Fundamentals of Communication and Linguistic Concepts
Understanding Communication
Communication is the exchange of knowledge and experiences between people, facilitated through different languages.
Elements of Communication
Communication is studied as a process that necessarily involves the following elements:
- Sender (or Transmitter): The entity that encodes and delivers the message.
- Receiver: The recipient of the message, who decodes and interprets it.
- Message: The information transmitted, the specific language that reaches the receiver.
- Channel: The physical environment through which the message circulates. If anomalies occur, communication may not happen or may not occur under the same conditions.
- Code: The set of signs and rules used to construct the message.
- Context (Situation or Referents): The set of extralinguistic circumstances present in the communication process, essential for correctly interpreting the message.
Functions of Language
When we refer to the communicative purpose or intention the message sender aims to achieve, we speak of the functions of language:
- Emotive Function (or Expressive): The interest of communication centers on the sender, expressing their feelings or attitudes.
- Conative Function (or Appellative): Oriented toward the receiver. The sender seeks to change the receiver’s behavior, opinion, or actions.
- Referential Function (or Representative): The interest of communication focuses on the situation or context.
- Poetic Function (or Aesthetic): The interest focuses on the message itself. It emphasizes not only what is said but, above all, how it is said.
- Phatic Function (or Contact): The interest lies in the channel. Often used to establish, prolong, or interrupt communication, or to check if the channel is working.
- Metalinguistic Function: The focus is on the code. The referent is the language itself, explained through the language.
Types of Language
- Non-Verbal Language: Does not use words to communicate, but other means such as pictograms, icons, pictures, numbers, and photographs.
- Verbal Language: Uses words to communicate. Language is considered the most complete form of expression.
The Sign
A sign is a material element perceptible to the senses, which represents another element.
Classes of Signs
- Indexes (or Evidence): The sign has a physical or causal connection to the object it represents (e.g., smoke is an index of fire).
- Icons: The sign has a relationship of resemblance, to varying degrees, with the object represented (e.g., a portrait, a map).
- Symbols: The relationship that binds the sign to the object is arbitrary, the result of an agreement. There is no resemblance or inherent relationship between the sign and what it represents (e.g., a red light means “stop”).
Components of the Linguistic Sign
- Signifier: The sequence of sounds (phonemes) that make up a word we hear or pronounce (e.g., /t/r/e/e for “tree”).
- Signified (or Meaning): The concept or idea represented in our mind by the signifier.
Characteristics of the Linguistic Sign
- Arbitrariness
- Linearity
- Immutability and Mutability
- Double Articulation
Textual Cohesion
Cohesion is the property by which the units of a text are related.
Grammatical Procedures for Cohesion
- Deixis: A mechanism by which the text refers to extra-linguistic elements of the situation (e.g., “here,” “now,” “you”).
- Anaphora: The relationship between an element and an antecedent that appears before it in the text, often replacing it (e.g., “John arrived. He was tired.”).
- Cataphora: The relationship between an element and another that appears after it in the text (e.g., “Here’s the news: The market crashed.”).
- Ellipsis: The omission of a known element that is easily retrievable from the context of the text (e.g., “I went to the store, and Mary [went] too.”).
- Connection: Discourse markers or connectors are linguistic links that serve to guide and hold together fragments of speech (e.g., “however,” “therefore,” “in addition”).
Oral vs. Written Language
From a communication perspective, oral and written language are two distinct codes with different functions, commonly used in various situations, even though they may belong to the same language.
Contextual Differences
- Oral Language:
- Channel: Auditory (ear)
- Nature: Spontaneous
- Non-verbal codes: Frequent use
- Written Language:
- Channel: Visual
- Nature: Developed, planned
- Non-verbal codes: Limited use
Textual Differences
- Oral Language:
- Dialect variation: Present
- Organization: Less careful thought, simpler syntax
- Vocabulary: Often inaccurate or less precise
- Written Language:
- Dialect variation: Neutralized
- Organization: Structured ideas, avoidance of repetition
- Vocabulary: Precise