Army Institute of Business Administration (Army-IBA)

Savar Cantonment, Dhaka –Aricha Hwy, Savar Union

“Triangle of Meaning”

Md. Monerul Islam

Batch: EMBA -2 (1st Trimester)
ID: 22133007
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION - BUS 5101 & BUS 7101

Major Tariqul Islam Mazumder psc. G (retd)

Adjunct Faculty Member
Army Institute of Business Administration (Army IBA)

Paper Due Date : 04 Nov,2021

Introduction
Charles Kay Ogden (1889–1957) and Ivor Armstrong Richards (1893 – 1979) was
an English linguistic and English literary critic. Both of them were recognized by
their book called “The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language
upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism”. Ogden worked as philosopher,
writer and linguist. He was a founder and editor of weekly “Cambridge Magazine”
in 1912 and later it ceased in 1922. Richards was working as a Professor in
Magdalene College at Cambridge. This theory emphasis that the meanings are not
residing with words it resides with the people.

Learning Objectives:
The triangle describes a simplified form of relationship between the speaker as the
subject, a concept as an object or reference, and its designation (sign, signals)The
triangle of meaning is a model of communication that indicates the relationship
among a thought, symbol, and referent, and highlights the indirect relationship
between the symbol and the referent. The model explains how for any given
symbol there can be many different referents, which can lead to misunderstanding.

Theory:
Charles Kay Ogden and Ivor Armstrong Richards identified that understanding
comes from within the people rather than from the words they just interpret. They
set a model called “The Triangle of Meaning” for better understanding how
language works and basically it is a theory of signs. The triangle is meant to show
the word’s relationship between thoughts and things. The Semantic Triangle shows
the direct relationship between Words & Thoughts and Thoughts & Thing. But the
dotted lines represent the word (sign) is not the Thing (a referent) and there is no
any direct relation between words and thing. The referent needs some prior
experience and reference about the word or sign to be comprehensive.

The word means different things to different people in different situations. Any
sign or word which has its own meaning is grasped with certain references to it.
The process of grasping or understanding words or signs, which already have
meaning, with the asserted meanings given by the references is called the meaning
of meaning. Any sign or word have their own meaning even though we need
certain reference to understand is called “The Meaning of Meaning”. (1-
Dictionary: If a word is new, a people need reference to understand the word.
2- Mayan Code: These codes are signs only. No one cannot understand meaning
of the Mayan codes without any reference. So the signs have a direct relationship
with reference and reference has direct relationship with referent)

Example 1:
 The Word love makes a different sense to different people. The way in which
they understand this word must be in reference with their experiences and ideas
relating to this word
 In America, socialism and communism are considered as a negative word.
People even use the word communist to degrade other people. whereas in china
the word communism is much of a great word and idea
Example 2:
The word “Book” – A people (referent) have some kind of reference (thoughts) in
their mind about the shape, size etc. so they can able to visualize it. But the same
word “book” is written in some other language will not understandable and they
can’t visualize it. The referent needs some kind of previous experience or reference
to understand the words otherwise they cannot understand.

Conclusion
Ogden and Richard were improved the Saussure’s dyadic semiotics. The analysis
of major psychoanalyzing theories can be seen in this model. This theory is more
about misunderstanding and its remedies. Charles Kay Ogden and Ivor Armstrong
Richards studied about the misunderstanding that happens due to the difference in
understanding worked forward for the remedies. This theory is the product of their
working towards the remedy rather than a remedy.

Recommendations:
New avenue from which to view communication behaviors and thus have been
provided a foundation upon which new theories and models can be formulated.