Language and Communication: Process and Functions
Language and Communication
Communication is a knowledge-sharing experience between people. It is done through different languages. Communication means a linear process in which a transmitter transmits information to a receiver through a channel.
The Communication Process
Communication is studied as a process that necessarily involves a transmitter, receiver, message, channel, code, and context, situation, or referent.
- Transmitter: Encodes and delivers the message.
- Receiver: Receives the message, decodes, and interprets it.
- Message: Information transmitted; the specific language that reaches the receiver depends largely on the type of code being used (numbers, words, etc.).
- Channel: The physical medium through which the message circulates. If there are anomalies, communication does not occur or does not occur under the same conditions.
- Code: The set of signs and rules through which the message is constructed.
- Situation: The set of extralinguistic circumstances present in the communication process, necessary to correctly interpret the message.
Language Functions
We speak of functions of language when referring to the communicative purpose or intention the sender has proposed to produce the message.
Emotive Function
The communication interest focuses on the transmitter. In messages with this feature, subjectivity dominates; the transmitter externalizes their mood, emotions, and feelings. It usually dominates conversation, lyric poetry, personal letters and diaries, opinion pieces, and certain types of essays. The most frequent linguistic forms of this function are exclamatory and interrogative sentences, subjective adjectives, and the subjunctive mood.
Conative Function
It is oriented toward the receiver. The transmitter seeks to modify the receiver’s behavior, trying to change their opinion or make them do or stop doing something. Conative pleas are orders, mandates, etc. They are abundant in conversation and literary dialogues, as well as in the language of advertising. The most commonly used forms in texts with this function are the vocative and imperative, the second person, and exclamatory and imperative sentences.
Referential Function
The communication interest focuses on the situation. Objective information is transmitted from extralinguistic reality. This feature is characteristic of scientific and technical texts, reports, and journalism. Its linguistic features are limited intonation, the indicative mood, the third person, and a lexicon with denotative meaning.
Poetic Function
The interest of poetic communication focuses on the form of language. It is interested not only in what is said but, above all, in how it is said. The poetic function is the dominant function in literature but also appears in advertising and conversation. Linguistic forms include abundant adjectives, connotative lexical items, and rhetorical resources.
Phatic Function
The interest lies in the channel. It is very common in language. It is given in texts when starting a communication. There are few informational texts, forms of address, etc. They abound in conversation and advertising. Their commonplace is the cliché. In written language, phatic typographical resources facilitate and guide reading.
Metalinguistic Function
The interest is in the code. The referent is the language that is explained through the language itself. This feature is unique to language; only the linguistic code can refer to itself. This function is often used in conversation to clarify the meaning of what is being said.