So, confusion arises in communication due to meaning of different signs and symbols in different cultures, causing semantic barrier. Many words have fixed meanings in different norms. This, in turn, makes the communication ineffective.
These words can be interpreted wrongly when used unknowingly causing the semantic barrier in a communication process. In this sentence, both the words have the same spelling, but different pronunciation and different meanings. For example, “The research lead to the discovery of lead”. Homographs are the words that have the same spelling but the pronunciation and meaning are different. For example, the noun “bear” and the verb “bear” has different meanings but same pronunciation and spelling. Homonyms are the words which have the same pronunciation and their spellings are mostly same, but the intended meaning is different. They have same pronunciation, but different meanings and spellings. Homophones are the words with same pronunciation but different meaning which might have different spelling too. Causes of Semantic Barriers in Communication Homophones, homonyms and homographs Another example is the word god, which is used differently by people following different religions. The context in which it is used will only let the receiver know what the sender means. The words, when used by someone, can have any of the meaning. Both the communicators know both meanings of the word, but use only one meaning according to the context, which might be being used differently in the context.įor example, the word astonish can be used to describe surprise as well as startle.
Connotative barrier in communication refers to the difference of meaning according to different abstract situations, contexts, actions and feelings. The implied meaning of a word is known as Connotative meaning. They disagree on the meaning of a word as they are unaware of the other persons’ meaning.įor example, the meaning of braces which is used to define the metallic structure to adjust teeth in American English whereas it means a part of clothing in British English. The barriers that arise due to the definition or meaning of a word used differently by sender and receiver is denotative barriers of communication. Types of Semantic Barriers in Communication Denotative Barriersĭirect meaning of any word which must be shared by two people to understand each other is the denotative meaning. It is similar to and related to language barriers in a communication.
It also arises due to language, education, culture and place of origin (dialect or accent) or most likely their experiences. This can happen due to different situations that form the semantic(of, relating to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols) of the sender and the receiver, known as the semantic barrier. So, when a message is sent by a sender to a receiver, it might be interpreted wrongly in a communication process causing misunderstandings between them. The meaning of words, signs and symbols might be different from one person to another and the same word might have hundreds of meanings.