UNIT 1.

LA LENGUA COMO COMUNICACIÓN:

LENGUAJE ORAL Y LENGUAJE ESCRITO.
FACTORES QUE DEFINEN UNA SITUACIÓN
COMUNICATIVA: EMISOR, RECEPTOR,
FUNCIONALIDAD Y CONTEXTO.
0. INTRODUCTION

1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION

1.1. What is language?

1.2. What is communication?

1.2.1.Human Communications Systems

1.2.2.Non-human Communications Systems
1.2.3. Categories of Communications

2. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

2.1. Oral language

2.2. Written language

3. FEATURES DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION

3.1. Purpose

3.2. Context

3.2.1. Context of situation

3.2.2. Context of culture

4. CONCLUSION

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
0. INTRODUCTION

Traditional Foreign Language Teaching concentrated on getting

students to learn items of language in isolation. The focus was not on
communication. Following Krashen´s distinction between acquisition and
learning we can say that students got to know about language (learning)
but could not use it in a real context (acquisition)
The British Allwright tried to bridge these two ideas theorising that if
the activities were about solving communication problems in the target
language then language learning would take care of itself.

In this unit we are going to deal with language and its functions to see
that communication is one of them. We will also analyze the differences
between writing and speech and the features defining a communicative
situation.

1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION

1.1. What is language?

All social communities use communication between their members in

order to make interactions possible. In a general way we can define
language as:
“Language is the development of the basic form of communication
between human beings, and in a society”.

We can mention three different approaches as to what the nature of

language is, all of them connected to the idea of communication:

From a structural point of view “language is a system of structurally

related elements for the transmission of meaning”
From a communicative or functional point of view “language is a vehicle
for the expression of functional meaning”
From an interactional point of view “language is the means for establishing
and maintaining interpersonal relationships and for performing social
transactions between individuals”

The most acknowledged comparative approach has been the one

proposed by Charles Hockett who identifies the main points of connection
between language and other systems of communication, especially those
found in animals. These are the most important features of communication
using spoken language:

a) Flexibility and versatility: We can use language to talk about our

emotions and feelings, to make threats, to ask questions or make
statements. We can make reference to the past, present or future
even to things that do not exist.
 b) Arbitrariness: The connection between the form and the meaning is
arbitrary as to the fact that, given the form, it is impossible to
predict the meaning and given the meaning it is impossible to
predict the form.

c) Duality: Language has two levels of structure; units of the primary

level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of
the two levels has its own principles of organisation.

d) Discreteness: Speech uses a small set of sound elements that clearly

contrast with each other.

e) Productivity: It the property which makes possible the construction

and interpretation of new signals.

1.2. What is communication?

Definition: “Communication is the process of creating and sharing

meaning through the transmission and exchange of signs. This process
requires interaction within oneself, between people or between people
and machines”.

1.2.1. Human Communication Systems

By human communication systems we refer to all possible systems and

the role these play in the way we create and perceive patterns or
meanings in socio-cultural behaviour.

A) Auditory-vocal: This mode or channel results in the primary

manifestation of language: speech. But non-linguistic uses of
the vocal tract are also possible: physiological reflexes, such
as coughing and musical effects, such as whistling have
different meanings according to the context. They achieve
communicative aims when produced intentionally.

B) Visual: This mode is used both for linguistic and non-linguistic

purposes. Linguistic purposes are primarily signs for the deaf,
traffic codes or Morse while non-linguistic ones include facial
expressions and gestures. They also achieve communicative
aims when produced intentionally and have different
meanings according to the context.

C) Tactile: It is mainly used in deaf-blind communication, which

is its primary linguistic function.
 1.2.2. Non-human Communication Systems

These systems are mainly based on the olfactory and gustatory

modes. Most animal communication systems, apparently, do not have
duality, the degree of arbitrariness is not so high and it is unable to
convey meaning.
Each species has a set of calls that can be easily understood by
its members, so the productivity is finite.

1.2.3. Categories of Communication

These categories are based on the number of people involved in the

act of communication:

Intrapersonal Communication
It is the communication within and to the self. When we think, we are
communicating within ourselves. The person making and receiving the
communication is us.
Interpersonal Communication
It is the communication between people. Usually, this category is taken
to refer to two people interacting face to face. There may be more
than two people present. Some examples are: interview, conversation
between two friends in a café….
Group Communication
It is communication within groups of people and by groups of people to
others. We can distinguish between small groups and large groups.
Small groups refer to family, a committee meeting at work, etc
Large groups may include an audience at a concert and some kind of
business organisation or company.
Mass Communication
It is communication received by or used by large numbers of people.
The telephone and postal systems are examples of mass
communication.

2. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

One of the cardinal principles of Modern Linguistics is that spoken

language is more basic than written language. This does not mean,
however, that language is to be identified with speech.

2.1. Oral language.

In any spoken utterance there will be two kinds of vocal phenomena:

prosodic (including stress and intonation) and paralinguistic (tempo,
loudness, etc…) There will also appear a variety of non-vocal phenomena
such as eye movement, body posture, gestures…
 Sometimes, non-verbal ways of communication such as the above-
mentioned can contradict what is said.

Although how to begin a conversation, what topics to introduce and

several particular aspects may differ from society to society, there are
some rules that are general for oral language as a whole such as let people
speak, pay attention, not interrupt them… to have a pleasant social
interaction.
This interaction has a double status: from the point of view of the
speaker´ s meaning, it expresses what the speaker has in mind and from
the point of view of the listener, the decoding of the information as a
response.

A conversation consists on some kind of exchange. The most common

moves in a conversation are:

Initiate, which establishes the beginning of a conversation.

Satisfy, which expresses the listener´s positive reaction.

Contra, a final negation or counter, which is only a provisional
negation taken back in the course of a conversation.
Give an example:

2.2. Written language

Written language is mainly based on linguistic elements. In writing

there are not paralinguistic devices as it happens in speech so, this
function must be fulfilled by graphological devices such as capital letter,
punctuation, layout, etc…

A further difference is that written communication cannot obtain an

immediate response on the reader´s part and senders have to make
decisions on the presentation of their written texts both to make clear
their intentions and to ensure that readers can decode the message
correctly and easily.

According to the writer´s intentions or to the message he/she wants to

transmit, different text types should be pointed out:

Narrative texts: the writer tries to organise concrete ideas within

time. Their main characteristic is the arrangement of events in time.
Descriptive texts: the writer´s concern is locating people and things in
space.
Directive texts: the writer tries to direct the reader´s response or
elicit an answer form him/her.
Expository texts: the writer wants to explain by means of proved
arguments the reality behind the text.
 Generally speaking we can talk about four different ways of arranging a
text:

Firstly by describing step by step. This structure is commonly used in

narrative, expository and directive texts.
Secondly, by going from one step to another but all the steps together
form a chain.
Thirdly, by following step by step but the steps are superordinate one
to another. It is used when one takes a topic as the starting point and
gives ideas against it to conclude that the topic is not true.
Fourthly, by mentioning reasons for and against the topic to end up
with a conclusion and establishing a balance for and against.

3. FEATURES DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION

In everyday experience we find that communication is something which

makes connections of beliefs, ideas and pieces of information. Being able
to speak to someone does not mean that we can get our message across
that is why we need to analyse certain concepts relevant to the
communicative situation:

A signal is transmitted from a sender to a receiver through a channel

of communication. The signal will have a particular form and will convey a
particular meaning or message. The connection between the form of the
signal and its meaning is the code: the message is encoded by the sender
and decoded by the receiver.

Now it is going to be explained what happens in the process by breaking

down the communicative situation into terms:

A sender directs a message through some form/medium to a receiver

with some effect within a particular context.

o Linear way of communication where the sender encodes a message

and the receiver decodes it.
o Exchange way of communication where every person is at the same
time encoder and decoder. Therefore we are all interpreters of
messages.
o Contextualised way of communication, it takes place in a particular
situation. The idea is that we adjust the way we carry on a
conversation according to the context and the feedback we get
from the other person.
3.1. Purpose

Every communicative situation has a purpose. It is worth remembering

that when people communicate they may be fulfilling more than one
purpose at the same time being or not conscious of it. In that sense,
communication can be intentional or unintentional.

There are several common purposes of communication. The following

ones will be referred to as practical purposes of communication:

 Information; give, get or exchange information.

 Relationships; form or maintain relationships.
 Persuasion; persuade others to think differently.
 Power; gain or maintain power over others.
 Decision-making; make decisions about what we think or do.
 Self-expression; express our imagination and ourselves to others.
 Making sense of the world; what we believe, what we think is real…

We can also talk about some linguistic purposes of communication:

 Emotive function; It is focused on the relationship between the

sender and the message and it may convey positive emotive
expressions, interjections or literary devices.

 Conative function; It is focused on the relationship between the

message and the receiver. It tries to make him/her react or
participate. Example: traffic light.

 Referential function; It is focused on the relationship between the

sender and the referent since the message is only used to
communicate the sender´s ideas.

 Phatic function; It is focused on the relationship between the

sender and the receiver aiming at maintaining a comfortable
relationship and avoiding embarrassing situations.

 Metalinguistic function; It is focused on the relationship between

the sender and the code and establishes the place of the sign in the
code.

 Aesthetic function;It is focused on the relationship between the

message and itself. It is found in poetry.
 Another classification was established by Halliday, which considered
language as having three main functions:

Ideational function is to organize the speaker´s or writer´s

experience of the real or imaginary world.

Interpersonal function is to indicate, establish or maintain social

relationships between people.

Textual function is to create written or spoken texts which cohere

with themselves and which fit the particular situation in which they
are used.

3.2 Context

The communication situation deserves especial attention. It serves as a

bridge between the text and the situation in which texts actually occur.
We can distinguish two different types of contexts: linguistic context and
the context of situation.

We must say that until Malinowski, the context was regarded as

linguistic. He established the context of a communicative situation as a
twofold context: the context of situation and the context of a particular
culture.

3.2.1. The context of situation.

In the context of situation we should distinguish according to Halliday:

The field of discourse; it refers to what is happening in the

communicative situation.
The tenor of discourse; it refers to the people taking part in the
communicative situation, the nature, status and role of the participants.
The mode of discourse; it is based on analysing the part language plays in
the communicative situation.

3.2.2. The context of culture.

The context of a culture refers to the things, ideas, meanings and

values that belong to a particular culture and which are closely linked to
it.
4. CONCLUSION

Language is a much wider concept that it can seem at first and

whenever we talk about language we are not just referring to human
language understood as a system of signs either oral or written but to all
the systems that are used in order to communicate something.

There are any features involved in every communicative situation, and

that a speech act is more complex than just saying something. All these
aspects must be remembered whenever we teach a specific language. So
the LOE pays especial attention to the idea of learning a language from a
communicative point of view, grammar is no longer taught as an important
part of our teaching, but, on the contrary, we must emphasise the idea
that our students are learning to communicate something and to cover
some specific communicative needs, which will be related to our students´
development. Therefore, the main idea is that we teach students to
communicate and express themselves in a different language from their
own and we must base the teaching-learning process on the idea of
language as an expression of the culture of a particular language.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R: Cohesion in English. Longman, London, 1995

Unit 1. Magister, 2008

Unit 1. Premir Enseñanza, 2010