how they differ depending on who is hearing it)…well, that’s just another story altogether! That’s why learning the language is not enough. You have to learn the culture, too. Only then will you be able to understand the implicit, underlying messages of language. Furthermore, every word and every sentence found in the Bible occurs in a context and is interpreted by context and in light of one’s own cultural knowledge and worldview. Bible translators want to be aware of this basic practice about decoding messages. We see how much interpreting goes into decoding a message as simple as “we’re about to close the shop” – imagine how much more we interpret and infer meaning for abstract and theological issues! With this awareness, we want to not only choose the right words, but we want to phrase them in the right way and place them properly (and naturally) in context so that the reader will understand God’s Truth. We want the Scriptures to be clear. We want the reader to make the correct inferences when they “read between the lines” for understanding. Let’s thank God this week for the amazing minds that He gave us! Let’s praise Him for the gift of language (and the gift of His Word in our own language). Let’s pray for those that have not yet heard the Good News in their own mother tongue. And may God be praised in every language around the world – He’s worthy of it! Blessings, ~Alison ---------------------------------
*The picture above shows me and my classmates in Semantics and Pragmatics. April 14, 2005
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