Framing language, changing meaning

Language and capital

Language is capital and, like other forms of capital, language capital uses exchange and values to negotiate its continued existence. Language capital occupies a particular social space with each individual characterised by the amount of capital they possess and are able to negotiate.

Like all other forms of capital, language capital is put back into circulation to form the other seeds of capital that are often nothing like the original idea or reality. In this way language gets transmuted and its meaning, over time, expands and contracts and becomes hidden in a system of symbols and signifiers, which can actually eliminate the need for ordinary language that conveys a clear and precise meaning. While this is a natural process linked to human development it can also be manipulated by science and especially by business.

In this respect language can be used to suggest a unifying force that serves to obliterate any social, political, cultural or ethical contest. This happens when we replace language detail with language frames or outlines: in other words, when we adopt a conceptual view of the world. We cannot abstract language itself but we can reduce it to an abstract frame.

Language frames can shroud any incompatibility between words and serve to alter the course of actions and deliberations. Language does not just consist of words it consists of signs. These signs produce many meanings not one meaning per sign. Signs have a referential function, which can invoke a broad category of contents. A sign provides a specific mental impression but it also provides a more abstract concept; a range of possibilities that can be attached to the sign.

It is in this way that language usage has changed from a history of ideas - supposedly leading to human progress - to a process of mediation, mediocrity and countless levels of linguistic obscurantism that leaves many people feeling perplexed.

The sign, whether word or symbol, is dependant on a simple set of instructions for its outcome. Various codes symbols, messages and signifiers can be organised into a paradigm and/or syntagm (outcome) whereby any group of elements, language, methodologies and/or meanings can be interchanged or ordered into a system of rules that can be prioritised. A good example is in a recipe where various ingredients are brought together to make a particular culinary dish. Hence, certain terms can be used to manipulate information and meaning rather than to inform. This kind of language use in marketing is very successful for swaying public opinion.

Cognitive linguistics and framing

In his book Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think (1996) George Lakoff details what he believes to be the “framing” strategies the liberals have used to direct the terms of the US national debate. The liberals, claims Lakoff, “framed virtually every issue from their perspective”.

The example Lakoff gives is that of the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acceptance speech where he said: “When the people win, politics as usual loses”. In Lakoff’s view, Schwarzenegger knows he is going to face the Democrat Legislature so what he has done is to frame himself and also Republican politicians as the people, while framing Democratic politicians as “politics as usual” in advance. Hence, the Democrats are already framed as the enemy of the people before the debate begins.

As Lakoff tells us, the liberals have put a lot of money into creating the language for a particular worldview and the progressives have not responded. Lakoff believes the progressives simply do not understand how to respond. By the time the 2008 primaries came around the Democrats had learned to be a little smarter, we had Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talking about the Republican “politics as usual”. They had learned the art of framing.

Cognitive linguistics forms a universal language paradigm, which offers categories, types, frames schemata instead of individual linear ideas, sentences, claims, descriptors etc. Cognitive linguistics is being used by governments and corporations everywhere to persuade the public to adopt policies and products, which would simply not be acceptable if they were clearly stated and fully comprehended. Using metaphors and frames in language demarcates a whole field while telling us how to regard it.

Cognitive language framing makes it almost impossible to break through the hyperbolic veneer because it operates on the emotional responses; it makes people feel rather than think.

Cognitive signals are more powerful than rational discourse because they allow issues, movements, individuals, categories and practices to be sorted into relevant frames with a variety of different meanings. However, when people lose the detail and understanding they tend to invent their own meaning, they replace reality with their own dreams and fantasies and they can become obsessive and/or mentally ill. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy [CBT] uses mindfulness techniques in an attempt to reverse this situation.

Language framing has become an effective market strategy to shape public opinion. Language framing applies mechanistic assumptions to match people and nature to the marketplace but it has a downside in that it is very easy to lose sight of the original objectives and slip into the uncontrollable fantasy. When is a bowl not a bowl?