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2.  Ivor Amstrong Richards (1893-1979
England)
 Inspired by the work of Chars Kay
Ogden(1889-1957)
 Collectively wrote the book “ The Meaning
Of Meaning” in 1923.
 Largely influence by the work of Francis
Bacon “The Idols Of The Market Place “
Bacon’s blief that “ Language functions as a
potential barrier to understanding” inspired
Richards to view rhetoric / speech/
conversation/ language as a study of
misunderstanding and its remedies.

3. Theory is about:
1. Misunderstanding of language/ meaning
and its remedies
2. TO understand the Semantic Triangle
A B
 T dog

3. TH RELATIONSHIP IS NOT ICONIC IT IS
ORBITRARY.
SEMAN
TIC
TRIAN
GLE
SEMAN
TIC
TRIAN
GLE
Thought/
mind
symbol Refrent/
object
Barking
4 legs animal
Dog

4. 4. Another Pbroblem in human communication is that we
tend to confuse “ symbol” or “word” with the thing or
object in reality. This led Richards, in his explanation of
the theory “ Proper Meaning Superstition”.
5. Symbol “ dog” is not the thing or reality.
6. A word/the meaning actually is in the mind of the
people not in the word.
7 .Word’s meaning is interpreted by the people according
to their past/ present experiences. For example liking or
disliking any thing , any object, any pet any book etc.
This liking or disliking is in the mind / experience of the
person which is actually called the reference in the mind
of the listener/ speaker.
8 . This developed the proper meaning superstition
which means that a single meaning is not possessed by
the word. The word has its meaning according to the
listener who has a different reference from the other
person who listens it.
9 . According to this theory that it is superstitions that
word has only a single meaning, rather words have
meanings according to the experience of the people.

5. The Use of Metaphor:
1. According to Richards, the use of
METAPHOR is the best for
understanding the meaning of the word
. He says metaphor are the best or
suitable for the sake of comprehension
of the situation/ meaning . He says, “
metaphors are effective in facilitating
the comprehension and therefore
minimizing misunderstanding.”
For example, the plummer and Biologist

6. 2. In discussing metaphor, Richards
makes the use of two tems; “tenor” and
“vehicle”. The tenor refers to the
principal subject of the metaphor while
the vehicle conveys the underlying idea ,
the borrowed idea or what the tenor
resembles. For example, in “ my kitten
as white as snow.” the tenor is the kitten
is the vehicle is the snow ( i.e.
characteristics of whiteness/ whitening
are being attributed to the kitten.