THE MEANING BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND REALITY

Abstract

Meaning implies the relationship of elements of language according to elements of extralinguistic reality, i.e. to the referents. However, reference is not a meaning, it is only one segment of it, and that is one that establishes a link between linguistic and non-linguistic elements. One single linguistic element can refer to several different referents (homonymy) and several different linguistic elements can refer to one single referent (synonymy). This is a common occurence. However, a single linguistic element can develop a new relation with the referent, which it usually does not have, and this relation shifts the meaning itself. Meaning is one of the extremely important linguistic issues, since it contributes significantly to communication, mutual understanding and resolution of misunderstandings as a kind of noise in communication. By understanding the very nature of meaning, its duality and the factors that determine it, as well as the complex process of moving meaning, possible misunderstandings can be prevented, but also consciously convey multimeaning messages. How words carry meaning, how meaning is born, what conditions the change in the meaning of words, the study of that change, and the examination of why words, since they originally got their meaning, later change them – all this is a current semantic issue, and actuality is attributed to the fact that language is living matter, which is constantly changing. In this paper we present the ways in which words carry their meaning, how the meaning is made, what determines the shifting of the meaning. Also highlighted are the factors which determine the meaning and its criteria.