Intraorganismic vs. extraorganismic factors play a very important part in any description of meaning, for such words as revolution, blood, and love not only refer to phenomena outside the body, but also tend to produce certain important reactions within the body. The intraorganismic meanings are of two basic types: (1) cortical, i.e. cognitive, referring to the cerebral processes, and (2) somatic, i.e. affective, referring to the physical reactions which occur when such symbols are either spoken or heard. Again, it is important to distinguish clearly between the referents of symbols and the symbols themselves. For example, in English there are a number of so-called four-letter words which refer to a number of body parts or functions. These words are regarded as vulgar, and the somatic reactions of most hearers to them are "unfavorable. However, the very same body parts and functions can be referred to by other symbols without any such somatic reaction. That is to say, the intraorganismic“meaning" is associated essentially with the symbol, and not with the body part or function.
These three dimensions of meaning are not in any sense separate sets of categories, for they continuously intersect one another. For example, situational meanings may be divided into intraorganismic and extraorganismic, for the situations which give rise to symbols may be either outside or inside a person. Similarly, the behavioral responses may be either intraorganismic or extraorganismic, either within the person or manifested outside the person, or both in as well as outside a person. Situational meanings may be similarly subdivided into linguistic and extralinguistic.
In general we regard referential meanings as situational, extraorganismic, and extralinguistic. Emotive meanings are primarily behavioral, somatic and intraorganismic. Linguistic meanings constitute a special class. To this extent, referential, linguistic, and emotive meanings parallel the distinction of semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic. However, the use of three sets of descriptive dimensions: situational vs. behavioral, linguistic vs. extralinguistic, and extraorganismic vs. intraorganismic,has the advantage of providing a much more detailed and precise manner of describing the relationship of the communicative event to the total cultural context in which it occurs. For practical purposes, we usually can get along quite well with the distinction of referential, linguistic, and emotive meanings, but where the problems become particularly acute this more refined descriptive tool is essential. This descriptive procedure, employing three dimensions, becomes especially helpful when we attempt to determine the differences in the manner in which the source and the receptors understand a particular communication. It is also very useful in analyzing more adequately the manner in which the different purposes of communication result in differences of meaning.
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