Language and Culture/ Liguistic - Essay Example

Language meaning outlines the manner in which language employs logic and real world references in order to be able to process a meaning (Luna & Katarzyna 54). Social linguistics is based on the relation among variation of linguistics and social structures and discourse analysis, which revolves around texts and conversations. Aronoff Language is always context dependent. The context involved will determine how language is used, the kind of words used, the meaning of those words according to that particular context and the arguments and agreements that result from that certain communication, either between two or more people (Luna & Katarzyna 91).

The words used in language in a certain context play a major role. ‘Words do things’ or perform actions. The idea of these paper emerged out of a conversation about fudge-making techniques between Fred and Wess. The interaction given in this paper between Fred and Wess is a classic description of how words perform and convey various meanings. The interaction between Fred and Wess takes place during Christmas Eve. Wess is married to Jo and Fred is a partner of their son Cam. The conversation is a comparison between fudge-making techniques.

The conversation starts at approximately 13:50. Initially, Fred begins by mentioning homemade fudge. At that point, Wess jumps in and says that he made fudge. Wess claims, “I made….Peanut butter fudge, I made uh.Jo…her..mother’s peanut butter fudge”. Wess seems to be condescending by his words and his utterances, which are incomplete. Later on, Wess remembers that he also made divinity fudge and toffee. He claims that he makes good fudge, but Jo says that although no one disputes that Wess makes good fudge, it takes a long time to be ready, and one has to wait and wait until it boils and attains a certain kind of consistency.

At this point, Fred chips into the conversation and gives Jo fudge he made to taste. “I have the easiest fudge recipe in the world”, he claims. Fred’s fudge-making technique is different from that of Wess in that his takes a considerably shorter time to make, “it boils for six minutes”, says Fred. “Mine cooks for about an hour”, says Wess. This comparison about the time it takes taken for each fudge-making technique brings around a new meaning in the conversation. There is a notion, which is brought about by Cam that because Fred’s fudge take a really short time to boil as compared to that of Wess, then its bound to be of less or little quality as compared to Wess’s which takes about an hour.

In real life, most things which take a considerable short time to be accomplished are perceived to be of less quality as the notion is that these things have not had adequate time to be completely 'well baked’. Fred defends his claim and opinion that his 6-minute made fudge is as good as Wess’s and maybe even better. At about 15:30, Fred sets upon making his fudge, and brings it and offers it to Jo. Wess also takes a piece, and they are all surprised at how good the fudge is. By this way, Fred claims and maintains authority in the art of fudge making (Palmer 24).

Fred and Wess continue discussing this technique introduced by Fred and Fred explains to Wess how it is made. In Fred’s technique, he uses four squares of chocolate, which are unsweetened. Also, he uses four ounces of bitter chocolate and mixes these ingredients with butter and cream, then gets it to boil for around for around six or seven