Vocabulary: Making Symbols from Symbols By Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L. F. Nilsen 1

Why do the meanings of words change? Whenever our culture changes, our vocabulary must also change. New technologies, new religions, and new social changes create new cultures, and we need ways of talking about these new cultures. Rather than making up new words, we usually change the meanings of words we already know. And there are certain things that everybody knows, and everybody has known since the beginning of mankind. We know about our body parts, about animals, about plants, and about weather. 2

Word Recycling: Semantic Gaps and Sources of New Words Sources of New WordsTargets of New Words Things We Know:New Concepts that Need New Words: Body PartsNew Technologies AnimalsNew Religions PlantsNew Political Developments WeatherNew Social Developments Clothing Food And later: Alphabet shapes Tools, etc. 3

Second and Third Generation Symbols Once a symbol becomes well known, it can be extended to create second, third, or even fourth- generation symbols. This set of slides illustrates how common it is for the human brain to add new—although related— meanings to familiar symbols. If we had to “start from scratch” to name every new concept, the common person’s vocabulary would be much smaller. 4

5 Alphabet

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7 Animals vs. Humans

8 Chains and Chain Reactions

9 Decks

10 Eggs

11 Eyes

12 Farm Animals

13 Forks

14 Hands

15 Sewing

16 Skeleton and Bones

17 Sports

18 Sticks

19 Straw

20 Tails

21 Tape

22 Tools

23 Tongue

24 Train

25 Watery Animals