Communication and Language: A Comprehensive Guide
1. Communication and Language
1.1 The Importance of Communication
Communication is crucial for human development, both individually and socially. We communicate using:
- Verbal language (spoken words)
- Nonverbal language (images, gestures, expressions, etc.)
Language is the tool that enables communication. It encompasses the entire system of verbal and nonverbal signs used by a community.
1.2 Language Variations
Languages have variations:
- Regional variations: Differences in language use across regions (e.g., Andalusian Spanish vs. Extremaduran Spanish).
- Local variations: Differences within a region (e.g., variations between Cáceres and Badajoz in Extremadura).
- Individual variations: Differences based on factors like age, education, and social background.
2. Elements of Communication
- Sender: Encodes and transmits the message.
- Receiver: Receives, decodes, and interprets the message.
- Message: The information conveyed by the sender.
- Code: The system of signs shared by the sender and receiver.
- Channel: The medium through which the message is transmitted (e.g., speech, writing).
- Context: The circumstances surrounding the communication that influence the message’s meaning.
3. Communication Noise
External factors can hinder communication (noise). Redundancy helps overcome noise.
4. Functions of Language
- Expressive: Focuses on the sender’s feelings and emotions (e.g., exclamations, interjections).
- Conative (Appealing): Aims to elicit a response from the receiver (e.g., commands, questions).
- Referential: Focuses on conveying information objectively (e.g., declarative sentences).
- Poetic: Emphasizes the aesthetic qualities of language (e.g., literary devices).
- Phatic: Establishes or maintains contact between communicators (e.g., greetings, small talk).
- Metalinguistic: Refers to the language itself (e.g., discussing grammar rules).
5. Signs and Linguistic Signs
5.1 Types of Signs
Signs represent reality. They consist of a signifier (perceptible form) and a signified (concept). Types of signs include:
- Indexes: Natural signs with a direct connection between signifier and signified (e.g., smoke indicates fire).
- Icons: Artificial signs that resemble what they represent (e.g., a road sign depicting a curve).
- Symbols: Artificial signs with an arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified (e.g., a dove symbolizing peace).
5.2 Linguistic Signs
Linguistic signs have three components:
- Signifier: The word’s form (e.g., the letters).
- Signified: The mental concept associated with the word.
- Referent: The actual object or phenomenon the word refers to.
5.3 Characteristics of Linguistic Signs
- Arbitrary: The relationship between signifier and signified is not inherent.
- Conventional: Meaning is established by social agreement.
- Mutable: Meanings can change over time.
- Immutable: Meanings are relatively stable.
- Linear: Language unfolds sequentially in time and space.
- Segmentable: Linguistic signs can be broken down into smaller units (e.g., words into morphemes).
Topic 2: Phonology, Phonetics, and Spelling
Phonology and Phonetics
Phonology: Studies the sound systems of languages (phonemes).
Phonetics: Studies the physical properties of speech sounds.
Spelling
Spelling: The set of rules governing writing, including letter usage and punctuation.
Minimum Units of Language
- Sounds: Physical speech sounds produced by the vocal organs. Represented in square brackets (e.g., [f]).
- Phonemes: Mental representations of sounds. The smallest meaning-distinguishing units in a language. Represented between slashes (e.g., /f/).
- Graphemes: Written representations of phonemes (e.g., the letter “f”).
Classification of Phonemes
- Vowels: Sounds produced without obstruction of airflow. Can form syllables and words on their own.
- Consonants: Sounds produced with obstruction of airflow. Need vowels to form syllables and words.
Suprasegmental Features
Features that affect stretches of speech larger than individual phonemes:
- Stress: Emphasis placed on a syllable. Can distinguish words (e.g., “‘present” vs. “pre’sent”).
- Intonation: The rise and fall of pitch in speech. Can convey meaning and emotion.
- Pauses: Breaks in speech used for breathing and to structure utterances.
Accentuation and Tildes
All words have stress, but not all stressed syllables are marked with a tilde (accent mark). Spanish has specific rules for accentuation.
Diphthongs, Triphthongs, and Hiatus
- Diphthongs: Combinations of two vowels in a single syllable (e.g., “ai” in “aisle”).
- Triphthongs: Combinations of three vowels in a single syllable (e.g., “uai” in “Uruguay”).
- Hiatus: Two consecutive vowels that belong to different syllables (e.g., “ao” in “chaos”).
Word Formation
1. The Word
Characteristics of words:
- Have meaning (lexical or grammatical).
- Are separated by pauses in speech and spaces in writing.
- Can be moved within a sentence.
2. Constituents of the Word
- Phonemes: Smallest meaningless units of sound.
- Morphemes: Smallest meaningful units. Two types:
- Lexemes (Roots): Carry the core meaning.
- Affixes: Attach to lexemes to indicate grammatical functions (inflectional affixes) or modify meaning (derivational affixes). Types of affixes:
- Prefixes: Attach before the lexeme.
- Suffixes: Attach after the lexeme.
- Interfixes: Attach between the lexeme and a suffix.
3. Word Formation Processes
- Simple Words: Cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful units.
- Compounding: Combining two lexemes (e.g., “sun” + “flower” = “sunflower”).
- Derivation: Adding prefixes or suffixes to a lexeme (e.g., “happy” + “-ness” = “happiness”).
- Parasynthesis: Combining compounding and derivation (e.g., “en- + light- + -en” = “enlighten”).
- Acronyms: Words formed from the initials of other words (e.g., “NATO”).
- Abbreviations: Shortened forms of words (e.g., “Prof.” for “Professor”).
- Blends: Combining parts of two words (e.g., “brunch” from “breakfast” and “lunch”).
- Borrowings (Loanwords): Words adopted from other languages (e.g., “cafe” from French).