Which of the following statements about semantic barriers to communic…

Which of the following statements about semantic barriers to communication are correct?

(A) Semantic barriers are concerned with problems in the process of encoding and decoding of message into words or impressions.

(B) Unclarified assumptions arise when specialists use technical words while explaining to persons who are not specialists in the concerned field.

(C) Under body language and gesture decoding, a message may be wrongly perceived if what is said does not match the body movements.

(D) Badly expressed messages may be on account of omission of needed words.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (C) and (D) only

(A) Semantic barriers are concerned with problems in the process of encoding and decoding of message into words or impressions. — Correct. Semantics deals with the meaning of words and sentences. Semantic barriers are problems in encoding and decoding a message into words or impressions.

(B) Unclarified assumptions arise when specialists use technical words while explaining to persons who are not specialists in the concerned field. — Incorrect. Specialists using technical words with people outside their field is technical jargon. An unclarified assumption is a message that can be read in different ways, like a boss saying “Take care of our guest”.

(C) Under body language and gesture decoding, a message may be wrongly perceived if what is said does not match the body movements. — Correct. Every body movement carries some meaning. If the words and the body movements do not match, the receiver may take the message wrongly.

(D) Badly expressed messages may be on account of omission of needed words. — Correct. A message is badly expressed when the manager fails to convey the meaning he wants. Its causes include inadequate vocabulary, wrong words and omission of needed words.

NCERT (2026-27 Edition): “Semantic barriers: Semantics is the branch of linguistics dealing with the meaning of words and sentences. Semantic barriers are concerned with problems and obstructions in the process of encoding and decoding of message into words or impressions. Normally, such barriers result on account of use of wrong words, faulty translations, different interpretations, etc. These are discussed below:
(i) Badly expressed message: Some times intended meaning may not be conveyed by a manager to his subordinates. These badly expressed messages may be an account of inadequate vocabulary, usage of wrong words, omission of needed words, etc.”

“(iv) Unclarified assumptions: Some communications may have certain assumptions which are subject to different interpretations. For example, a boss may instruct his subordinate, “Take care of our guest”. Boss may mean that subordinate should take care of transport, food, accommodation of the guest until he leaves the place. The subordinate may interpret that guest should be taken to hotel with care. Actually, the guest suffers due to these unclarified assumptions.”

“(v) Technical jargon: It is usually found that specialists use technical jargon while explaining to persons who are not specialists in the concerned field. Therefore, they may not understand the actual meaning of many such words.”

“(vi) Body language and gesture decoding: Every movement of body communicates some meaning. The body movement and gestures of communicator matters so much in conveying the message. If there is no match between what is said and what is expressed in body movements, communications may be wrongly perceived. …”