Jakobson's functions of language

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Roman Jakobson defined six functions of language (or communication functions), according to which an effective act ofverbal communication can be described.[1] Each of the functions has an associated factor. For this work, Jakobson was influenced by Karl Bhler's Organon-Model, to which he added the poetic, phatic and metalingual functions.

The six factors of an effective verbal communication. To each one corresponds a communication function (not displayed in this picture).[2]

The six functions of language[edit]

The Referential Function corresponds to the factor of Message and describes a situation, object or mental state. The descriptive statements of the referential function can consist of both definite descriptions and deictic words, e.g. "The autumn leaves have all fallen now." The Expressive (alternatively called "emotive" or "affective") Function relates to the Addresser (sender) and is best exemplified by interjections and other sound changes that do not alter the denotative meaning of an utterance but do add information about the Addresser's (speaker's) internal state, e.g. "Wow, what a view!" The Conative Function engages the Addressee (receiver) directly and is best illustrated by vocatives and imperatives, e.g. "Tom! Come inside and eat!" The Poetic Function focuses on "the message for its own sake"[3] (the code itself, and how it is used) and is the operative function in poetry as well as slogans. The Phatic Function is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore associated with the Contact factor. The Phatic Function can be observed in greetings and casual discussions of the weather, particularly with

strangers. It also provides the keys to open, maintain, verify or close the communication channel: "Hello?", "Ok?", "Hummm", "Bye"... The Metalingual (alternatively called "metalinguistic" or "reflexive") Function is the use of language (what Jakobson calls "Code") to discuss or describe itself. (All this article is an example of metalinguistic Function).

Organon model
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(Redirected from Organon-Model)

The Organon Modell

The Organon model, formulated by Karl Bhler, defined the communication functions according to which linguistic communication can be described. Bhler's work influenced Roman Jakobson for his Communication Model. Bhler identified the following three communicative functions:

the Expressive Function (Ausdrucksfunktion) the Referential Function (Darstellungsfunktion, i.e. describing function) the Conative Function (Appellfunktion, i.e. appealing function).