Meaning is the message that is trying to be conveyed to the reader, it’s a form of expression. Linguistic language helps a speaker to communicate and voice their opinions to the reader. But understanding a speaker is not just a matter of understanding their linguistic language. Linguistic language can never fully capture the intent, passion, and nature of one’s thoughts, perhaps there isn’t the right word (s) to express their true intent or passion. That’s when you look at the meaning behind the words one uses, look at the accompanying information that the speaker intends a reader to rely on. A reader must understand and take a closer look at the context of the message not just the word (s) in order to truly understand the intention or meaning.
In the essay Mother Tongue, Tan writes, “Her [ Tan’s mother’s] language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.” Even though Tan’s mother spoke “ broken” or “fractured” English and her mother’s English wasn’t of the highest standard, it doesn’t mean that her mother didn’t have any meaning behind the words that she spoke.
Linguistic language is important, but if it just consists of words strung together, it is pointless. For instance as Tan describes, “ Here’s an example from the first draft of a story that later made its way into The Joy Luck Club, but without this line: That was my mental quandary in its nascent state. A terrible line, which I can barely pronounce.” The line is terrible because even to Tan these words are colorful and highly lavish, but they don’t express how she really feels and they have no meaning behind them, so why would they have any meaning to the reader?
