LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF

COMMUNICATION
 What is Language?
• What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘language’?

• To use language is to use a rule-governed communication system to represent one’s thoughts

and feelings to members of one’s community who share one’s language (Valli,2000).

• But what exactly we mean when we say “we use language to Communicate”?

• Are communication and language synonymous?

• Communication and language are different but strongly related.

 •“Communication” Comes from the Latin
word communicatus, which means
✔ “to share” or
✔ “to be in relation with”.

•Defined as ‘The imparting of information’. (Webster's,

2001).
•Communication Process involves Transmission and interchange

of ideas, facts, feeling, or courses of action.

•‘How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say

things, but how well we are understood’ – Andrew Grove

•It depends on the level of experience, intelligence, knowledge and

purpose of the sender and the receiver.

 Types of Communication

• Linguistic Communication
• Conveying information with the use of verbal / linguistic elements.

• Paralinguistic Communication
• Use of linguistic but non-verbal elements of communication (speech) to modify meaning and convey
emotion. Ex: pitch, tone, volume, speech rate, and pauses, etc.

• Non-linguistic Communication
• Conveys information without the use of language. Ex: body language, gestures, etc.
 Factors of Communication
• Addresser/Sender/Speaker: The person who delivers a message to a specific audience.

• Addressee/ Receiver/Listener: The audience that receives the message.

• Context: The setting or the reason for the message that is being communicated.

• Contact: A relational channel and connection between the addresser and the addressee,
which keeps the lines of communication open.

• Common code: The rules that combine to form the message and correspond to the type of
language used by both speaker and listener.

• Message: Information sent by the addresser and corresponds to an experience, idea,

explanation, and so on.
Communication- Encoding, Transfer, and Media
• Successful communication requires a recipient who understands your

message.

• Unsuccessful communication requires a message that reached its target but

was not understood.

• A message sent but not received by the target is a "failed communication."

Communication Cycle
1. Message – The speaker decides the nature of the content.

2. Encoding- Speaker encodes the message.

3. Selection of appropriate Tool – speaker uses words, actions, signs, objects or a

combination of these.

4. Selection of appropriate Channels – selection of media of communication –

face-to-face, on paper or through electronic or digital media such as the Internet.

5. Decoding – Listener receives the message, decodes it and acts on it.

6. Noise cancellation – External or internal noise can affect the decoding process of the

communication. It refers to inappropriate or unexpected information that gets transmitted

along with the message that leads to breakdown or interference in the communication.

7. Total Feedback – The transmission of the Listener’s response to the sender is called

feedback, measures the effectiveness of communication.

Communication cycle is complete only when there is a response from the recipient of the

message.
Roman Jacobson’s
Communicative Functions of Language
• Roman Jakobson’s Theory of Communication (1960)

▪ Looks at what needs to be present in the process of linguistic communication,

beyond the simple relationship of sending and receiving information.

▪ Six elements or factors take part in the communication process and lead to six

different communicative functions of language.

▪ Each function focuses on and interacts with one factor of the communication

process.
 1) The Referential/ Informative Function:
Use of language specifically to describe a situation or an object in an objective manner.

• Corresponds to the factor of context.

• The primary goal of the communication becomes provision of factual and objective data.

• Characteristics that aid in identifying the referential function include:

Use of factual and descriptive language.

Focus on conveying information, often devoid of emotional bias.

Reliance on clear, unambiguous statements.

• For example: Sales are up by 3% this year.

• There are two almirahs in my aunt’s house in Bangalore

 2) The Conative/Vocative/Imperative Function:
• Use of language to get the attention of or a reaction from the addressee.

• This function focuses directly on the receiver of the message.

• Characteristics that help identify the conative function include:

Use of imperatives and vocatives to command or address the listener directly.

Employing persuasive language or rhetoric to motivate a specific action.

Focus on engaging the audience and provoking a response.

• For example: Tom! Come inside and eat!, "I don't know, John," (conative) VS I don’t know John

• Can you show John where to find the paper clips?

• We look forward to learning more about your academic endeavors and the work you plan to do as
future leaders
 3) The Emotive/Expressive/Affective Function:
• Use of language specifically to express emotions, feelings, desires, and moods of the subject.

• Corresponds to the speaker as it gives us direct information about the sender’s internal state.

• Communication driven by this function is characterized by:

Emotionally charged vocabulary and phrasing.

Use of first-person pronouns to emphasize personal perspective.

Conveying the speaker's attitudes and emotions toward the topic.

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL2S2WnWT7Y

• For example:

• Interjections and other such sounds changes that do not alter the denotative

meaning of an utterance but do add information about the Addresser's

(speaker’s) personal attitude, exclamations, Swear words, Words of

admiration, Gratitude words

• e.g. Wow, what a view!, It is a great privilege to be with all of you today, It

is wonderful to join you here today

 4) The Phatic Function:
• Corresponds to the factor of Contact.

• Focus: the connection between the sender and receiver.

• Use of language to establish a social connection without really communicating any

semantically impactful unit of information (only for the sake of interaction).

• Key features that indicate the phatic function include:

Use of conventional greetings, pleasantries etc.

Less emphasis on conveying meaningful information and more on maintaining

communication channels.

Fostering a sense of connection and rapport between communicators.

• For example:

• Greetings, “How are you?”, “I’m fine.”, “See you later." 'Let's go for

lunch sometime. (When not immediately followed by a specific invitation.)

• 'Hello, do you hear me?’, “Are you listening?”, Have a nice day!
 5) The Poetic / Aesthetic Function:

• This function focuses on the message as well as the way the message is
communicated.
• Language is used with the purpose of aesthetics.
• Key characteristics that distinguish the poetic function include:
Use of figurative language, such as metaphors, similes, and imagery.
Employing rhythm, rhyme, and other auditory devices to enhance the auditory
appeal of language.
Encouraging interpretation, symbolism, and multiple layers of meaning.
Example: “Peter is a rock”. Life is not a bed of roses
 6.) The Metalingual/ Reflexive Function:

• Meta is defined as ‘self-awareness’/ ‘self-referential’.

• Metalingual function refers to the use of language to talk about the language itself.

• —its features, word definitions, clarifying ambiguity, and describing deliberate

wordplay.

• Characteristics include:

Use of definitions, explanations, and clarifications regarding linguistic terms.

Discussing the meaning or usage of words and expressions.

Analyzing language structure, syntax, or semantics within the conversation.

• For example: The words that rhyme are those in which last syllable has a similar

ending.

• The metalingual function is also relevant in translation if foreign words are used

to give special meaning or to bring emphasis.

• I couldn’t help but feel a touch of Schadenfreude when the other team lost by 50

points.

• /ˈʃɑːd(ə)nˌfrɔɪdə/ - from German- A sense of pleasure or joy from the failure of

others.
Addresser Emotive function

Addressee Conative function

Contact Phatic function

Code Metalingual function

Message Poetic function

Context Referential function

• Discuss this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrlmT1OiIKE