More Comments on Disagreements

Emily inquired about the following question:
"When the use of language results, as it so often does, in the creation or aggravation of disagreements and conflicts, there is something linguistically wrong with the speaker, the listener, or both." (12)

I honestly was just about to inquire about this question myself, so I am pleased to hear that I'm not the only one who needs some clarification. I concur fully with Emily's interpretation of the phrase "linguistically wrong" as the misunderstandings that arise due to built-in judgments and personal bias or different verbal intensional worlds. Although I am not absolutely certain, I believe that it does indeed seem logical that no two people have the same verbal world. As Hayakawa explains at the end of Chapter 2, one's verbal or intensional world is comprised of much second- and third-hand information about morals, language, history, etc., gathered and inferred upon continually from infancy. Thus, each of us is bound to have a unique intensional world, since the "map" each of us holds is at least partially different, each drawn with different knowledge passed down from parents, shared among friends, taught by professionals, or inferred by ourselves. I don't think it's possible for two people to have the exact same intensional world. Or is it possible?

Does anyone else agree with this speculation? I welcome further clarification.

(Janet Lee)