Tema-1

LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN

LANGUAGE. FACTORS DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE
SITUATION: LISTENER, CODE, FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT

In this unit we are going to study language and its major functions:
* We will show how Communication is one of these Functions.
* We will show how learning a language is not only a grammatical process
but also a Social Process.
* We will also analyse the differences between Writing and Speech.
* We will discuss some important Communicative Theory defining their
key factors.
* Finally, we will show how important it is to create Real Communication
Situations in our Classrooms in order to improve language teaching.
A conclusion summing up what has been said throught the unit will follow,
ending up with the bibliography used for the elaboration of this
discussion.

INTRODUCTION
We must point out that language is not just a subject in the sense of a
package of knowledge. It is not just a set of information and insights. It
is a fundamental part of being human. Traditional approaches used to
treat a language as if it were a free-standing package of knowledge by
analysing and observing it. Many of us learnt a language that way. But this
process is a very abstract one and experience has shown that it does not
appeal to everyone. To learn to use a language at all well for ourselves
rather than for textbook purposes, most of us have to become involved in
it as an experience. We have to make it a human event not just a set of
information. We do this by using it for real communication, for genuine
giving and receiving of messages.

* Now that we have introduced this particular topic we are going to deal
with the study of language as Communication, its functions and the
concept of communicative competence.
The word language has prompted many definitions. For example;
Sapir said that language is a purely human and non instinctive method of
commicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced
symbols .
Hall defined language as the institution whereby humans communicate
and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory
symbols

As we can see with these two definitions it is difficult to make a precise

and comprehensive statement about formal and functional universal
properties of language, so some linguists have tried to identify the
various properties that are thought to be its essential defining
characteristics.
The most widely acknowledged comparative approach has been that
proposed by Charles Hockett. This set of 13 design features of
communication using spoken language are as follows:
1. Auditory-vocal channel: sound is used between mouth and ear.
2. 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.
3. Rapid fading: auditory signals are transitory.
4. Interchangeability: speakers of a language can reproduce any linguistic
message they can understand.
5. Total feedback: speakers hear and can reflect upon everything they
say.

6. Specialization: the sound waves of speech have no other functions than

to signal meaning.
7. Semanticity: the elements of the signal convey meaning through their
stable association with real world situations.
8. Arbitrariness: there is no depency between the element of the signal
and the nature of the reality to which it refers.
9. Discreetness: speech uses a small set of found elements that clearly
contrast with each other.
10. Displacement: it is possible to talk about events remote in space or
time from the situation of the speaker.
11. Productivity: there is an infinitive capacity to express and understand
meaning, by using old sentence elements to produce new elements.
12. Traditional transmission: language is transmitted from a generation to
the next by a process of teaching and learning.
13. Duality of patterning: the sounds of language have no intrinsic
meaning, but combine in different ways to form elements, such as words,
that do convey meaning.

* After having studied the main properties of language, and

communication, we will now see how the learning of a language involves a
Social Process.
The most usual answer to the question of why we use language is to
communicate our ideas, and this ability to communicate or communicative
competence will be studied in the next part. But it would be wrong to
think of communicating our ideas as the only aim for which language is
used. Several other functions may be identified where the
communications of ideas has a marginal or irrelevant consideration.
One of the most common uses of language, the expressive or emotional
one, is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under
stress, when we are angry, afraid, etc. We do not try to communicate
because we can use language in this way whether we are alone or not.

Malinowski termed the third use of language we are studying Phatic

Communication. He used it to refer to the social function of language ,
that is, to signal friendship or lack of enemity. Also, to maintain a
comfortable relationship between people.
The fourth function we may find is based on Phonetic Properties. The
persuasive cadences of political speechmaking, or the chants used by
prisoners or soldiers have only one apparent reason: people take delight in
them.
They can only be explained by a universal desire to exploit the sonic
potential of language.
The fifth function is the Performative one. A performative is an
utterance that performs an act. This use occurs in the naming of a ship at
a launching ceremony, or when a priest baptises a child.
We can 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 manifestations in the linguistic system of
the two unique manifestation purposes which underline all uses of
language, combined with the third component (textual) which breathes
relevance into the other two.
1) The Idealistic Funtion: is to organise the speakers or writers
experience of the real or imaginary world.
2) The Interpersonal Function: is to indicate, establish or maintain social
relationships between people.

3) 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.

Now we shall study the function of communication or what is named

Communicative Competence.
Chomsky defined language as a set of sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of elements. An able speaker has a
subconcious knowledge of the grammer 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 Use. When a native speaks, he does not only utter
grammatically correct forms, he also knows where and when to use the
sentences and to whom.
For Hymes the Communicative Competence had four aspects:
1) Systematic Potential:
This means that a native speaker possesses a system that has a potential
for creating a lot of language. This is similar to Chomskys competence.
2) Appropriacy:
This means that the native speaker knows what language is appropriate in
a given situation, according to: setting, participants, purposes, channel
and topic.
3) Occurence:
This means that the native speaker knows how often something is said in
the language and acts accordingly.
4) Feasibility:
This means that a native speaker knows whether something is possible in
the language.

These four categories have been adapted for teaching purposes. Thus,
Real Decreto 1006/1991 of 14th June, which establishes the teaching

requirements for Primary Education nation-wide, sees communicative

competence as comprising five subcompetences:
1) Grammar Competence.
The ability to put into practice the system of grammar rules by which a
language operates.

2) Sociolinguistic Competence.
The ability to produce appropriate utterances in different sociolinguistic
contexts depending on contextual factors such as status of participants,
purpose of the interaction....
3) Sociocultural Competence.
This is understood to be the knowledge of the social and cultural context
in which the language is used.

4) Discourse Competence.
The ability to produce unified written or spoken discourse that shows
coherence and cohesion in different types of texts.
5) Strategic Competence.
The ability to use verbal and non-verbal strategies to compensate for
breakdowns in communication, or to improve the effectiveness of
communication, as for example, the use of paraphrase, tone of voices or
gestures.

On the other hand, Canale defined Discourse Competence as the 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.

* Up to this point we have studied the concept of language as means of

communication, amongst other functions.
Now, let us move onto another important aspect of this unit, which deals
with the main differences between writing and speech.

Before summarising the main differences between spoken and written

language we will outline their main features independantly.
On the one hand we have spoken language, which is the most obvious
aspect of language. Speech is not essential to the definition of an
infinitely productive communication system, such as is constituted by
language. But, in fact, speech is the universal material of language. Man
has almost certainly been a speaking animal. The earliest known systems
of writing go back perhaps some 5000 years. This means that for many
hundreds of thousands of years human languages have been transmitted
and developed entirely as a spoken means of communication.
The description and classification of speech sounds is the main aim of
phonetics. Sounds may be identified with reference to their production,
their transmission and their reception. These three activities occur at
the physiological level, which implies the action of muscles and nerves.
The motor nerves that link the speakers brain with his speech mechanism
activate the corresponding muscles. The movements of the tongue, lips,
vocal chords, etc, constitute the articulatory stage of the speech chain,
and the area of phonetics that deals with it is articulatory phonetics.
The movement of the articulation produces disturbances in the air
pressure called sound waves which are physical manifestations. This is the
acoustic stage of the chain, during which the sound waves travel towards
the listeners ear. These sound waves activate the listeners ear drum.

On the other hand we have written language which evolved independently

at different times in several parts of the world.
We can classify writing systems into two types:
1) Non-Phonological Systems.
These do not show a clear relationship between the symbols and the
sounds of the language. They include the pictographic, ideagraphic,
uniform and Egyptian hieroglyphics and logographics.
2) Phonological Systems.
These do show a clear relationship between the symbols and the sounds
of language. We can distinguish between syllabic and alphabetic systems.

In a syllabic system each grapheme corresponds to a spoken syllable.

Alphabetic writing establishes a direct correspondance between
graphemes and phonemes.
In a perfect regular system there is one grapheme for each morpheme.
However, most alphabets in present day use fail to meet this criteria. 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.
Now lets study the main differences between writing and speech. The
most obvious is the contrast in physical form.
Speech uses phonic substance typically in the form of air-pressure
movements, whereas writing uses graphic substance, typically in the form
of marks on a surface. As writing can only occasionally be thought of as an
interaction, we can establish the following points of contrast:
1) The permanence of writing allows repeated reading and close analysis.
The spontaneity and rapidity of speech minimises the chance of complex
pre-planning, and promotes features that assisst speakers to think
standing up.
2) The participants in written interaction cannot usually see each other,
so they cannot make clear what they mean. However, in speech
interactions feedback is possible.
3) The majority of graphic features presents a system of contrasts 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 contructions may only be found in writing, others only occur in
speech, such as in slang and swear words.
5) Finally we can say that writing tends to be more formal and so it is
more likely to provide the standard that society values. Its performance
provides it with a special status.

Despite these differences, the written and spoken language have mutually
interacted in many respects. 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 a language is from its written form eg: Latin. It
is true that writing has derived from speech in an historical sense, but
nowadays their independance is mutual.

* Now we have examined the differences between speech and written

language
we shall concentrate on the theory of communication, and those factors
defining a communicative act.
According to Ivor Armstrong Richards, communication takes place when
one mind so acts upon its environment that another mind is influenced,
and in that other mind an experience occurs which is like the experience
in the first mind, and is caused in part by that experience.
From this definition we can conclude that any communicative act
necessarily happens among persons or between a person who acts as a
speaker and a listener or between various people who act as receivers.
Besides these people there are other elements in a communicative act:
* The Message
The content of information that the speaker sends to the listener.
* The Channel
The place through which the message flows.
* The Code
A limited and moderately wide group of signs which combine according to
certain rules known by the speaker and by the listener.
* The Context
The situation in which the speaker and the listener are in, which
sometimes helps to interpret the message.

* As we have seen communication is the exchange of meanings through a

common system of symbols. Now it is time to ask ourselves:
What does communication in the classroom imply ?
Many studies of classroom language have shown that in most native
speaker ? is used for function rather than for direct teaching. These
extra functions include: greetings, discussion, health, attendance,the
weather and so on.

Barnes (1969), in his description of classroom language, labelled these

functions social. Social interaction also takes placein foreign language
and 2nd language classrooms, but in many such classrooms native language
is used for this purpose.
Fanselow (1977) attempted to set up a system for observing and
recording different types of communication in the language classroom. He
established five headings in the form of questions:
1) Who communicates ?
2) What is the pedagological purpose of the communication ?
3) What mediums are used to communicate content ?
4) How are the mediums used ?
5) What areas of content are communicated ?

All of these questions are useful in thinking how language is used in the
classroom.
The first of these areas, Language, concerns those times when a teacher
is explaining or illustrating the language, or when the pupils are asking
questions about the language, or practising pronunciation or structures.
In most English language classes, this part of the lesson is conducted in
English.

The second, Procedure, concerns those times when the teacher is

managing the classroom, explaining what to do next, how to do it and so
on. Some teachers use English for classroom management, and others use
the childrens mother tongue, at least during the early stages.
The third of Fanselows categories, Subject Matter, concerns those times
when the language is being used to convey some specific topic as a part of
a lesson. For example, if the teacher tells the story The Frog Got Lost,
the subject matter is the frog and its adventures. In this case the
teachers aim might be to illustrate the use of the past simple tense, but
the content area of language used in that part of the lesson is not tense
but the tale of the frog. In the language classroom, this part of the
lesson would be conducted in English.
The final content category identified by Fanselow, Life, concerns
communication between teacher and pupils about Real Life Matters, not
directly about the lesson. This category embraces the type of questioning
that Barnes called social as well as any other type of communication
about the real world.
Thus, for example, if the teacher directs a particular student to open
the window or asks another who has nothing to write on Where is your
notebook?, or genuinely asks another Is your brother in the football
match on Saturday?, then he/she is using language about the real world
that is part of the learners direct experience. This is a great opportunity
for real communication in the English classroom through English. When
speaking to children in English, it is important, as it is when they are
learning their first language, to support communication through the use
of gesture, facial expression and action because this gives children clues
to the meaning of what they hear and so draws their attention to and
helps them to become familiar with the sounds, rhythm and stress of the
second language.
Strategies that parents use intuitively to draw children into the use of
the first language must be used deliberately by the teachers to draw
children into using the second language. Research has shown that parents
generally speak more slowly, articulate more carefully, and use gesture,
facial expression and tone when talking to young children to aid their
understanding and to encourage them to produce.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, we could bear in mind that an important aspect of
interaction in the English classroom is that it must be managed by the
learners as well as by the teacher. That is to say that learners must be
confident enough to initiate communication in English, and not merely
respond when they are addressed by the teacher. A pupil that has
something to say, an apology or a request to make, a question to ask, a
greeting to give, should be encouraged to express him/herself in English.
If resources are not to be wanted and opportunities to be missed,
children must learn English in the same way they learnt their mother
tongue, as a living language that can be used for active communication as
much as for establishing personal relationships.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography used for the elaboration of this topic is as follows:
* Teaching the Spoken Language by Gillian Brown and George Yule
C.U.P. 1997.
* Teaching English to Children by Christopher Brumfit, Jayne Moon
and Ray Tongue. Longman 1992.
* Teaching English in the Primary Classroom by Susan Halliwell.
Longman 1992.

TEMA 1
LA LENGUA COMO COMUNICACIN: LENGUAJE ORAL Y LENGUAJE
ESCRITO.
FACTORES QUE DEFINEN UNA SITUACIN COMUNICATIVA: EMISOR,
RECEPTOR FUNCIONALIDAD Y CONTEXTO.
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.

0. INTRODUCTION.
Traditional foreign language teaching concentrated on getting students
consciously to learn items of language in insolation. These bits of information would
be mainly used to read texts and only occasionally for oral communication. The focus
was not on communication but on a piece of language. Following Krashens
distinction between acquisition and learning we can say that people got to know
about the language (learning) but could not use it in a real context (acquisition).

The British applied linguist Allwright tried to bridge this dichotomy when
he theorised that if de language teachers management activities were directed
exclusively at involving the learners in solving communication problems in the target
language, then language learning wil take care of itlself. We may or may not agree
with this extreme rendering of the Communicative approach, but we all agree
nowadays on the importance of letting ous pupils use English for real communication
during at least, the production stage.
In this unit we are going to study language and its functions to see that
communication is one of thes functions. We wil 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.
1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION.
1.1. Language Definitions.
The word language has prompted innumerable definitions. Some focus on the
general concept of language (what we call lengua or lenguaje) and some focus on the
more specific notion of a language (what we call lengua or idioma).
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 whith each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory
arbitrary symbols. As we can see in these two definitions it is diffi cult to make a
precise and comprehensive statement about formal adn functional universal properties
of language so some linguists have trien to indentify the various properties that are
thought to be its essential defining characteristics.
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 elemens 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 tha clearly contrast whith
each other.

Displacement: it is possible to talk about events remote in space or time from the
situation of the speaker.

Productivity: ther is an infinite capacity to express and understand meaning, by

using old setence elements to produce new sentences.

Traditional transmissin: 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 diferents ways to form elements, such as words, than do convey
meaning.

After having studied thje main properties of language (what is language?) we will
now see its function (whats language for?).
1.2. Language Functions.
The most usual answer to the question why do we use language? is to
communicate our ideas and this ability to communicate or communicative
competence is studied in the next part. But it would be wrong to think of
communicating our ideas as the only way in which we use language (referential,
ideational or propositional function). Several other functions may be indentified
where the communication of ideas is a marginal or irrelevant consideration.
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. Swear words and obscenities are problably the most usual signals to be used in
this way, especially when we are angry. But there are also many emotive utterances of
positive kind, such as expressions of fear, affection, astonishment...
MALINOWSKY (1844-1942) termed the third use of language we are
studying phatic communication. He used it to refere to the social function of
language, which arises out of the basic human need to signal friendship, or, at least,
lack of enmity. If someone does not say hello to you when hi is supposed to, you may

think hi is hostile. In these cases the sole function of language is to maintain a

comfortable relationship between people, to provide a means of avoiding an
embarrassing situation. Phatic communication, however, is far from universal, some
cultures prefer silence, eg, the Aritama of Colombia.
The fourth function we may find is based on phonetic properties. The
rhythmical litanies of religious groups, the presuasive cadences of political
speechmaking, the dialogue chants used by prisoner or soldiers have only one
apparent reason: people take delight in them. They can only be explained by a
universal desire to exploit the sonic potential of language.
The fith function is the performative one. A performative sentence ins 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 finde 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, shich are the manifestation in the linguistic system of the two veryu
general purposes shich underlie all uses of language combine whith the rhird
component (textual) shich brethes relevance into the other two.
1.- The ideational function is to organize the speakers or writers 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 mantain social
relationships 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.
1.3. 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 onlu 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 speakers 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 Comskys 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. Thus, the Royal
Decree 1006/1991 of 14 June (BOE 25 June), which establishes the teaching
requirements for Primary Education nationwide, sees communicative competence as
comprising five subcompetences:
-

Grammar competence (competencia gramatical, o capacidad de poner en

prctica las unidades y reglas de funcionamiento del sistema de la lengua).
Discourse competence (competencia discursiva o capacidad de utilizar diferentes
tipos de discurso y organizarlos en funcin de la situacin comunicativa y de los
inetrlocutores).
Sociolinguistic competence ( competencia sociolingstica o capacidad de
adecuar los enunciados a un contexto concreto, atendiendo a los usos aceptados en
una comunidad lingstica determinada).
Strategic competence ( competencia estratgica o capacidad para definir,
corregir, matizar o en general, realizar ajustes en el curso de la situacin
comunicativa).

Sociocultural competence ( competencia sociocultural, entendida como un cierto

grado de familiaridad con el contexto social y cultural en el que se utiliza una
determinada lengua).

The terms grammar, sociolinguistic and sociocultural competence are quite self
explanatory so we will only analyze discourse and strategic 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. Our pupils must be able to produce discourse in which successive utterances
are linked through ruoles of discourse competence.
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.
2.

SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

It is traditionl in language study to distinguish between spoken and written

language. Before summarizing their main differences we will outline their main
features independently.
2.1.

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. Man
has been a speaking animal from early in the emergence of Homo Sapiens as a
recognizable distinct species. The earliest known systems of writing go back perhaps
5.000 years. This means that for many hundreds of thousands of years human
language were transmitted and developed entirely as spoken means of
communication.
The description and clasification of sounds is the main aim of phonetics. Sounds
may be identified with reference to their production, transmission and reception.
These three activities occur at a physiological level, which implies the action of
nerves and muscles. The motor nerves that link the speakers brain with his speech
mechanism activate the corresponding muscle. The movements of the tongue, lips,
vocal folds, etc. Constitute the articulatory stage of the speech chain, and the area of
phonetics that deals with it is articulatory phonetics.The movement of the
articulators produces disturbances in the air pressure called sound waves, which are
physical manifestations. This is the acoustic stage of the chain, during which the
sound waves travel towards the listeners ear-drum. The study of speech sound waves
correspons to acoustic phonetics. The hearing process is the domain of auditory
phonetics. This can be seen in the following table:

SPEECH
BRAIN
BRAIN
CHAIN

SPEECH

SOUND

MECHANISM

WAVES

Activity psychological
physiological
physical
psychologicals stage
linguistic
production
perception
linguistic
Phonetics

articulatory
phonetics

acoustic
phonetics

EAR

physiological
transmission

auditory
phonetics

In this table we can see how phonetics is the study of all possible speech
sounds.
This is not the most important task for linguist, however. A linguist must study the
way in which a languages speakers systematically use a selection of theses sounds in
order to express meaning. In this activity he is helped by phonology. Phonology is
continually loking beneath th surface of speech to determine its underlying
regularities. It is not interested in sounds but in phonemes, ie. Smallest contrastive
phonological units which can produce a difference in meaning. The study of speech is
therefore, the field of both Phonetics and Phonology.
2.2.

Written language.

Myths and legends of the supernatural shroud the early history of writing. One
point, at least, is fairly clear. It now seems most likely that writing systems evolved
independently of each other at different times in several parts of the world in
Mesopotamia, China... There is nothing to support a theory of common origin.

We can classify writting 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 whith external reality.

The cuneiform method of writing dates from the 4th. Millennium BC, and was
used to express both non-phonological and phonological writing systems. The name
derives from the Latin, meaning wedge-shaped and refers to the technique used to
make the symbols.
Egyptian hieroglyphic developed about 3000 BC. It is a mixture of ideograms,
phonograms and determinative symbols. It was called hieroglyphic because of its
prominent use in temples ad tombs (Greek, sacred carving).
Logographic writing systems are those where the graphemes represent words.
The best known case is Chinese and Japanese kanji. The symbols are variously
referred to as logographs, logograms or characters.
Phonological systems do show a clear relationship between the symbols and
the sounds of language. We can distinguish syllabic and alphabetic systems.
In a system of syllabic writing, each grapheme corresponds to a spoken
syllable, usually a consonant-vowel pair. This system can be seen in Japanese Kataka.
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 sustem 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.
2.3.

Historical attitudes.

Historically speaking, written language was considered tobe superior to

spoken language for many centuries. It was the medium of literature, and literature
was considered a source of standards of linguistic excellence. Witten records provide
language with permanence and authority and so the rules of grammar were illustrated
exclusively from written texts.
On the other hand, spoken language was ignored as an object unworthy of
study. Spoken language demostrates such a lack of care and organization that cannot
be studied scientifically; it was said to have no rules, and speakers have thought that,
in order to speak properly, it was necessary to follow the correct norm. As this norm
was based on written standards, it is clear that the prescriptive tradition rested
supremacy of writing over speech.
This viewpiont became widely criticized at the turn of our century. Leonard
Bloomfield insisted that "writing is not language but merely a way of recording
language by means of visible marks". This approach pointed out several factors, some
of which we have already mentioned:

Speech is many centuries older than writing

It developes naturally in children
Writing systems are mostly derivative, ie, they are based on the sounds of
speech.

If speech is the primary medium of communication, it was also argued that it

should be the main object of linguistic study. Actually, the majority of the world's
cultures' languages have never been written down and this has nothing to do with their
evolutionary degree. It is a fallacy to suppose that the languages of illiterate or socalled primitive peoples are less structured, less rich in vocabulary, and less efficient
than the languages of literate civilization. E. Sapir was one of the first linguistics to
attack the myth that primitive peoples spoke primitive languages. In one study he
compared the grammatical equivalents of the sentence "he will give it to you" in six
Amerindian languages. Among many fascinating features of these complex
grammatical forms, note the level of abstraction introduced by the following example:
Southern Paiute
Maya-vaania-aka-anga-'mi= guve will visible-thing visible-creature thee
Many linguistics and ethnographerstherefore stressed the urgency of providing
techniques for the analysis of spoken language and because of this emphasis on the
spoken language, it was now the turn of writing to fall into disrepute. Many linguistics
came to think of written language as a tool of secundary inportance. Writing came to
be excluded from the primary subject matter of linguistic science. Many grammarians
presented an account of speech alone.
Nowadays, there is no sense in the view that one medium of communication is
untrinsically better. Writing cannot substitute for speech, nor speech for writing. The
functions of speech and writing are usually said to complement each other.
On the other hand, there are many functional para llels which seem to be
increase in modern society. We cannot use recording devices to keep facts and
communicate ideas. On the other hand writing is also taken the social of phatic
function typically associated with the immediacy of speech.
Despite these parallels we can obviously find striking differences.
2.4.

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:
-

Specch uses phonic substance typically in the form of air-pressure movements

Writing uses graphic substance typically in the form of marks on a surface.

Differences of structure and use are the product of radically different

communicative situations. Crystal (1987) pointed that `speech is tme-bound, dynamic,
transient, part of an interaction in which, typically, both participants are present, and

the speaker has a specific addressee in mind. Writing is space-bound, static,

permanent, the result of a situation in which, typically, the producer is distant from the
recipient and, often, may not even know who the recipient is. As writing can only
occasionally be thought of as an interaction it is just normal that we can establish the
following points of contrast:
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 onluy 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.
3. COMMUNICATION THEORY.
3.1. Definition
Communication, the exchange of meanings between individuals through a
common system of symbols, concerned scholars since the time of ancient Greece. In
1928 the English literary critic and author Ivor Armtrong Richards offered one of the
first definitions of communication.
Since about 1920 the growth and apparent influence of communication
technology have attracted the attention of many specialists who have attempted to
isolate communication as a specific facet of their particular interest.
In the1960s, Marshall McLuhan, drew the threads of interest in the field of
communication into a view that associated many contemporary psychological and
sociological phenomena with the media employed in modern culture. McLuhan's idea,
`the medium is the message, stimulated numerous filmmakers, photographers, and

others, who adopted McLuhans view that contemporary society had moved from a
print culture to a visual one.
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.
3.2. Models
Fragmentation and problems of interdisciplinarity outlook have generated a
wide range of discussion concerning the ways in which communication occurs and the
processes it entails. Most communication theorists admit that their main task is to
answer the query originally posed by the U.S political scientist H. D. Lasswell, `Who
says what to whom with what effect?. Obviously all of the factors in this question
may be interpreted differently by scholars and writers in different disciplines.
Scientists may make use of dynamic or linear models.
3.2.1. Dynamic models.
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.
Many analysts of communication such as McLuhan assert that the channel
actually dictates, or severely influences, the message, both as sent and received. For
them, the stability and function of channel or medium are more variable and less
mechanistically related to the process than they are for followers of Shannon and
Weaver.
3.2.2. Linear models: Shannon and Weaver's.

Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver's Mathematical Model of Communication

is one of the most productive schematic models of a communication systems that has
ever been proposed. The simplicity, clarity, and surface generally of their model
proved attractive to many students of communication in a number of disciplines. As
originally conceived, the model contained five elements arranged in linear order:
-

An information source
A transmiter
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.
But not only negative entropy counteracts entropy. Redundancy, the repetition
of elements within a message that prevents the failure of communication of
information, is the greatest antidote to entropy. Redundancy is apparently involved in
most human activities, and, because it helps to overcome the various forms of entropy
that tends to turn intelligible messages into unintelligible ones, it is an indispensable
element for effective communication.
We can see that the model, despite the introduction of entropy and redundancy,
is conceptually static. To correct this flaw, Norbert Wiener, the father of cybernetics,
added the principle of feedback, ie, sources tend to be responsive to their own
behaviour and to the context of communication. Interaction between human beings in
conversation cannot function without the ability of the message sender to weigh and
calculate the apparent effect of this words on his listener.
We will now analyze each of these key factors.
3.3. Key factors

This unit title mentions some of the key factors affecting any communicative
interaction such as the sender and the receiver. After putting them in the broader
framework of the Mathematical Model of Communication we will analyze the
intended effects of our communicative interactions (speech acts) and the environment
in which they are exchanged (social context).

The information source selects a desired message out of a possible set of

messages. The transmitter changes the message into a signal which is sent over the
communication channel where it is received by the receiver and changed back into a
message which is sent to the destination. In the process of transmission certain
unwanted additions to the signal may occur which are not part of the message and
these are referred to as noise or entropy; negative entropy and redundancy counteract
entropy. For somo 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.
3.3.1. 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
contative

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 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.
As we can infer from the examples there are some fuzzy areas and
overlappings between different types of illocutionary force. But an utterance may lose
its illocutionary force if does not satisfy several criteria, known as felicity conditions.
For example the preparatory conditions have to be right: the person performing the
speech act has to have the authority to do so.
Ordinary people automatically accept these conditions when they
communicate. If any of these conditions does not obtain, then a special interpretation
of the speech act has to apply. Both normal and special interpretations of utterances
have much to do with the context in which they are made.
3.3.2. 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.

The first definition covers what we may call linguistic context, but as we can
infer from the second definition, linguistic context may not be enough to fully
understand an utterance understood as a speech act. In fact, linguistic elements in a
text may refer not only to other parts of the text but also to the outside world, to the
context of situation.
The concept of context of situation was formulated by Malinowski in 1923. It
has been worked over and extended by a number of linguistics, specially Hymes and
Halliday. Hymes categorizes the communicative situation in terms of eight
components while Halliday offers three headings for the analysis:
CONTEXT OF SITUATION

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

HYMES
Form and content of text
Setting
Participants
Ends
Key
Medium
Genre
Interactional norms

HALLIDAY
1. field
2. mode
3. tenor

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 suject 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 rethorical mode, as narrative, didactic,
persuasive and so on.
The tenor refers to to the participants who are taking part in this
communicative exchange, who they are and what kind of relationship thay have to
one another. It is clear that role relationships, ie, 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.
4. 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

Tema 1
LA LENGUA COMO COMUNICACIN: LENGUAJE ORAL
Y LENGUAJE ESCRITO. FACTORES QUE DEFINEN UNA
SITUACIN COMUNICATIVA: EMISOR, RECEPTOR,
FUNCIONALIDAD Y CONTEXTO.

1. INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, theories of language have concentrated on the study of its different
components in isolation, such as grammar, semantics, phonology, seeing language as
a system that included all of them. However, when language is first acquired in
childhood, is merely by means of communicating with the people around. In this
sense, new approaches in the last third of the 20th C, paid attention to language as
communication.
We, as human beings, need to communicate, and as most of us live in a literary
society, we normally use oral and written language to transmit or receive information.
As far as oral communication is concerned, most human beings speak using oral
language in order to exchange information and interact with other people, but the use
of oral language entails the knowledge of certain particular elements, norms, routines,
formulae and strategies that are put into work when we are in conversations.
On the other hand, writing and reading require formal instruction, and children face a
series of difficulties when learning these skills, because they have to comfort oral to
written discourse, adapting rules, learning spelling, dividing speech chains into
chunks called words, etc.

However, learning to write and read is probably the most fundamental step in
education, because is the basis for future instruction and access to many fields of
knowledge. In this unit, we are going to review the main characteristics of oral and
written language, and then we will analyse the factors that define a communicative
situation, namely the sender and the receiver of the message, the functionality and the
context.

2. ORAL LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Among all the communication codes which are used by human beings (music,
kinesics, sign language), written and oral language is the most efficient for the
transmission and reception of information, thoughts, feelings and opinions. In
addition, these linguistic codes are exclusively human and make us distinct from
animals. But written and oral language are different processes: whereas we learn to
write through a formal instruction, speaking and listening come naturally along
different stages of the childs evolution.
Therefore we can say that oral language comes first in our history as individuals.
Therefore, speech and writing are not alternative processes, but rather we must
consider them counterparts: all oral language should have a good representative
system in a written form.
From a psychological point of view, oral communication is a two-way process in
which both speaker (encoder) and hearer (decoder) must be present in the same
situational context at a particular time and place (unless we talk about special cases of
oral communication such as phone conversations).
The functions of oral
communication are, as we said before, to communicate or exchange our ideas or to
interact with other people. Unlike written communication, in oral interaction we can
monitor the reactions of the hearer through the feedback so that we can our speech in
the course of the communication, as well as use different linguistic and non-linguistic
features (gesturing, intonation...) to make our messages clearer. However, as it takes
place in a particular place and time, the interlocutors have to make their contributions
at a high speed, without much time to think, unlike writing.
Along history, the study of spoken language has not much tradition, unlike written
language, due to several reasons:
-

it was considered a secondary type of language as it was not reserved only

to cultivate people.
unlike written language, there was a lack of permanent records of oral
language during our past history.
it presents more mutability in the understanding and interpretation of what
it is said than in written lg.

Halliday was among the first linguists to study oral language, saying that it was not a
formless and featureless variety of written language. Since then, there has been an

increasing interest to which it has contributed the inventions of audio, video and
computer devices. In oral communication, we distinguish two different types:
Prepared speech
The formal setting is organised as writing (syntax, lexis
& discourse organisation) It is memorised or written down before (lectures, speech,
oral poetry)
Spontaneous speech Speaker has not thought or memorised the message
beforehand. It may present inaccuracies, hesitations, silences and mistakes
As spontaneous speech is the main form of oral communication, and directly reflects
real communication processes with different demands and situations, and prepared
speech does not allow for feedback and monitoring, the analysis and study of oral
communication should concentrate on spontaneous speech, where the negotiation of
meaning plays an important role for the communication purpose to be correctly
achieved.
But because of its pervasive and everyday nature, its scientific study has proved
particularly complex. It has been difficult to obtain acoustically clear, natural samples
of spontaneous conversation, especially of its more informal varieties. When samples
have been obtained, the variety of topics, participants, and social situations which
characterise conversation have made it difficult to determine which aspects of the
behaviour are systematic and rule-governed.

2.1. ELEMENTS AND NORMS THAT RULE ORAL DISCOURSE

Linguistic elements
STRESS When we talk we have to bare in mind there is a regular distribution
of accents along words and sentences. However, if we want to give
special emphasis to a particular word or phrase, we change that regular
pattern of stress and accent in order to make more prominent what we
want.
RHYTHM It is the relationship we make between accents (chunks of words)
and silences. Rhythm can range from very monotonous one (in quick or
prepared speech) to rhythm with contrasts in order to give
expressiveness and sense to our speech. Pauses are also important,
because sometimes are made to divide grammatical units and other times
are unpredictable and caused by hesitations.
INTONATION is the falling and rising of voice during speech. Any departure
from what it is considered normal intonation shows special effects and
expresses emotions and attitudes. Normally, falling tones show
conclusion and certainty, whereas rising tones may show inconclusion or
doubt (Ill do it / Ill do it... )

Paralinguistic elements
We cannot consider oral verbal communication without remembering that the
whole body takes part. In fact, many times, a person can express sympathy,
hostility or incredulity by means of body and facial gestures. This body
language is normally culturally related & is learnt the same way as verbal
behaviour is learnt, although it allows for spontaneity and creativity: we use
head, face, hands, arms, shoulders, fingers...
Other linguistic features that characterise conversational language are:
Speed of speech is relatively rapid; there are many assimilations & elisions of letters;
compressions of auxiliary sequences (gonna); it can be difficult to identify sentence
boundaries in long loose passages; informal discourse markers are common ( you
know, I mean); great creativity in the vocabulary choice, ranging from unexpected
coinage (Be unsad) to use of vague words (thingummy).
2.2. RULES
When we use language, we do not only utter grammatically correct sentences, but we
know where, when and to whom we are addressing our utterances. This is the reason
why a speaker needs to know not only the linguistic and grammatical rules of a
language (Chomskys linguistic competence) or rules of usage, but also how to put
into effect these rules in order to achieve effective communication, so that we also
need to be familiar with rules of use.
Rules of usage In order to produce and understand messages in a particular language
we need to be familiar with:
PHONOLOGY We need to know the organisation, characteristics and
patterns of sounds to communicate.
MORPHOLOGY We need to know the word formation rules and types of
combinations of bases & affixes.
SYNTAX We need to know how words are put together to form sentences and
which are their relationships.
SEMANTICS We need to know how words can be combined to produce the
meaning we want or to understand the meaning expressed by others,
even if it is nonliteral, methaporical or anomalous.
Rules of use To be communicatively efficient, we need to show our linguistic
competence in real speech through:
APPROPRIATENESS or knowledge of what type of language suits best in a
given situation, taking into account the context with its participants
and their social relationships, the setting, the topic, the purpose..
COHERENCE or ability to organise our messages in a logical and
comprehensible way to transmit meaning.

COHESION or capacity to organise and structure utterances to facilitate

interpretation by means of endophoras and exophoras ( references to
linguistic & situational contexts), repetitions, ellipsis...
2.3. ROUTINES AND HABITUAL FORMULAE
Mans ability to be creative with language is something obvious, but there are times
when we choose how, when and why not to be creative, to repeat what has been said
or heard many times, often in exactly the same form. Linguistic routines are fixed
utterances which must be considered as single units to understand their meaning, and
they are of a learned character (Hi! familiar or empty How do you do?), the process
through which we acquire ritual competence being perhaps the most important
socialisation we make of language.
Understanding routines & formulae require shared cultural knowledge because they
are generally metaphorical in nature and must be interpreted at a non-literal level.
People are often quite opposed to routines, formulae and rituals because they are
meaningless and depersonalise our ideas, because literal semantic value is largely
irrelevant. Some typical routines and habitual formulae are used in funeral
condolences, religious ceremonies, weddings, graduation ceremonies...

2.4. STRATEGIES SPECIFIC OF ORAL COMMUNICATION

Particular attention has been paid to the markers of conversational turns: how people
know their turn to speak. In formal dialogue, there are often explicit markers,
showing that a speaker is about to talk; in debate, the person in the chair more or less
controls speakers turns. In conversation, however, the cues are more subtle,
involving variations in the melody, rhythm, and speed of speech, and in patterns of
eye movement.
When people talk in a group, they look at and away from their listeners in about equal
proportions, but when approaching the end of what they have to say, they look at the
listeners more steadily, and in particular maintain closer eye contact with those they
expect to continue the conversation. A listener who wishes to be the next speaker may
indicate a desire to do so by showing an increase in bodily tension, such as by leaning
forward or audibly drawing in breath. In addition, there are many explicit indications,
verbal and non-verbal, that a speaker is coming to an end (Last but not least...),
wishes to pass the conversational ball (What do you think?, staring to someone),
wishes to join in (Could I just say that...), leave (Well, that is all...), change the topic
(Speaking of Mary...), or check on listeners attention or attitude (Are you with me?).
The subject-matter is an important variable, with some topics being safe in certain
social groups (in Britain, the weather, pets, children, and the locality), others more or
less unsafe (religious and political beliefs, questions of personal income such as
How much do you earn). There are usually some arbitrary divisions: for example, in
Britain, it is polite to comment o the taste and presentation of a meal, but usually
impolite to enquire after how much it cost.

In Grices view, we cooperate in a conversation in order to produce a rational and

efficient exchange of information, so that to reach a good final result in a
communicative process, we apply 4 cooperative principles or maxims:
- Maxim of quality: Our contributions have to be sincere, believing what we say &
avoiding things we lack evidence of
- Maxim of quantity: We should make our contributions as briefly, orderly &
informative as required for the exchange.
- Maxim of relevance: An utterance has to be relevant with respect to the stage the
conversation has reached.
- Maxim of manner: Which concerns the manner of expression (avoiding obscurity,
ambiguity...).

3.WRITTEN
COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE

AND

Written communication is a type of communication, and as such, its main purpose is

to express ideas and experiences or exchange meanings between individuals with a
particular system of codes, which is different to that used in oral communication. In
written communication, the encoder of the message is the writer and the decoder and
interpreter of the message is the reader, and many times, this interpretation does not
coincide with the writers intended meaning.
When we write, we use graphic symbols, which relate to the sounds we make when
we speak. But writing is much more than the production of graphic symbols, just as
speech is more than the production of sounds: these symbols have to be arranged,
according to certain conventions, to form words, and words to form sentences.
These sentences then have to be ordered and linked together in certain ways,
forming a coherent whole called text.
Since classical times, there have been two contradictory approaches to speech and
writing: firstly, the view that writing is the primary and speech the secondary medium,
because writing is more culturally significant and lastingly valuable than speech; and
secondly, the view that speech is primary and writing secondary because speech is
prior to writing both historically and in terms of a childs acquisition of language. But
leaving aside this dichotomy, the first thing we must notice is that speech and writing
are not alternative processes: speech comes first, but writing demands more skill and
practice, and they have different formal patterns.
Most important of all, however, is that written and spoken language are counterparts:
a writing system should be capable of representing all the possible wordings of a
persons thoughts. This implies that both systems could be regarded as the two sides
of the same coin.

From a psychological point of view, writing is a solitary activity, the interlocutor is

not present, so we are required to write on our own, without the interaction or the
help of the feedback usually provided in oral communication. That is why we have
to compensate for the absence of some linguistic features which help to keep
communication going on in speech, such as prosody and paralinguisic devices such as
gesturing, intonation, etc. Our texts are interpreted by the reader alone, and we
cannot monitor his or her reactions, unlike the speaker: we have to sustain the
whole process of communication and to stay in contact with our reader through words
alone, and this is why we must be very clear and explicit about our intentions when
we write.
However, not all the acvantages are on the side of the oral communication: in writing,
we normally have time to think about what we are trying to express, so that we can
revise it and re-write it, if need be, and the reader, to understand a text, can also read
and re-read it as many times as wanted.
3.1.
STRUCTURE
COMMUNICATION

AND

FORMAL

ELEMENTS

OF

WRITTEN

There are some features characteristic of written language, but this should not be
taken to imply that theres a well-delimited dividing line between writing and speech.
However, the extend to which each of them makes use of different resources is
directly related to the nature of the two channels: speech is the language of
immediate communication, and writing is a type of communication with a distance in
between. This is the reason why written texts present the following formal elements:
Linguistic features of written language
flexible, and adaptable at a time, so that:
-

it must provide a codified expression for the elements expressed by oral

language: each idea = a written form
it must provide means for creating expressions for elements not codified
yet: neologisms, borrowings...

Syntactic features of written language

different from speech are:
-

The syntactic elements which make writing

markers and rhetorical organisers for clauses relationships and clarity

(written texts are more permanent)
use of heavily pre-modified NPs , SVO ordering and use of passive
constructions and subordinate phrases

Lexical features of written language

paralinguistic devices and feedback:
-

A good writing system must be fixed,

In order to compensate the absence of

more accuracy in the use of vocabulary, avoiding redundancy and

ambiguity (due to its permanent nature)

use of anaphoras and cataphoras, repetitions, synonyms... to signal

relationships between sentences
there is more lexical density in writing than in speech (more lexical items
than grammatical ones)

Graphological implications
Texts can be presented in different ways, as our
culture value many times more the form than the content. To compensate for the
absence of feedback and paralinguistic devices, written texts need to be accurate in
spelling, punctuation, capital letters to mark sentence boundaries, indentation of
paragraphs, different fonts to call attention (italics, bold...) and in poetry or texts to
draw attention, exploitation of resources such as order and choice of words, variations
in spelling (Biba la kurtura).
In any case, what is most characteristic of written communication is that we see it (the
organisation, length...).
3.2.
TYPES OF WRITTEN TEXTS: NORMS GOVERNING THEM,
ROUTINES AND FORMULAE
In writing, communication also takes place following system and ritual constraints:
this is the reason why when we look at a text we can distinguish and obtain
information regarding different types of organisation, different purposes and different
lengths.
Traditionally, written texts were divided following the classification of genres. Then,
linguists linked their rhetorical mode to the syntactic structures, routines and formulae
that characterised them, and established the following classification:
Postcards

Pieces of writing normally directed to friends or family when travelling

,and sometimes used for congratulations and greetings. We just write
on one side and the language used is colloquial.

Letters

They can be formal (to enterprises or someone we are not closed to)
and informal (to friends or family) There are some routines to write
letters: apart from the writers address on the top right-hand corner, the
date, the first line (dear + name/sir/madam/Mr/Mrs...), the closing
(Yours...) and the signature, present in both types of letters, each type
of letter follows this structural organisation into paragraphs:
Formal:
1st = reason why writing, 2nd = what you want from
addressee, 3rd = conclusion.
Informal:
1st = introduction, 2nd = reason, 3rd = additional info, 4th =
conclusion.
There are also directive letters, to provoke some reaction on the reader,
using imperatives & remarks.

Filling-in forms
Consist of answering what you are asked, as briefly as possible,
so no writing style is needed to do so.

Curriculum vitae
Consists of a clear summary to give the academic knowledge
and experience someone has on a certain matter, so it includes personal
details, current occupation, academic qualification and professional
experience.
Summaries

Brief rsums of articles, booklets and books that due to their special
form of composition and writing they allow the reader to gather the
main information about the original work without reading it.

Reports

They are used to present clearly and with details the summary of
present and past facts or activities, and sometimes of predictable future
facts from checked data, sometimes containing the interpretation of the
writer but normally with the intention of stating the reality of an
enterprise or institution without deformative personal visions, and can
be expositive, interpretative & demonstrative

Narrative texts
The most universal of all the types of written texts, refer back
to the story-telling traditions of most cultures. In fact there seem to be
some basic universal structure that governs this type of texts:
- Orientation (time, place and character identification to inform reader
of the story world), Goal.
Problem.
Resolution.
Coda and
sometimes a morale at the end.
For this characteristic structure, some of the routines and formulae used
are presentatives (there is...), relatives, adjuncts of place and time,
flash-backs, different narrative p.o.v., narrative dialogues, etc...
Descriptive texts
They are concerned with the location and characterisation of
people and things in the space, as well as providing background
information which sets the stage for narration. This type of texts is
very popular in L2 teaching, and all types have the same preestablished organisation. Within descriptive texts we might find:
- External descriptions, presenting a holistic view of the object by an
account of all its parts
- Functional descriptions, which deal with instruments and the tasks
they may perform
- Psychological descriptions, which express the feelings that
something produces in someone
Some of the most characteristic structures are presentatives (there...),
adjuncts of location, stative verbs (look, seem, be...), use of metaphors,
comparisons, qualifying adjectives and relative sentences.
Expository texts
They identify and characterise phenomena, including text forms
such as definitions, explanations, instructions, guidelines, summaries,
etc...They may be subjective (an essay) and objective (definitions,
instructions), or even advice giving. They may be analytical, starting
from a concept and then characterising its parts, and ending with a
conclusion.

Typical structures are stative verbs, in order to, so as to,

imperatives, modals and verbs of quality.
Argumentative texts
They are those whose purpose is to support or weaken
another statement whose validity is questionable.
The structures we find are very flexible, being this the reason for the
existence of several types:
Classical/Pros & cons zigzag/One-sided arg/Ecclectic
appro/Oppositions arg first/Other side questioned
There are sometimes when we choose how, when and why not to be creative with
language to repeat what is normally used in a given situation: we use linguistic
routines and formulae. These are defined as fixed utterances or sequences of
utterances which must be considered as single units, because their meaning
cannot be derived of them unless considered as a whole.
In written texts we find different types of routines and formulaic expressions, which
vary depending on the type of text, as we have been previously seeing. Understanding
them usually requires sharing cultural knowledge, because they are genarally
metaphorical in nature and must be interpreted at a non-linguistic level (for instance,
Dear in a letter does not always carry affective meaning).
All those phrases and sentences that, to some extend, have a prescriptive character,
can be considered as routines and formulaic expressions: to consider all the different
existing routines would take too long, but some examples are, in letters & postcards
(Yours sincerely) in C.Vs, the organisation of info in different blocks, in narration
(Once upon a time) in descriptions (on the left, high above),etc...
All in all, we can say that they are sometimes very useful but often meaningless
& depersonalise our expressions & ideas.

4. THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Definition
Generally speaking, communication is the exchange of meanings between
individuals through a common system of symbols, and this has been the
concern of scholars since the Greeks. Communication refers to the
transmission of information (a message) between a source and a receiver,
using a signalling system.
At the turn of the century, the English literary critic Ivor Armstrong Richards
offered one of the first definitions, saying that communication takes place
when one mind so acts upon its environment that another mind is
influenced, and in that other mind an experience occurs which is like the
experience in the first mind, and is caused in part by that experience.
The study of human communication in all its modes is known as semiotics. There are
several types of communication, and although in principle any of the five senses can

be used as a medium of communication, in practice only three (tactile, visual and

aural) are implemented in both active-expressive and passive-receptive ways.
Tactile communication involves touch (e.g. shaking hands, grasping the arm) and the
manipulation of physical distance and body orientation in order to communicate
indifference or disagreement, and is studied by proxemics. Visual communication
involves the use of facial expressions (smiling, winking..., which communicate a wide
range of emotions) and gestures and body postures of varying levels of formality
(kneeling, bowing...). Visual non-verbal communication is studied by kinesics.
Often, visual and tactile effects interact closely with verbal communication,
sometimes even conveying particular nuances of meaning not easy to communicate in
speech (such as the drawing of inverted commas in the air to signal a special
meaning), and most of the times culturally related.
The chief branch of communication studies involves the oral-aural mode, in the form
of speech, and its systematic visual reflex in the form of writing. These are the verbal
aspects of communication, distinguished from the non-verbal (kinesics and
proxemics) aspects, often popularly referred to as body language.
The term language, as we understand it, is usually restricted to speech and
writing, because these mediums of transmission display a highly sophisticated
internal structure and creativity. Non-verbal communication, by contrast, involves
relatively little creativity. In language, it is commonplace to find new words being
created, and sentences varying in practically infinite complexity. In this respect,
languages differ markedly from the very limited set of facial expressions, gestures,
and body movements.
According to Harmer, the characteristics apply to every communicative situation is
that a speaker/writer wants to communicate, has a communicative purpose, and
selects language, and a listener/reader wants to listen to something, is interested in a
communicative purpose, and process a variety of language.
Models
In order to study the process of communication several models have
been offered; fragmentation and problems of interdisciplinary outlook have
generated a wide range of discussion concerning the ways in which
communication occurs. Most communication theorists admit that their main
task is to answer the question Who says what to whom with what effect? The
most important models are:
Dynamic Used to describe cognitive, emotional and artistic aspects of the
different modes (narrative, pictorial, dramatic...) of communication as they
occur in sociocultural contexts in their various manners and to and from
different sorts of people. For those using this model, the stability and function
of the channel are more variable and less mechanically related to the process
than the linear models.
Linear
Proposed by Shannon and Weaver, though very mathematical,
its simplicity, clarity and surface generality proved very attractive. Originally
intended for electronic messages, it was then applied to all sorts of
communication. In its conception it contained five elements arranged in linear

order: information source, transmitter, channel, receiver, destination. Then,

the five elements were renamed so as to specify components for other types of
communication, and the information source was split into its components to
provide a wider range of applicability: source, encoder, message, channel,
decoder, receiver.
Key factors
In theory, communication is said to have taken place if the information
received is the same as that sent. In practice, we have to allow for all kinds of
interfering factors, such as entropy (noise distorsion) which can be
counteracted by negative entropy (receivers ability to clear blurred
messages), by redundancy (used by the encoder), or by feedback (the sender
calculates and weights the effects on the receiver and acts accordingly); and
then we have the context, which covers the references to the linguistic aspects
of the message or endophora (anaphora and cataphora) and the external
aspects of situation or exophora (such as the field, or total event and purpose
of the communication, the mode, or function of the text in the event, including
channel and genre, and the tenor, which refers to the participants and their
relationships).
5. FACTORS AND FUNCTIONS OF A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION
The most usual answer to the question why do we use language? is to
communicate our ideas. But it would be wrong to think that communicating our
ideas is the only purpose for which we use language. Several other functions may be
identified where the communication of ideas is marginal or irrelevant. We hardly find
verbal messages that would fulfil only one function , although the verbal structure
of a message depends primarily on the predominant function;
Following Jakobson, we agree that language must be investigated in all the variety of
its functions, but an outline of these functions demands a concise survey of the
constitutive factors in any act of verbal communication: the ADDRESSER sends a
MESSAGE to the ADDRESSEE that to be operative requires a CONTEXT referred
to and to be grasped by the addressee (either verbal and situational, a CODE, fully or
partially common to the addresser and addressee, and a CONTACT, a physical
channel and psychological connection enabling them to enter and stay in
communication
If the main purpose of our use of language is to communicate our ideas, concentrating
on the context to which these ideas refer to, then we are dealing with the referential
or ideational function.
If there is a direct expression of the addressers attitude toward what is being
communicated, tending to produce an impression of a certain emotion, that is the
emotive or expressive function (also very common), which differs from the
referential one in the sound pattern, and it flavours to some extend all our utterances.

If we orientate our message towards the addressee because we want a certain reaction,
we are dealing with the conative function, syntactically and often phonetically
deviate from other functions (vocatives and imperatives).
We talk about the phatic function when the language we use is for the purpose of
establishing or maintaining social relationships, to check if the channel or contact
works, to attract or confirm the attention of the interlocutor or to discontinue
communication, rather than to communicate ideas, and is normally displayed by
ritualised formulas (Well..., How do you do?).
If we use the language to talk about the language, such as when checking if addressee
is using the same code as the addresser (Do you follow me? Do you know what I
mean?), we talk of the metalingual function.
If, on the contrary, the focus is on the phonetic properties of the message, althogh not
being the sole function of the message, we say that we are using the poetic function
of language.
To end up, we will say that Halliday grouped all the functions into three interrelated
metafunctions: ideational, to express ideas or experiences, the interpersonal to
indicate, establish or maintain social relationships, and the textual, to create written
or spoken texts that fit in the particular situation in which they are used.
6. FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT: THE NEGOTIATION OF MEANING
However, if communication were simply a matter of applying the adequate schema,
we wouldnt have to worry about the addressees response to the communication
process. Therefore, we need procedures to integrate these abstract schemata into the
concrete process of discourse itself.
All communication depends on the alignment and adjustment of each
interlocutors schemata, and the procedures we use are the interactive
negotiating activities that interpret the directions provided and enable us to alter
our expectations in the light of new evidence as the discourse proceeds, and this
procedural ability which traduces the schematic knowledge into communicative
behaviour is called capacity (inference, practical reasoning, negotiation of meaning,
problem solving...).
This capacity apply to two different dimensions: one referred to the kind of schema
that is being realised, and the other to the kind of communicative situation that has to
be negotiated, that is, to the way in which the relationship between the schemata of
the interlocutors is to be managed. We find that there are occasions in which we use
procedures to clear up and make more explicit and evident the frame of reference, or
use rhetorical routines to specify more accurately our illocutionary acts (the
intended effects of our utterances) or that felicity conditions are not satisfactory so that
we must use those procedures.
Other procedures, this time on the part of the addressee, are interpretative (as in A-I
have two tickets for the theatre B- Ive got an exam tomorrow). In some

occasions, however, negotiation is too long, too difficult or even fails (as in
interethnic interaction) because the schemata are very different, so that interlocutors
may use other signalling system (e.g. pictorial), or use (re)-formulation procedures
(So what you say is... Now lets put it straight..)

7. CONCLUSION
Communication is , therefore, the main purpose of a language, and the use and
function that fulfils depends greatly on the characteristics of the information or the
form of the message. In any case, for a communication process to be complete, it is
necessary that both addresser and addressee negotiate the meaning of what is being
transmitted, overcoming any possible obstacles difficulting that process.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Halliday, M. A. K.

An Introduction to Functional Grammar

Tannen, D.

Conversational Style

MacArthur, T.
1992
Hedge, T.

Chapter 8

Chapter 9 1985

1984

The Oxford Companion to the English Language OUP Oxford

Writing.

OUP. Oxford. 1993