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SUMMARY TOPIC
TOPIC 1:
LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.
FACTORS DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: LISTENER,
CODE, FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT

1. INTRODUCTION.
2. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION.
2.1. Language definitions.
2.2. Language functions.
2.3. Communicative competence.
3. SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.
3.1. Spoken language.
3.2. Written language.
3.3. Historical Attitudes.
3.4. Differences between writing and speech.
4. COMMUNICATION THEORY.
4.1. Communication definition.
4.2. Main Models.
4.3. Key factors.
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

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1. INTRODUCTION.
In this unit we are going to study language and its functions to see that communication
is one of these functions. We will then posit that learning a language is not only a
grammatical and lexical process but also a social process. We also analyze the
differences between writing and speech; and finally we will discuss the most important
communication theory models, defining their key factors.
2. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION.
2.1. Language Definitions.
SAPIR (1921) said that "language is a purely human non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols".
HALL (1964) defined language as "the institution whereby humans communicate and
interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols".
The most widely acknowledged comparative approach has been the one proposed by
Charles HOCKETT. His set of 13 design features of communication using spoken
language were as follows:
- Auditory-vocal channel: sound is used between mouth and ear.
- Broadcast transmission and directional reception: a signal can be heard by any
auditory system within earshot, and the source can be located using the ears' direction-
finding ability.
- Rapid fading: auditory signals are transitory.
- Interchangeability: speakers of a language can reproduce any linguistic message they
can understand.
- Total feedback: speakers hear and can reflect upon everything that they say.
- Specitalization: the sound waves of speech have no other function than to signal
meaning.
- Semanticity: the elements of the signal convey meaning through their stable
association with real-world situations.
- Arbitrariness: there is no dependence of the element of the signal on the nature of the
reality to which it refers.
- Discreteness: speech uses a small set of sound elements that clearly contrast with each
other.
- Displacement: it is possible to talk about events remote in space or time from the
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situation of the speaker.
- Productivity: there is an infinite capacity to express and understand meaning, by using
old sentence elements to produce new sentences.
- Traditional transmission: language is transmitted from one generation to the next
primarily by a process of teaching and learning.
- Duality of pottering: the sound of language have no intrinsic meaning, but combine in
different ways to form elements, such as words, than do convey meaning.
After having studied the main properties of language (what is language?) we will now
see its function (whats language for?).
2.2. Language Functions.
One of the commonest uses of languages, the expressive or emotional one, is a means
of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress. We do not try to
communicate ideas because we can use language in this way whether we are alone or
not.
MALINOWSKY (1844-1942) termed the third use of language we are studying "phatic
communication". He used it to refer to the social function of language, which arises out
of the basic human need to signal friendship, or, at least, lack of enmity.
The fourth function we may find is based on phonetic properties. The rhythmical
litanies of religious groups, the persuasive cadences of political speechmaking, the
dialogue chants used by prisoner or soldiers have only one apparent reason: people take
delight in them.
The fifth function is the performative one. A performative sentence is an utterance that
performs an act. This use occurs in the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, or
when a priest baptizes a child.
We may also find other functions such as:
- recording facts. - Instrument of thought - Expression of regional, social, educational,
sexual or occupational identity.
The British linguist HALLIDAY grouped all these functions into three metafunctions,
which are the manifestation in the linguistic system of the two very general purposes
which underlie all uses of language combine with the third component (textual).
1.- The ideational function is to organize the speaker's or writer's experience of the real
or imaginary world, i.e. language refers to real or imagined persons, things, actions,
events, states,etc.
2.- The interpersonal function is to indicate, establish or maintain social relationships
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between people. It includes forms of address, speech function, modality ...
3.- The third component is the textual function which serves to create written or spoken
texts which cohere within themselves and which fit the particular situation in which
they are used.
2.3. Communicative competence
CHOMSKY (1957) defined language as `a set of sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of elements. A capable speaker has a subconscious
knowledge of the grammar rules of his language which allows him to make sentences in
that language'. However, Dell HYMES thought that Chomsky had missed out some
very important information: the rules of the use. When a native speaker speaks, he does
not only utter grammatically correct forms, he also knows where and when to use these
sentences and to whom. Hymes, then, said that competence by itself is not enough to
explain a native speaker's knowledge, and he replaced it with his own concept of
communicative competence.
HYMES distinguishes 4 aspects of this competence:
- systematic potential - appropriacy - occurrence - feasibility
Systematic potential means that the native speaker possesses a system that has a
potential for creating a lot of language. This is similar to Chomskys competence.
Appropriacy means that the native speaker knows what language is appropriate in a
given situation. His choice is based on the following variables, among
others: Setting Participants Purpose Channel Topic Occurrence means that the native
speaker knows how often something is said in the language and acts accordingly.
Feasibility means that the native speaker knows whether something is possible in the
language. Even if there is no grammatical rule to ban 20-adjective prehead construction,
we know that these constructions are not possible in the language.
These 4 categories have been adapted for teaching purposes.
- Grammar competence
- Discourse competence
- Strategic competence
- Sociocultural competence
CANALE (1980) defined discourse competence as an aspect of communicative
competence which describes the ability to produce unified written or spoken discourse
that shows coherence and cohesion and which conforms to the norms of different
genres.
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Strategic competence may be defined as an aspect of communicative competence which
describes the ability of speakers to use verbal and non-verbal communication strategies
to compensate for breakdowns in communication or to improve the effectiveness of
communication.
3. SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
3.1. Spoken Language
The most obvious aspect of language is speech. Speech is not essential to the definition
of an infinitely productive communication system, such as it is constituted by language.
But, in fact, speech is the universal material of human language.
3.2. Written language.
We can classify writing systems into two types: - Non-phonological. - Phonological.
Non-phonological systems do not show a clear relationship between the symbols and
the sounds of the language. They include the pictographic, ideographic, cuneiform and
Egyptian hieroglyphic and logographic.
In the pictographic system, the graphemes or pictographs or pictograms provide a
recognizable picture of entities, as they exist in the world.
Ideograms or ideographs have an abstract or conventional meaning, no longer
displaying a clear pictorial link with external reality.
Alphabetic writing establishes a direct correspondence between graphemes and
morphemes. This makes it the most economic and adaptable of all the writing systems.
In a perfectly regular system there is one grapheme for each morpheme. However, most
alphabets in present day use fail to meet this criterion. At one extreme we find such
languages as Spanish, which has a very regular system; at the other, we find such cases
as English and Gaelic, where there is a marked tendency to irregularity.
3.3. Historical attitudes.
- Speech is many centuries older than writing - It develops naturally in children -
Writing systems are mostly derivative, i.e., they are based on the sounds of speech.
Despite these parallels we can obviously find striking differences.
3.4. Differences between writing and speech
Research has begun to investigate the nature and extent of the differences between
them. Most obviously, they contrast in physical form:
- Speech uses phonic substance typically in the form of air-pressure movements -
Writing uses graphic substance typically in the form of marks on a surface.
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1.- The permanence of writing allows repeated reading and close analysis. The
spontaneity and rapidity of speech minimizes the chance of complex preplanning, and
promotes features that assist to think standing up.
2.- The participants in written interaction cannot usually see each other, and they thus
cannot rely on the context to help make clear what they mean as they would when
speaking. As a consequence, deictic expressions are normally avoided. On the other
hand, feedback is available in most speech interactions.
3.- The majority of graphic features present a system of contrast that has no speech
equivalent. Many genres of written language, such as tables, graphs, and complex
formulae, cannot be conveyed by reading aloud.
4.- Some constructions may be found only in writing, such as the French simple past,
and others only occur in speech, such as `whatchamacallit, or slang expressions.
5.- Finally we can say that written language tends to be more formal and so it is more
likely to provide the standard that society values.
Despite these differences, there are many respects in which the written and the spoken
language have mutually interacted. We normally use the written language in order to
improve our command of vocabulary, active or passive, spoken or written. Loan words
may come into a country in a written form, and sometimes, everything we know about
language is its writing.
4. COMMUNICATION THEORY.
4.1. Definition
By the late 20th century the main focus of interest in communication seemed to be
drifting away from McLuhanism and to be centring upon:
1.- The mass communication industries 2.- Persuasive communication and the use of
technology to influence dispositions 3.- Processes of interpersonal communication as
mediators of information 4.- Dynamics of verbal and non-verbal (and perhaps
extrasensory) communication 5.- Perception of different kinds of communication 6.-
Uses of communication technology for social and artistic purposes, including
education 7.- Development of relevant critism for artistic endeavours employing
modern communication technology.
In short, a communication expert may be oriented to any number of disciplines in a field
of inquiry that has, as yet, neither drawn for itself a conclusive roster of subject matter
nor agreed upon specific methodologies of analysis.
4.2. Models
4.2.1. Dynamic models.
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Dynamic models are used in describe cognitive, emotional, and artistic aspects of
communication as they occur in sociocultural contexts. These models do not try to be
quantitative as linear ones. They often centre attention upon different modes of
communication and theorize that the messages they contain including messages of
emotional quality and artistic content, are communicated in various manners to and
from different sorts of people.
4.2.2. Linear models: Shannon and Weaver's.
- An information source - A transmitter - A channel of transmission - A receiver - A
destination
This model was originally intended for electronic messages so, in time, the five
elements of the model were renamed so as to specify components for other types of
communication transmitted in various manners. The information source was split into
its components to provide a wider range of applicability:
- a source - an encoder - a message - a channel - a decoder - a receiver
Another concept, first called a `noise source but later associated with the notion of
entropy was imposed upon the communication model. Entropy diminishes the integrity
of the message and distorts the message for the receiver. Negative entropy may also
occur in instances where incomplete or blurred messages are nevertheless received
intact, either because of the ability of the receiver to fill in missing details or to
recognize, despite distortion or paucity of information, both the intent and the content of
the communication.
4.3. Key factors
For some communication systems the components are simple to specify as, for instance:
- information source: a man on the telephone - transmitter: the mouthpiece - message
and signal: the words the man speaks - channel: the electrical wires - receiver: the
earpiece - destination: the listener
In face-to-face communication, the speaker can be both information source and
transmitter, while the listener can be both receiver and destination.
4.3.1. Speech acts.
J.L. Austin (1911-1960) was the first to draw attention to the many functions performed
by utterances as part of interpersonal communication. He distinguishes two main types
of functional potential:
- performative - constative
A performative is an utterance that perform an act: to say is to act, as we have already
seen when studying language functions. Performatives may be explicit and implicit
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performatives, which do not contain a performative verb.
Constatives are utterances which assert something that is either true or false.
In speech act analysis the effect of utterances on the behaviour of speaker and hearer is
studies using a threefold distinction:
A locutionary act is the saying of something which is meaningful and can be
understood. For example, saying the sentence `shoot the snake is a locutionary act if
hearers understand the words `shoot, `theand `snake and can identify the particular
snake referred to.
An illocutionary act is using a sentence to perform a function. For example `shoot the
snakemay be intended as an order or a piece of advice.
A perlocutionary act is the result or effect that is produced by means of saying
something. For example, shooting the snake would be a perlocutionary act.
Austins three-part distinction is less frequently used than a two part distinction between
the propositional content of a sentence and the illocutionary force or intended effects of
speech acts. There are thousands of possible illocutionary acts, and several attempts
have been made to classify them into a small number of types:
- representatives - directives - commisives - expressives - declarations
In declaratives the speaker is committed in varying degrees, to the truth of a
proposition.
In directives the speaker tries to get the hearer to do something.
In commissives the speaker is committed, in varying degrees, to a certain course of
action.
In expressives the speaker expresses an attitude about a state of affairs.
In declarations the speaker alters the external status or conditions of an object or
situation solely by making the utterance.
4.3.2. Context.
Context is defined by the Collins English Dictionary as:
1. The parts of a piece of writing, speech, etc, that precede and follow a word or passage
and contribute to its full meaning. 2. The conditions and circumstances that are relevant
to an event, fact, etc.
HYMES HALLIDAY 1. Form and content of text 2. Setting 3. Participants 4. Ends 5.
Key 6. Medium 7. Genre 8. Interactional norms 1. field 2. mode 3. tenor
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We will now analyze Hallidays more abstract interpretation as it practically subsumes
Hymess one.
The field is the total event, in which the text is functioning, together with the purpose
activity of the speaker or writer; it thus includes the subject matter as one element in it.
The mode is the function of the text in the event, including therefore both the channel
taken by the language, and its genre or rhetorical mode, as narrative, didactic,
persuasive and so on.
The tenor refers to the participants who are taking part in this communicative exchange,
who they are and what kind of relationship that have to one another. It is clear that role
relationships, i.e., the relationship which people have to each other in a act of
communication, influences the way they speak to each other. One of the speakers may
have, for instance, a role which has a higher status than that of the other speaker or
speakers.
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
- Collins English Dictionary. Collins. Glasgow, 1992.
- Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. CUP. Cambridge, 1987.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica. Enc. Brit. Inc. Chicago, 1990.
- Halliday, M. A. K. Spoken and written Language. Geelong, Vic. Deakin University
Press, 1976.
- Halliday, M. A. K. Language as social semiotics. Arnold. London, 1978.
- Halliday, M. A. K. Functional grammar. Arnold. London, 1982.
- Halliday, M. A. K and Hasan, R. Cohesion in English. Longman. London, 1976.
- Richards, J. C, Platt, J., and Platt, H. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and
Applied Linguistics. Longman. London, 1992. - Materiales para la Reforma. Primaria.
MEC. Madrid, 1992.
- Steinberg, D. D. Psycholinguistics. Longman. London.1982