The Communication Process: Elements, Types, and Importance
The Communication Process
Communication is the process of transmitting information from a point of origin to a destination. It is a phenomenon common to all living beings. Without a natural stimulus-response communication, the survival of individuals and communities in animal species would be impossible. Humans, as social beings, possess a more complex form of communication with unimaginable possibilities: communication through sign systems. Among these, the most powerful is spoken language.
Verbal Language
Verbal language is the primary instrument of human communication in all its forms and the foundation of coexistence. It helps us understand ourselves and discover the outside world. Language is one of the foundations of progress, the vehicle for transmitting knowledge, culture, science, and technology.
Elements of Communication
- Sender
- Receiver
- Message
- Channel (Medium)
- Code
- Context
Depending on the sender-receiver relationship, communication can be:
- Bidirectional: When the sender and receiver interact with each other.
- Unidirectional: When the receiver receives information from the sender, but not vice versa.
Noise
Noise refers to disturbances that hinder communication. The term “noise” applies to any interference that prevents the proper reception of the message, not just acoustic interference.
Redundancy
Redundancy is a way to counteract noise and ensure the reception of the message. Redundancy does not add information but ensures that the message reaches the receiver by offsetting interference.
Signs
A sign is defined as a material object (phenomenon or natural action) perceived by the senses, which is involved in the communication process, replacing another object. The sign is, therefore, a vehicle of meaning. Types of signs include:
- Evidence: Signs that maintain a natural unit of reference. This relationship can be cause and effect, proximity, etc.
- Icons: Signs that have a relationship of similarity to what they signify. Examples include caricatures and drawings.
- Symbols: Unmotivated signs without a direct relation to the referent. They have a high dependence on meaning. Example: the flag of a country.
Code
A code is a set of signs and rules that represent a reality. Examples include the Highway Code, flags used in sports, and human language.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication includes visual, acoustic, tactile, olfactory, and taste communication.
Language and Image
Types of images:
- Analogue: Represent reality and bear some resemblance to it. Examples include photographs and cartoons.
- Created: Manipulate the image to create virtual realities. They are primarily used for aesthetic or advertising purposes. Examples include photomontage and image distortion.
Verbal Communication
Verbal communication is established through the most complete and complex code: verbal language. The interpretation of verbal messages is more complex than any other code because we must decode the message and consider the context in which communication occurs: space and time, the sender’s intention, and the relationship between the partners.
To use verbal language, we choose two channels that give rise to two forms of communication: oral and written.
Oral Communication
Oral communication is spontaneous, improvised, direct, immediate, and transient (disappears at the time of issuance). It involves interaction between the sender and receiver through the ear canal (listening). There is a predominance of emotional content over logical content, in addition to the overlap of codes: words, gestures, looks, etc. It is widely used to establish and maintain social and personal relationships between individuals. Linguistic features include the predominance of interrogative, exclamatory, and affective expressions, digressions or changes in the subject, the use of a colloquial register, repetitions, and unfinished phrases.
Written Communication
Written communication involves the immediate and reflexive or mediate and delayed use of language. It is enduring and has no interaction between the sender and receiver. It uses the visual channel and does not present any other extra-linguistic support to convey its meaning. It is widely used to store and transmit all types of information. Linguistic features include the use of wide and varied syntactic structures, greater text organization, the prevalence of subordinate and complex sentences adjusted to language rules, precise and varied vocabulary, and the occasional use of a formal register.
The Linguistic Sign
The linguistic sign shapes verbal language. It is essential for communication between human beings and is exclusive to them. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the linguistic sign is the result of the indissoluble union of two planes (one does not exist without the other): the signifier and the signified.
- Signifier or form: The succession of articulated sounds (or letters in writing) that make up a word.
- Signified or concept: The idea that the mind perceives.